Nigeria Votes Up a Change in Government; Huge Challenges and Opportunities Lie Ahead

The near-final voting results in Nigeria today, show the election of the opposition candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, as the next President, who will take office on May 29. Almost 30 million Nigerians mobilized themselves to peacefully change their government. At this moment the vote tally shows Buhari (APC) 14,953,378; Goodluck Jonathan (PDP—People’s Democratic Party) 12,827,522 with one state, Borno, left to count.

This election, which was free, fair, transparent, and most importantly, unhampered by ethnic-religious violence, is special for the Nigerian population, as previously their leaders were imposed on them, without their consent or peaceful participation. There is a sense of the spirit of freedom which the poet Percy Shelly describes in his “Defense of Poetry.”

This historic action by the Nigerian people will have profound effects not only in Nigeria and all nations on the African continent, but throughout the world as well. The rejection of the ruling PDP, with Goodluck Jonathan the president for the last 6 years, was driven by the populatio’ns extreme frustration and rage in response to 16 years of failed policies that have made simple existence a daily challenge. The victory of Buhari could not have been linearly predicted a year, or even six months earlier; this is the most significant accomplishment for Nigeria since its 1960 liberation from the British Empire.

Shortly after Nigeria achieved independence, its founding leaders were assassinated in a 1966 coup that led to the ugly and bloody, Biafra civil war from 1967 to 1970, leaving over one million dead. From 1970 to 1999, Nigeria was ruled by various military governments (except for one brief period), including Gen. Buhari for 18 months from 1984-1985. All the governments following the end of military rule in 1999 were controlled by the PDP until this election.

Immediately after President Jonathan wisely conceded to General Buhari for the benefit of the nation, cheers broke out and citizens were dancing in the streets, representing a genuine, joyous excitement about what they had just accomplished.

Now the real challenge begins for the new Buhari administration; the expectations of the newly energized Nigerian population are very high. Buhari, in his campaign, has made a high priority of economic development—building infrastructure, and creating productive jobs, especially for the youth suffering from 90% unemployment. This priority is also reflected in the APC Manifesto.

As Minister of the Petroleum Trust Fund in the late 1990s, Buhari had embarked on road-building programs. During his brief period as head of state, Buhari rejected a new $2 billion loan from the World Bank, designed to drive Nigeria further into debt. He also made himself an enemy of the IMF, which actions were not unconnected to the coup launched against him, which opened the floodgates to the destructive IMF Structural Adjustment Programs from which Nigeria never recovered.

Security and corruption are Buhari’s other two top concerns for Nigeria.

Today, the infrastructure in general remains poor. Nigeria’s rich agricultural potential remains underdeveloped. However the most egregious failure of this and previous administrations is the paucity of electrical power for Africa’s most populous nation — almost 180 million people. Only 2,500 megawatts of electricity are available each day, leaving Nigerians to fend for themselves with expensive personal generators and home batteries. There is no Nigerian household or small business that does not experience a blackout at least once every day.

Despite the deadly presence of Boko Haram, which did launch limited attacks on Nigerians during the election, the economy remains the number-one issue that drove Nigerians to oust President Jonathan. The single most important task for the next President of Nigeria, is to provide plentiful, accessible electricity to revive Nigeria’s anemic economy.

The world is changing through the emerging leadership of the BRICS configuration with the New Development Bank, the AIIB, and other new agencies, projects and policies exemplified by China’s “Belt and Road” commitment to vast development, and most importantly, into space. This is where Africa’s future lies. Nigeria must play a leadership role; this is the import of the successful election in Nigeria.