AHEAD 2023: ‘WE CAN WIN ELECTIONS WITHOUT DISROBING OUR COUNTRY – FASHOLA; YAKASSAI, OTHERS SPEAK AT THE NICHE ANNUAL LECTURE
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
R-L: Keynote Speaker and Honorable Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN); Publisher, The Niche Newspaper, Ikechukwu Amaechi and Former Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Peterside Dakuku during the presentation of The Niche Hall of Fame Award to Mr. Fashola at TheNiche Annual lecture 2022.
The Honorable Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) today addressed Nigerians on the need to make the best out of the 2023 elections. Stating that no two elections are the same, the Minister affirmed that the 2023 elections is a ‘feast of ideas and choices that bring out the best of us and the best of our country’.
He made this known in his keynote speech delivered at the TheNiche Annual lecture organized by Acclaim Communications Ltd. The theme of the conference is ‘2023 and the future of Nigeria’s Democracy’.
About the elections which is about 170days away, Babatunde Fashola SAN told Nigerians, ‘No two elections are the same; and the intensity always varies anyway as indeed the number of voters and sometimes the number of parties; and the novelty of some candidates. Unlike economists who urge the probability that “all things being the same,” politics and elections draw their oxygen from the probability that things will not remain the same, especially if you are in opposition.’
‘For example, young people who were by age not eligible to vote in a previous election, would have attained voting age at the next election cycle and become eligible to vote if they register. In our current situation we now have 12,332,336 newly registered voters for the 2023 election, whereas there were 14,360,053 newly registered voters in 2019, while 6,944,752 registered as new voters in 2015. So, if the hype about 2023 is anything to go by, the number of 12,332,366 newly registered voters does not support it, because it is 2,027,687 less than the 14,360,053 newly registered voters in 2019.’
‘Obviously, we have seen all the hype before and they detract from the real question which in my view should be: how can democracy, especially the 2023 elections, make our lives better and our country greater? I think we should focus on this question because we must remember that democracy is simply concerned about the popular participation in choosing a leader or set of leaders. Democracy does not guarantee that the leader or those leaders will deliver or indeed are able to deliver on what we want.’
‘How many of our electorate understand what the actual constitutional roles of our legislators, Local Government Chairman, Governors, and President are? These questions may look ordinary, but my experience in government suggests that they are not. I have been surprised by how unfamiliar some of us are with the constitution and our responsibilities, although I must concede that we are fairly well acquainted when it comes to our rights. Truth be told, elections are only a part of the democratic process; and this requires not only the successful party to play their role in the formation and running of government, but the opposition as watchdog, and government in waiting, has an equally important role to play in enriching the process. Governance in power is not easy, and I daresay opposition is even more hard work’, Trek Africa Newspaper gathered.
R-L: General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employee, NUEE, Comrade Joe Ajaero; Former Minister of Information, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr and a guest
‘Let us ask ourselves when last an opposition party prepared and detailed an alternative budget to that of the party in government. True enough, we hear criticisms of what the party in Government is not doing or getting right; but when I ask, can you recall an opposition party offering a credible and alternative solution to what the party in Government has done wrong. To be fair I must acknowledge the generalizations such as we will do this and do that, but very often that is where it ends.’
‘It is these things that should shape the future of our democracy in 2023 and beyond. These things require us to focus on the kind of people we will elect to states and federal constituencies because it is those people who will determine many things that will affect us.’
Cross section of dignitaries at the The Niche Lecture
He advised Nigerians, ‘We can win elections without disrobing our country before the global community. We can do so by valorising Nigeria’s possibilities and not by widening her fault lines. Elections and Democracy must represent for us a feast of ideas and choices that bring out the best of us and the best of our country.’
Noting some of the dividends that has been achieved by Nigeria’s democracy since 1999, Fashola shared: ‘Our democracy has delivered an interstate train service, the first and only one since the one built by the colonial government. Our democracy is delivering solutions to problems that seem to have defied solutions, like a road and bridge network to Bonny Island, like the Second Niger Bridge and the reconstruction of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Kano-Maiduguri Expressway and an extensive broadband rollout nationwide. And lest I forget, our democracy delivered access to telephone service for many Nigerians. Our democracy has delivered an increasing reliance on Tax revenue as the basis of Government expenditure. This is important because it increases the focus on representation. While there is still a lot to do, these are building blocks of hope around which to build our prosperity. They represent critical items of infrastructure and fiscal options about our current and future livelihoods around which to frame the issue for 2023 elections and plan the future of Nigeria’s democracy.’
On his part, the nonagenarian and Chairman of the occasion, Tanko Yakassai added: ‘I advocate for people-oriented change and peaceful restructuring of the current federal system to devolve power and responsibilities to the sub-nationals which would in turn offer better opportunity for stability and unity.’
On the coming elections, the MD/CEO of Acclaim Communications, Ikechukwu Amaechi said: ‘Nigeria is at a crossroads politically, socially, and economically. The decisions the over 96 million registered voters will take in February 2023 will determine where the country goes from here.’
Amaechi also used his welcome address to hail the various past speakers at the lecture which commenced in 2018 noting that it is ‘our modest contribution to nation building’.
