“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” was the joyful salutation that ushered in the new year on January 1, 2023. Nigeria joined the rest of the world to utter the common phrase that people used to congratulate one another for witnessing a new year while waving the old year “goodbye”.
Oh! what a wonderful night it was globally as the world anticipated what 2023 has in store for the people. Our country, however, experienced a spectacular type of anticipation because for over two years, we have been looking forward to today, a special day in our nation’s history, the 2023 elections.
It was like yesterday when the announcement for the procurement of presidential forms was made public, and hundred million naira worth of form became an essential commodity for the politically ambitious candidates representing different political parties in Nigeria. But, as we all know, the top two most popular ones took the lead, namely APC and PDP. Subsequently, Peter Obi decided to take the bull by the horn and added LP to the duo, making them a trio.
Finally, it has come, February 25, 2023, one of the greatest days that will go down in history for decades to come.
We all wanted a better year than what we had in 2022. But unfortunately, the joyful shout of “happy new year” was soon replaced with hardships that came with three horns.
Horn one was electricity outage. We hardly enjoy power supply in the past, I agree, but the type of blackout that embraced us in the new year was legendary. Horn two was fuel scarcity. Like the poor power supply that we are used to, the fuel scarcity came too early, adding to the difficulties usually experienced in January of every year. Horn three, which is the scariest among the three, is the new naira note and its scarcity. This scarcity further aggravated the fuel scarcity and Nigerians started to wonder why 2023 is already cruel to us at its infant stage.
But it isn’t about the year, it is about our leaders’ insensitivity to our suffering. The three problems are so painful that we seem to have forgotten that we’ve always been suffering in the past. It’s just as if things had never been this bad.
Luckily, today is the ‘D’ day when our votes will speak for us. Today, our fate for the next four years will be sealed with the power of our franchise. Today, we will use our PVCs as weapons to demand a better government that will wipe our tears.
What do Nigerians really want?
If I’m to speak for us, I would say:
We want security of lives and properties.
We want constant power supply.
We want economic improvement.
We want fuel scarcity and crazy price hikes to stop. How did we get here? How could we rise so fast from N87 litre to over N350 per litre? We can’t continue to queue for hours at filling stations to buy our resources at exorbitant rates. Are we no longer the producers of oil?
We want good health care.
We want improvement of the education sector. Enough of ASUU strikes because of unpaid salaries and arrears. Teachers and lecturers at all education levels deserve better welfare packages than what they are getting now.
We want better employment opportunities.
We want enabling environments for our businesses.
Our refineries should be renovated.
Agriculture should be revamped.
Science and technology should advance.
We want good roads and transportation.
In other words, WE WANT THE BEST FOR OUR DEAR COUNTRY!
I earnestly pray that whoever comes out tops in today’s elections will have the love of the people at heart, and not just his personal interests. The problems of new naira note scarcity is destroying our lives. It should stop! A cashless policy should not be a lifeless policy! Fuel should be in abundance. Enough of queuing up at filling stations. Security of lives and properties should be paramount. Electricity supply should improve. ASUU and other tertiary institutions’ teaching associations must enjoy the fruits of their labor. The labor market needs restructuring and salaries should be revisited.
To everyone going out to vote today, please, be safe, stay safe, and remain safe. Cast your vote with your heart and conscience, and not because of that peanut pay someone somewhere had gifted you to favor his/her choice candidate. Don’t let anyone intimidate you. Vote your choice and go back home. Don’t engage in unnecessary campaign or aggressive discussions about the candidates.
All I want, wish, hope, dream, and pray for is a Nigeria we can all be proud of. A Nigeria where we won’t want to flee from but will always want to stay in.
Who is with me?
A government that will reduce corruption to the barest minimum and give citizens dividends of democracy.
A better Nigeria