His verdict is
that no matter who becomes president, neither Jonathan nor Buhari will
keep promises made, as both candidates have not given Nigerians a candid
explanation of what exactly it will take to implement the reforms
promised.
The presidential election next month will be won by
either Buhari or Jonathan. For either, it is likely to be a pyrrhic
victory. None of them will be able to deliver on the fantastic promises
being made on the economy, and if oil prices remain below $60, I see
very difficult months ahead, with possible heady collisions with labour,
civil society, and indeed the citizenry. To be sure, the presidential
election will not be decided by the quality of ‘issues’ or promises
canvassed by the candidates.The debates won’t also change much (except if there is a major gaffe
by either candidate like Tofa did in the debate with Abiola). My take is
that more than 95% of the likely voters have pretty much made up their
minds based largely on other considerations. A few of us remain
undecided.During my brief visit to Nigeria, I watched some of the campaign
rallies on television. The tragedy of the current electioneering
campaigns is that both parties are missing the golden opportunity to
sensitize the citizenry about the enormous challenges ahead and hence
mobilize them for the inevitable sacrifices they would be called upon to
make soon. Each is promising an El-Dorado.Let me admit that the two main parties talk around the
major development challenges—corruption, insecurity, economy
(unemployment/poverty, power, infrastructure, etc) health, education,
etc. However, it is my considered view that none of them has any
credible agenda to deal with the issues, especially within the context
of the evolving global economy and Nigeria’s broken public finance.
What do you think?