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How to calm violent crises? Nigeria has an idea.

Facing clashes and insurgencies, Nigerian states have created peacebuilding agencies.

By: Darren Kew

Publication Type: Analysis

If U.S. and international policymakers hope to see Africa stabilize amid the world’s crises of violence, record human displacement and the COVID pandemic, Nigeria must be center stage. This demographic giant, home to one in five sub-Saharan Africans, now faces a perfect storm of violent conflicts that pose an existential challenge. Yet Nigeria also offers its own solutions for stabilization — including a low-cost innovation worthy of international support: peacebuilding agencies operated by governments in three of the country’s 36 states. This timely model offers localized approaches to the roots of violence and is relevant to nations worldwide.

Nigeria’s rapidly spreading conflicts pose some of the country’s most difficult challenges since its 1967-70 civil war. Factions of the Islamic State and Boko Haram have renewed insurgency in the northeast. Farming and herding communities fight over access to land across the Middle Belt and into the south—a pattern that often ignites the nation’s Muslim-Christian tensions. Threats to national unity also come from criminal bands and cattle rustlers across the northwest, a growing Biafran independence movement in the southeast, simmering militancy in the Niger Delta, and kidnappings nationwide . Nigeria’s military is overstretched, deployed in nearly all states of the federation. The federally controlled police force is undersized, outgunned, and ill-trained. Both institutions are hobbled by massive corruption and their pattern of human right abuses.

Nigeria’s Innovation: State-Level Peace Agencies

Three Nigerian states have taken an innovative approach to augment efforts by the overwhelmed federal government. Since 2016, governors in Plateau, Kaduna and Adamawa states established peace agencies and commissions to address communal conflicts and the roots of insurgency. These peacebuilding bodies help local governments set up community-level responses to public grievances and conflicts. These include peace committees, peace education, and local systems to monitor threats and to provide early responses to prevent violence. The peacebuilding agencies also help communities with the development of mechanisms for mediation and restorative justice.

Most of Nigeria’s major security challenges have deeply local roots, and these three agencies have rapidly improved their state and local governments’ abilities to manage conflicts at their sources. While Nigeria’s experiment in state-level peacebuilding institutions is still evolving, it has shown enough promise to deserve support — and the attention of other multi-ethnic, multi-communal federations that must manage risks of violent conflict — from India and Pakistan to Malaysia or Brazil. U.S. states like Maryland or Massachusetts also have similar agencies that could share experiences with their Nigerian counterparts.

The Plateau Peace Building Agency and the Kaduna Peace Commission have paid special attention to farmer-herder disputes in their states, working with local and international civic organizations to conduct community dialogues and to train local activists in peacemaking skills. Given that some of these disputes cross the states’ shared border, the two agencies have worked together on several of these processes. The agencies have established peace committees in local governments and provide training and assistance to build local authorities’ capacity to manage conflicts at their roots.

Adamawa’s peace agency worked with traditional rulers across the state, many of whom hold extensive influence in their communities, to create an early warning and response system against violent conflicts. This network helped prevent violence during the 2019 elections. The Plateau and Kaduna agencies also worked to prevent election violence and are developing early response networks.

As state institutions, perhaps the most important asset these peace agencies wield is convening power, organizing events and processes that can attract stakeholders in local conflicts, as well as civil society leaders who bring needed skills in peacebuilding and development. All three agencies have organized monthly meetings that have improved coordination among local and international non-government organizations, religious leaders and other civil society networks. These groups have in turn proven to be indispensable partners for the state agencies. Civil society partners played central roles in building the state agencies’ capacities and are key allies in local interventions.

Proximity to Government: A Double-Edged Sword

As units of their state governments, the peacebuilding agencies hold the important advantage of access to state governors, who are powerful, elected officials in Nigeria and dominant figures in their states. Governors’ control of state and local finances lets them direct substantial resources to peace efforts, as well as offer influence with federal institutions, including the police and military. Gubernatorial engagement all but ensures the participation in peace negotiations of most, if not all, stakeholders from local conflicts. The centrality of governors in the political and economic lives of their states also guarantees them a bully pulpit from which they can reframe issues and shape public opinion.

This access is, however, a double-edged sword. The vast resources and powers of governorships make them the most hotly contested offices in Nigeria’s states, all but ensuring conflicts around gubernatorial elections that often inflame ethnic and religious divisions. Consequently, many governors are seen by their opponents as interested players in local conflicts. This makes impartiality a key challenge for any state peace agency when some parties presume that, as a government unit, it is sympathetic to the governor. An agency’s proximity to power also can be a problem for continuity if a new governor decides to close or starve it as a predecessor’s initiative. Adamawa’s peace agency, created in 2018, faced exactly that challenge when a new governor came to office in 2019 and suspended its activities pending review. Fortunately, the agency has been redesigned as a larger commission by the legislature and now awaits only the signature of the governor on the enabling legislation to resume work.

Financing also remains a chronic problem for the state peace agencies. The Kaduna and Plateau agencies receive from their states little of the funding — other than salaries and basic supplies — required to conduct peace interventions. They rely on scarce international aid to fund many initiatives. Tight budgets have undermined the agencies’ ability to hire conflict resolution professionals to their staffs, leaving them to depend instead on civil servants seconded from other agencies with no background in the field.

Despite these limitations, the three state agencies have scored important successes. They have shown that government units can act as impartial peace brokers in local conflict and can help mobilize civil society networks and local governments in support. They offer a timely model that other Nigerian states — as well as other subnational governments across Africa and elsewhere — should emulate. Several Nigerian states are now considering the idea.

U.S. and international donors could assist these efforts and encourage Nigeria’s federal government to commit its considerable resources to expand the capacity of state peace agencies nationwide. For example, added resources could help these agencies hire more expert staff and build local mediation and restorative justice systems that could reduce tensions in neighborhoods nationwide. Such efforts, as part of a comprehensive peace strategy for the nation, could do much to help Nigeria weather its current security crisis, prevent further escalation, and address the drivers of the nation’s major conflicts in the longer term.

Professor Darren Kew is executive director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is the author of a USIP Special Report, Nigeria’s State Peacebuilding Institutions: Early Success and Continuing Challenges .

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Thursday, May 30, 2024

By: Imam Shefiu Abdulkareem Majemu;  Major Olimma Adinwenka Nueka

In Nigeria, insurgent groups such as Boko Haram use religious extremism as a pretext for their violence — a justification that is often repeated in reporting and analysis on the situation. But many of the country’s religious leaders see this as a harmful narrative that can conflate religious belief with violent conflict, especially when religion can be such a powerful force for peace. Imam Shefiu Abdulkareem Majemu from the Strength in Diversity Development Centre and Major Olimma Adinwenka Nueka of the Ministry of Defence Provost Company discuss how new training for religious actors can help them prevent violent conflict and de-escalate tensions in Nigeria.

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Stability in West Africa: Working With Nigeria’s State Governments

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As coups and other setbacks have stymied military-led efforts to stem upheavals in West Africa and the Sahel, a potent new constituency of leaders has just gathered to plan nonviolent strategies to stabilize their own core area of the region: northern Nigeria. In West Africa’s demographic giant, economic crisis is exacerbating intercommunal conflicts, crime and other violence — and Nigeria’s federalism gives vital roles to its states in addressing roots of these problems. Ten recently elected state governors gathered in Washington last month with peacebuilding and development experts, business leaders and senior U.S. officials; they resolved to strengthen and coordinate state-level stabilization strategies — an initiative that international partners should support.

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Monday, April 22, 2024

In 2023, the Network of Nigerian Facilitators (NNF) helped the Kaduna State peacebuilding institutions negotiate, draft and implement a peace agreement between local groups to resolve a long-standing and violent communal conflict. The agreement built on a 2019 peace agreement also supported by the NNF to resolve a cross-border conflict involving many of the same groups in neighboring Plateau State.

Type: Fact Sheet

For Peace in Africa, Boost Regional Blocs — Like West Africa’s ECOWAS

Friday, April 19, 2024

By: Joseph Sany, Ph.D.

As the United States and international partners work to stabilize Africa’s Sahel region — and to prevent its warfare, violent extremism and armed coups from metastasizing into Africa’s densely populous and strategic Atlantic coast — the West African multinational bloc, ECOWAS, has proven its value in resolving crises and promoting stability. Yet, as global security threats have evolved, ECOWAS, like other multinational bodies, needs updated capacities to meet new challenges. International democracies’ most effective initiative to support West Africa’s stability would be to partner with West Africans to strengthen their vital regional community. A similar strategy is valid across Africa.

Democracy & Governance ;  Global Policy

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Challenges And Solutions For A Free And Credible Electoral Process

• blog / Challenges And Solutions For A Free And Credible Electoral Process

• October 25, 2021
• Mboho Eno Effiong

The outbreak of COVID-19 has made elections within Nigeria enormously challenging and threatens to overturn other democratic ideals including frequent political dialogues, political party campaigns and manifesto interrogations vis-à-vis active citizen participation across the state [1] . Notwithstanding, the latest challenge of COVID-19 include the several intrigues that come into play seeking to affect the electoral process and its outcomes usually by political agents thereby making it difficult to achieve a free, fair and credible electoral outcome.

Although there have been about six successive general elections in Nigeria, there still exists a couple of bottlenecks in the process of election credibility. The amendment of the Electoral Act has attempted to make provisions for some electronic assistance in the reduction of political agents’ interference. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has introduced innovations to boost the credibility and trust of Nigerians in the electoral process such as the use of an electronic register of voters, the issuance of a chip-based Permanent Voter’ Card (PVC) to registered voters, and the use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) for the verification and authentication of voters in 2015 [2] . The year 2019 saw the introduction of the Continuous Accreditation and Voting System (CAVS) designed to prevent the possible disenfranchisement of voters, the mandatory use of the SCR for the accreditation of voters, and the discontinuation of the use of Incident Forms to forestall the fraud or abuse by election officials or other stakeholders at the PUs.

The article thus seeks to review some of the challenges and categorize them while proffering solutions for a free and credible electoral process.

Challenges of Electoral Transparency

Despite the aforementioned improvements in the electoral system, elections appear to be losing credibility with the attendant voter apathy [3] [4] . The summary of the challenges of the electoral system is categorized thus:

• Violence and Intimidation [5] : Violent disruptions in the electoral process occasioned by thugs or security forces actions, which either lead to or have the potential of leading to injuries or total/partial stoppage of the process.
• Voter Inducement: This includes activities that tend to push eligible voters to vote in favour of a particular political party or candidate. This can be monetary, gifts, or “stomach infrastructure” (food supplies given as a bribe to voters to sway the polls).
• Governance: These are issues that do not have any direct bearing with the election but are brought in because political actors are in power or have connections with people in power.
• Disenfranchisement: Issues of not being allowed to vote in elections by conscious and concerted efforts by either political thugs, polling unit agents, security forces, or party agents. This category can be on a personal or group basis.
• Natural Disaster: Incidences that are not man-made but also have adverse effects on the election or electoral process. This includes capsized boats, fire, flood, etc. Such issues can also include pandemics like in the case of the COVID-19. Even when guidelines and regulations [6] are put in place, the voters may still not be able to fully exercise their rights.
• Intra/Inter-Party Squabbles [7] : Issues of in-fighting within or across political parties. Issues can include counter-accusations, candidacy litigations, or substitution.
• Result declaration: Attempts to rig or manipulate already announced or yet to be announced results. It also includes results tweeted or tweets about results either through official channels or otherwise. Under this category, it is possible for mischievous elements to try to mislead the public through fake results which then casts doubts in their minds.

In planning for a free and credible electoral process, the electoral umpire must be seen to be free and fair even in the build-up to the elections. This is further driven by a lot of voter education which, in the case of Nigeria, appears not to be deliberate considering the dwindling number of voters.

Other proposals include:

More strategic engagement of the various organs of government empowered to conduct citizen education like the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, and the voter education unit of the electoral body. Such engagements should be deliberate and focused on the deployment of various languages and media to reach the grassroot populations.

Establishment of electoral offences commission and enforcement of roles and judgement of same.

To avoid misinformation and disinformation, there is a need for strategic partnership between fact-checking organizations and agencies of government referred to in 1. Fact-checking organizations should be strengthened and non-partisan.

More electoral training on citizen engagement should be done for security operatives and kitted with non-compact gears provided for election purposes.

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Title: The Failure of Governance in Nigeria: An Epistocratic Challenge

The failure of governance in Nigeria manifests in the declining capacity of political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as election fraud, terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, armed banditry, and police brutality and put in place the necessary measures to navigate these challenges. In contrast with the current system in which leadership is attained through bribery, intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs an epistocratic system of governance that is founded on the pedigree of its political leaders and the education of its voters.

At the end of the Cold War, African civil society movements striving for more democratic governance began to challenge authoritarian regimes on the continent. Declining living conditions within African countries and the failure of authoritarian African leaders to deliver the promises of economic prosperity they made to encourage the acceptance of development aid fueled the push for change. International donors’ insistence on democratic reform as a precondition for aid gave impetus for Nigerian civil society to push for domestic accountability. Thus, domestic pressure for political pluralism and external pressure for representative governance have both played a role in the calls for democratic reform in Nigeria.  

But despite some successes, corruption and socioeconomic disparities within Nigerian democracy continue to run rampant. Since 1999, the democratic space has been dominated by political elites who consistently violate fundamental principles associated with a liberal democratic system, such as competitive elections, the rule of law, political freedom, and respect for human rights. The outcome of the 2019 presidential election further eroded public trust in the ability of the independent electoral commission to organize competitive elections unfettered by the authoritarian influences of the ruling class. This challenge is an indicator of the systemic failure in Nigeria’s governance system. A continuation of the current system will only accelerate the erosion of public trust and democratic institutions. In contrast with the current system in which votes are attained through empty promises, bribery, voter intimidation, and violence, Nigeria needs a governance system that will enhance the education of its voters and the capability of its leaders.

Statistically speaking, Nigeria has consistently ranked low in the World Governance Index in areas such as government effectiveness, political stability and the presence of violence and terrorism, rule of law, and control of corruption. Nigeria is perceived in the 2020 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a highly corrupt country with a score of 25/100 while its corruption ranking increased from 146 in 2019 to 149 in 2020 out of 180 countries surveyed. While President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election on his promise to fight insecurity and corruption, his promises went unfulfilled; Boko Haram continues to unleash unspeakable violence on civilians while the fight against corruption is counterproductive.  

At the core of Nigeria’s systemic failure is the crisis of governance, which manifests in the declining capacity of the state to cope with a range of internal political and social upheavals. There is an expectation for political leaders to recognize systemic risks such as terrorist attacks, herder-farmer conflict, and police brutality and put in place the necessary infrastructure to gather relevant data for problem solving. But the insufficiency of political savvy required to navigate the challenges that Nigeria faces has unleashed unrest across the nation and exacerbated existing tensions. The #ENDSARS Protests against police brutality in 2020 is one of the manifestations of bad governance. 

The spiral of violence in northern Nigeria in which armed bandits engage in deadly planned attacks on communities, leading to widespread population displacement, has become another grave security challenge that has sharpened regional polarization. Because some public servants are usually unaware of the insecurities faced by ordinary Nigerians, they lack the frame of reference to make laws that address the priorities of citizens. The crisis of governance is accentuated by a democratic culture that accords less importance to the knowledge and competence that political leaders can bring to public office. These systemic challenges have bred an atmosphere of cynicism and mistrust between citizens and political leaders at all levels of government.  

Political elites in Nigeria also exploit poverty and illiteracy to mobilize voters with food items such as rice, seasoning, and money. The rice is usually packaged strategically with the image of political candidates and the parties they represent. The assumption is that people are more likely to vote for a politician who influences them with food than one who only brings messages of hope. The practice of using food to mobilize voters is commonly described as “ stomach infrastructure ” politics. The term “stomach infrastructure” arose from the 2015 election in Ekiti state when gubernatorial candidate Ayodele Fayosi mobilized voters with food items and defeated his opponent Kayode Fayemi. It is undeniable that Nigerian political culture rewards incompetent leaders over reform-minded leaders who demonstrate the intellectualism and problem-solving capabilities needed to adequately address systemic issues of poverty and inequality. 

Jason Brennan   describes the practice of incentivizing people to be irrational and ignorant with their votes as the unintended consequence of democracy. Brennan believes specific expertise is required to tackle socio-economic issues, so political power should be apportioned based on expert knowledge. As Brennan suggests, Nigeria lacks a system of governance in which leadership is based on capability. Rather, the political system in Nigeria is dominated by individuals who gain power through nepotism rather than competence, influence voters with food rather than vision, and consolidate power through intimidation or by incentivizing constituents with material gifts which they frame as “empowerment” to keep them subservient and loyal political followers. By implication, the failure of governance in Nigeria is arguably the result of incompetent leadership.

Nigeria needs a new model of governance in which political leadership is based on the knowledge and competence of both political leaders and the electorate. One solution is to establish what Brennan refers to as epistocracy , which is a system of governance in which the votes of politically informed citizens should count more than the less informed. For  J ustin Klocksiem , epistocracy represents a political system in which political power rests exclusively on highly educated citizens. This idea drew its philosophical influence from  John Stuart Mill , who believed that the eligibility to vote should be accorded to individuals who satisfy certain educational criteria. The notion that educational attainment should be the prerequisite for the electorate to choose their leaders as proposed by Brennan, Klocksiem, and Mill is an important proposition that should be taken seriously. 

However, one cannot ignore that such thinking originates from societies where civic education is high and the electorate can make informed choices about leadership. In Nigeria, the majority of citizens are uneducated on political issues. Simultaneously, those who are highly educated are increasingly becoming indifferent to political participation; they have lost faith in the power of their votes and the integrity of the political system. For an epistocratic system to work in Nigeria, there must be significant improvements in literacy levels so that citizens are educated about the issues and can use their knowledge to make informed decisions about Nigeria’s political future. 

It is important to mention that Nigeria’s political elites have exploited illiteracy to reinforce ethnic, religious, and political divisions between groups that impede democratic ideals. Since the resultant effect of epistocracy is to instill knowledge, raise consciousness and self-awareness within a polity anchored on the failed system of democracy, decisions that promote the education of uninformed voters are the rationale for an epistocratic system of governance. The Constitution must ensure that only citizens who can formulate policies and make informed decisions in the public’s best interest can run for public office. When the Constitution dictates the standard of epistocratic governance, informed citizens will be better equipped to champion political leadership or determine the qualifications of their leaders. Epistocratic governance will be the alternative to Nigeria’s current dysfunctional democratic system while retaining the aspects of liberal democracy that maintain checks and balances.  

We are not, however, oblivious that implementing such an epistocratic system of governance in Nigeria potentially contributes to more inequality given its highly undemocratic and exclusive nature. Our argument takes into consideration the contextual realities of poverty and illiteracy and the realization that poor and illiterate constituents have less power to evaluate the credibility of public servants or hold them accountable. The benefits of electing epistocratic leaders are that many citizens would desire to be educated in preparation for leadership. The more educated the population the more likely it is that political leaders will be held accountable. However, the kind of education that is needed to significantly transform the governance landscape in Nigeria is civic education. 

We propose three policies to promote epistocratic governance in Nigeria. First, aspiring leaders must demonstrate the intellectual pedigree to translate knowledge into effective, transparent, and accountable governance that leads to national prosperity. As Rotimi Fawole notes, the bar should be higher for those aspiring to executive or legislative office “to improve the ideas that are put forward and the intellectual rigor applied to the discussions that underpin our statehood.”

Second, the government must increase access to education through government-sponsored initiatives that integrate civic education into school curriculums. Currently, little opportunity exists for young Nigerians, particularly those in underfunded public education systems, to learn about their civic roles at the local, state, national, and international levels, including how to emerge as participating citizens through the academic curriculum. 

Third, the government should engage the support of local NGOs to promote civic education across Nigeria in culturally appropriate ways. The NGOs should be empowered to define the legal concept of citizenship and summarize specific civil rights enshrined in the Constitution into a Charter of Rights and Responsibilities modeled after the Canadian Charter. The Charter should include value positions essential to an effective democracy, such as the rights of citizens, social justice, accountable governance, and rule of law. It can then be commissioned as a resource for civics education in Nigeria.  

This article recognizes that Nigeria is grappling with governance challenges orchestrated by two decades of a failed democratic project. Governing these challenges requires knowledgeable leaders and an equally informed electorate. Like any new experiment, there are concerns about the viability of epistocracy as a political system, particularly in a Nigerian context fraught with ethnoreligious and political challenges. But Nigeria will only have effective governance when the right people are saddled with the responsibility to govern. However, change cannot be spontaneous. The implementation of an epistocratic system of governance within the Nigerian context must be incremental, bearing in mind that Nigeria’s democracy is still evolving.  

Obasesam Okoi is Assistant Professor of Justice and Peace Studies at the University of St. Thomas , Minnesota, where he teaches Intro to Justice and Peace Studies, Public Policy Analysis and Advocacy, and Social Policy in a Changing World. His research interests and expertise include governance and peacebuilding, insurgency and counterinsurgency, assessment of post-conflict peacebuilding programs and policies, and peace engineering. He has published in prominent peer-reviewed journals such as World Development, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, African Security, and Peace Review. 

MaryAnne Iwara is a Senior Jennings Randolph Fellow in the program on Countering Violent Extremism at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), USA, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria. Very recently, she was a Policy Leader Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Leipzig, Germany.

Image Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (via Creative Commons)

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Nigeria’s federal system still isn’t working: what should change

Professor of Political Institutions, Governance and Public Policy, University of Ibadan

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Emmanuel Remi Aiyede does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Nigeria is a troubled federation. Its federal character has been a subject of debate since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Various groups have claimed to be marginalised and not sufficiently represented in the central offices of the national government. Some say it’s not even a federation so much as a unitary state, created by the military.

The oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta are among the groups that have militated for change. They feel neglected in development and dissatisfied with environmental degradation. Their call is for control of the wealth from resources in their region.

Some state governors who felt shortchanged by the federal structure have also called for ‘true federalism’. These states, largely from the southern part of the country, argue that the federation favours parts of the country that produced key actors in the military regimes. Even President Muhammadu Buhari has made this call .

Other groups, like the Arewa Consultative Forum (Hausa-Fulani), Afenifere (Yoruba) and Ohaneze (Igbo), also insist on federal restructuring. Some have called for a return to the regions of the 1950s, others for secession and the establishment of Biafra or Oduduwa republics.

Calls for federal restructuring have become a way of expressing dissatisfaction with poor economic performance and misgovernance in Nigeria. On the other hand, even elite groups, who mobilise as ethnic factions and compete for power and resources, point to the country’s poor performance as evidence that the federal structure is not working.

Misgovernance and poor economic development are visible in deplorable infrastructure , high youth unemployment , widespread poverty and conflicts. In 2018, Nigeria overtook India as the country with the highest number of poor people. Banditry , insurgency and religious extremism have multiplied.

Nigerians may agree that the federal system hinders the country’s progress. But they haven’t agreed on how to change it. No structural changes have been made since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

The problems with Nigeria’s federal structure

Complaints about the federation structure date back to the pre-independence period, when minority groups felt dominated by majority groups.

The Willink Commission , which looked into the matter, recommended the inclusion of a bill of rights in the Independence Constitution, rather than creating states for minority groups. But by 1963 the carving up of the country had begun, and eventually by 1 October 1996 there were 36 states.

The creation of states grants access to public offices and infrastructure for local elites. It also creates new majority and minority groups in the new states. Unviable states have proliferated, dependent on the common pool revenues and unable to fund their bureaucracies.

Scholars have emphasised that the fiscal arrangement, especially the formula for sharing the common pool account, is not an incentive for states to produce revenue. States angle to get more revenue share from the central pool rather than generate revenue within their territories.

State governors complain that the share of revenue that goes to the national government is too large, making competition for offices at the centre too intense. They call for revision to grant more revenue to the states. Some of the governors also call for more responsibilities, to get access to ways of generating revenue. Some governors believe that decentralisation, when extended to policing , would also improve security.

Attempts at solving the problem

In 1995, six geopolitical zones were created and the zoning and rotation principle was introduced. The idea was that key political offices would be rotated among the six zones in the country, among the districts in the case of the states and so on.

A number of talk shops on the restructuring of the country have been held over the years, but the outputs were never implemented. These included the National Political Reform Conference (2005) , the National Conference (2014) and the All Progress Congress Party Committee Report on True Federalism (2018).

I argued in a paper that Nigeria’s preoccupation with federal restructuring has been driven by desperate competition for power and the perks and preferment that come with it. It is not based on the objectives of the constitution:

good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people.

Instructively, the recent #EndSARS protest by Nigerian youths has been focused on ending police brutality and bad governance. Apart from these demands, they have emphasised the high cost of governance, the excessively high remuneration for political office holders, widespread corruption and lack of compassion of the political leadership. Federal restructuring has not been high on the agenda of the youths because of these more concrete issues they confront in their daily lives.

The present federal structure is not fit for the 21st century because it is the product of political competition among elite groups that rely on state power for affluence and influence. It is also a competition devoid of commitment to empower ordinary citizens, reduce inequality, advance economic competitiveness or improve state performance in service delivery. As long as elites aren’t expected to carry out these commitments, the political structure will not easily yield to constitutional innovations.

What should be done

Nigeria’s federal system needs to be rejigged to promote economic prosperity and accommodate its diverse peoples. Economic performance and the reduction of poverty must be the prime basis for reviewing the structure of the federation.

This means that additional decentralisation measures must be carried out to promote innovation and healthy competition among the states for productive activities. The leadership needs to practise and uphold fairness and responsibility in governance. Government bureaucracies must be nimble and oriented to getting results.

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A Way Out of Nigeria’s Political Crisis?

Elections and Voting

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has broken with President Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in favor of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). This move, along with numerous other defections from the ruling party, may be a sign that the hitherto badly splintered ruling elites may be coming together again in the face of the Boko Haram insurgency, corruption, incompetency of the federal government, and the Abuja government’s declining economic performance.

Opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari’s positive polling data and the anecdotal evidence of his growing appeal in all parts of the country and across religious and ethnic lines may reflect this emerging elite consensus. A largely reunited political class in favor of Buhari would make it difficult for Jonathan and the PDP to rig the presidential elections.

Postponed, ostensibly to provide space for the security services to defeat Boko Haram, the presidential election is now scheduled for March 28 . After five years of failing to curb the radical Islamist insurgency, it is difficult to imagine that the security situation in the northeast will change much in just six weeks. Even if the government recaptures towns from Boko Haram, the large number of internally displaced persons and refugees, likely Buhari supporters, still would not be able to vote. But, if Buhari sweeps much of the nation, then the possible disenfranchisement of Buhari’s supporters in the northeast would be of minor importance. A Buhari administration elected in a credible election with support from across the country would be well-placed to address Nigeria’s extraordinary challenges and would signal the end of the current political crisis.

However, there are potential flies in the ointment of this optimistic scenario. The first is the extent to which Nigerians will vote along ethnic and religious lines. The country is about half Christian, and the recent presidential campaigning appealed heavily to religious and ethnic identities. The second issue that could mire the electoral process is the role of money. Due to his access to government oil revenue Jonathan has far more funds than Buhari does. He may be able to “buy” an electoral victory as most Nigerians remain desperately poor and the country’s elites increasingly need money as oil revenue and the value of the Naira continue to fall. (However, in the past, Nigerian political figures have accepted payoffs without fulfilling their side of the bargain.) Finally, Buhari represents a real threat to those deeply mired in corruption. With an annual security budget of five to six billion dollars and an unimpressive track record against Boko Haram, the military would appear especially vulnerable to anti-corruption measures.

Under these circumstances, would the military in conjunction with parts of the current ruling party allow Buhari to become president? It was the military that ended Buhari’s twenty month tenure as military chief of state in 1985 largely because of his campaign against corruption . It may be worth remembering that in 1993, the military refused to allow Moshood Abiola to become president, despite his victory in Nigeria’s freest and most credible election ( no official election results were ever released ).

The Nigerian security services are much weaker now than they were in Abiola’s time. Still, they retain more coercive power than any other group of Nigeria, but only if they are united. That is a big ‘if.’

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Enhancing Youth Political Participation and Civic Engagement in Nigeria: Strategies for a Vibrant Democracy

By Faith Chiazor, EPLF Fellow 2023 Cohort

Nigeria, often hailed as the “Giant of Africa,” is a nation with immense potential. As a significant player on the global stage, Nigeria stands at a critical juncture in its democratic journey. With approximately 60% of its population under 35, it is no gainsaying that at the heart of a thriving democracy lies in its youth political participation and civic engagement. However, Nigeria’s democratic landscape has been an area of concern, as youth involvement has been alarmingly low, especially in actual party politics, which is the ground structure of political participation. They face an uphill battle regarding political participation, such as the widespread political apathy fueled by disillusionment with the current system. Youth often feel marginalized and disconnected from the political establishment, leading them to disengage from the political process. Also, the exorbitant cost of political campaigns prevents aspiring young leaders from contesting for office, creating an unfair barrier to entry for those eager to contribute positively to governance, hence stifling fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. I feel safe to term this situation as ‘not-too-young-to-run, but too-broke-to-contest”. Additionally, political violence and the prevalence of electoral malpractices have eroded trust in the political system, further alienating young people from participating in the democratic process.

Overcoming these challenges can yield transformative benefits in Nigeria. One pivotal advantage lies in integrating youths’ unique perspectives, experiences, and concerns into decision-making processes. This diversity of input fosters more inclusive policies that cater to the needs of all population segments, leading to a more equitable and just society. Similarly, youth participation nurtures a sense of responsibility and citizenship among young Nigerians. When youths feel valued as stakeholders in the nation’s political landscape, they become more invested in tackling its challenges and actively work towards sustainable solutions. This heightened sense of civic duty can foster a decline in apathy and ignite a culture of active citizenship, where young people become catalysts for positive change in their communities. 

To pave the way for a vibrant democracy, concerted efforts must be made to bolster youth political participation and civic engagement. A foundational strategy involves creating and supporting mentorship programs, which can be a powerful tool in guiding aspiring young politicians and change-makers. These mentorship initiatives offer valuable insights into the complexities and opportunities of politics and empower young Nigerians with the knowledge and confidence to navigate the political landscape effectively. To address financial barriers to political participation, the government should introduce more pro-youth reforms to regulate campaign spending and promote transparent funding sources. By leveling the playing field, more youths will be encouraged to participate, knowing that financial constraints will not be an insurmountable barrier to their ambitions, as the case is today. This will provide opportunities for fresh voices to contribute to the nation’s development. In addition, leveraging technology and social media can play a pivotal role in enhancing youth political engagement. Social media platforms provide an ideal space to connect, organize, and raise awareness about political issues. Political leaders and organizations can utilize these platforms to engage with young citizens and solicit feedback, making the political process more accessible and interactive for youths.

In summation, embracing youths’ energy and creativity can unlock Nigeria’s potential and usher in an era of inclusive policies and accountable leadership. A vibrant democracy, with youths at its core, will pave the way for a prosperous, harmonious, and sustainable future for Nigeria.

Comments (2)

Amazing content. Great recommendations.

Our population as youth should be a strength to explore. One major thing we need to do is to harness our capacities and form a robust alliance across boards. We can influence the system and gradually take over not just in politics but in other spheres of life. If you ask me, I would say we are already commanding attention. We just need to consolidate our existing drive.

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Solutions to problems of ethnicity in Nigeria

National unity is the most important factor that holds the country together. Nobody will fight for the strange people; nobody will care about the parted country and no country will develop and work together without the idea of national unity.

Ways of solving the problems of ethnicity in Nigeria

To overcome the problems of ethnicity in Nigeria and reach the principle goal – national unity, it is necessary to unite people in as many aspects of life as it is possible. Here we are going to list five ways of solving the problems of ethnicity in Nigeria that can unite the nation on the governmental and social level.

1. Economic cooperation

It is necessary to provide the citizens with the universal system of goods and unite regions depending on the natural resources. For example, the Edo supply country with cocoa, but receive sugar cane from the Sokoto people. The same interaction can be introduced in the other sectors of the economy.

Top 5 causes of the current religious crisis in Nigeria and possible solutions

2. Political and state cooperation

The creation of common political parties and the creation of road and railway transport connection between the lands of different ethnic groups must be taken into account. Besides, the government itself has to start thinking, how can ethnic conflict be resolved and the government has to be interested in solving the current problems of ethnicity. There must be representatives of all (and even minor) cultures in the parliament to satisfy the interests of all people of Nigeria.

3. Youth education

It is more difficult to influence the opinion of senior people who can still somehow (maybe because of personal reasons) support ethnic conflict in Nigeria than to influence the formation of another worldview of the young people. The subject of intercultural interaction must be included in the curriculum. Children have to attend the meeting with the representatives of other Nigerian cultures. There they can exchange the history of cultures, the cultural experience, believes, food recipes, cultural heritage, and traditions. Nothing stops aggression, discrimination, and hatred better than broad worldview provided by education.

What are the 10 major political problems in Nigeria today?

4. Secular activities

The organisation of national festivals, celebration, the introduction of traditional holidays and even religion will contribute to the possible solutions to ethnic conflicts. It is not easy to change or modify ethnic habits, but it is indispensable to do the best to find common traits in all cultures and assure people that they have to find a compromise and accept changes in favour of Nigeria's unity.

READ ALSO: Ethnic groups in Nigeria

5. Inter-tribal marriage

The encouraging of intercultural marriage on the governmental level will surely solve the problems of ethnicity. Intercultural tribes can be supported financially and officially congratulated to show respect to people who contribute to the creation of a unied Nigerian nation.

READ ALSO: Ethnic groups in Nigeria and their mode of dressing

How to end ethnic conflict

The previous five solutions were dependent on the government, but the next ways of solving Nigerian ethnic problems depend on people.

Advantages and disadvantages of democracy

You personally can contribute to cultural integration. Become a volunteer, travel around Nigeria and promote your culture, tell its stories and present its history and unusual believes. You can also contribute to media and Internet propaganda. Write posts about your own intercultural experience and support groups and articles about ethnic integration.

READ ALSO: Types of culture in Nigeria

Start with yourself, it always works. Take parts in meeting and parades promoting Nigerian, but not tribal unity. Meet friends from other cultures, marry a girl from the other tribe and develop the idea of the difference between tribes as a positive idea. Tell your thoughts at the family reunion dinner and share them with a friend. Do your best to introduce peace and equality into your Nigerian culture.

So, there is the problem of ethnic hatred. But today many people claim that this is not the hatred between people, but the hatred among politicians. That is why we proposed the best ways to solve ethnic problems on the level of the political reformation. As you see, every person can contribute to solving this problem. Fortunately, Nigeria is a democratic country at least formally but ruled by its people, and if people do not want hatred, no other factors can influence it.

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READ ALSO: Importance of culture in Nigeria

Source: Legit.ng

Adrianna Simwa (Lifestyle writer) Adrianna Simwa is a content writer at Legit.ng where she has worked since mid-2022. She has written for many periodicals on a variety of subjects, including news, celebrities, and lifestyle, for more than three years. She has worked for The Hoth, The Standard Group and Triple P Media. Adrianna graduated from Nairobi University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 2020. In 2023, Simwa finished the AFP course on Digital Investigation Techniques. You can reach her through her email: [email protected]

Reducing inequality and poverty in Nigeria: An alternative approach

President Buhari’s last months is packed with a devastating feedback loop of macroeconomic and social issues, coupled with another outcome of the gravest forces of…

President Buhari’s last months is packed with a devastating feedback loop of macroeconomic and social issues, coupled with another outcome of the gravest forces of our time: economic inequality. Of course, the existing issues like extreme poverty, high cost of living, insecurity, and more deepening inequality; likewise, inequality worsens the spread of these issues especially in Northern Nigeria.

Regardless of opinions, the administration will be judged on these facts. Notwithstanding, widening income inequalities is the most defining challenge of our time, as noted by American President Obama in 2013.

But unlike the other countries where poverty is diminishing in absolute terms and inequality is increasing, Nigeria is faced with rising poverty and widening inequality. The World Bank report highlights that more than two out of five people in Nigeria, 46 per cent of the population, live in extreme poverty. The relative income has not grown for over six years, making them monetarily poor. The cost of living has increased due to the high inflation rate. These people are also disadvantaged in education, infrastructure and other basic needs by the state and federal governments. Most of them are located in Northern Nigeria.

Comparatively, Nigeria’s three richest men have a combined wealth of $23.9 billion, according to the 2021 Forbes list of Africa’s billionaires. Aliko Dangote is worth $12.1 billion, Mike Adenuga is worth $6.3 billion, and Abdussamad Rabiu is worth $5.5 billion. According to Oxfam, the wealth of these three men increased by $6.9 billion since the pandemic. If 64-year-old Dangote spent $1 million every day (414 million Naira) without reinvestment, it would take him 33 years to exhaust his fortune – when he is 97 years old. The wealth of these individuals could end extreme poverty at a national level. Yet, in 2021, the number of people in extreme poverty had increased by seven million as Nigeria maintained its position as the world’s poverty capital.

But there is a silver lining to all these. According to World Bank data, the life expectancy of Nigerians has increased from 46 years in 1999 to 55 years in 2019. It is one of the few real successes of this government, although the ones before it should be credited too. Readers may draw opposing opinions even if they agree on the same set of facts. These should give us all hope.

Like Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz’s, the International Monetary Fund showed that inequalities tend to slow a country’s growth and make growth more volatile. Research by the IMF showed that raising the income share of the poorest 20 per cent of the population contributes to the country’s growth. In contrast, increasing the income share of the country’s wealthiest people decreases its growth. That is why the countries under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development rejected the idea of trickle-down economics – a means of spreading income from the rich to the poor. It was popular under the Reagan and Thatcher administrations – in the 1980s. There is overwhelming evidence that inequalities are not inevitable, poverty more so. Inequalities and poverty are socially reproduced and can be changed.

Despite promises to tackle corruption and injustices, the cost of governance contributes to the problem. According to Senator Shehu Sani’s revelation, Nigeria’s top politicians are paid over 750 times more than a school teacher and 150 times more than a policeman or other security personnel. Indeed it would take a typical worker on a minimum wage 102 years to rake in the annual amount handed to a Nigerian Senator. Research shows that reducing the gap between rich and poor is not limited to the good for the economy. Evidence shows that countries that reduce inequality in their economy have seen increased life expectancy, higher educational attainment, more social mobility, trust and more. These countries include Namibia, Togo, and other South American countries with a similar economic profile to Nigeria. The point here is that fairer, more equal societies benefit everyone. So, the question is how to tackle them.

Redistribution of resources is vital. Changes to the current policy to address the unfair tax burden on businesses is imperative. Doing so could potentially keep millions of people out of poverty every year instead of pushing seven million people into poverty every year. Increasing inequality was placing a more significant fraction of the nation’s income in the hands of those facing higher tax rates. The Nigerian tax system is regressive, which means the lower-income individuals contribute more to the government revenue than wealthy individuals. The public resources are also spent unfairly and inefficiently. Changing to a progressive wealth tax policy could lead to improvement and efficiency. A progressive wealth tax is an annual tax imposed on an individual’s net wealth, where the wealthier individuals pay more. Of course, the ability to pay and other principles of taxation should be considered.

Oxfam’s 2022 inequality report shows that Nigeria has 4,690 individuals whose net worth is at least $5 million and about 250 individuals with over $50 million. The report indicates that imposing an annual tax of 2% on wealth over $5m, 3% for those with $50m, and 5% on the three billionaires would raise $4.1 billion every year. If the wealth tax was raised for the higher earners, say 5% on wealth over $50 million and 10% over $1 billion, the annual revenue generated would be over $6 billion. The yearly wealth tax would be enough to provide basic needs, like adequate water supply, homes, schools, hospitals, electricity, and roads, for a large part of the population. All things being equal, investments like these would reduce the existing social problems of poverty and inequality in our societies.

A lesson from the Clinton administration in 1993 can shed light on the success of this policy. As the American government faced an ever-increasing deficit, tax increases appeared necessary. A proposal was put that those who had benefited most from the economic expansion and tax cuts of the 1980s should pay more taxes. Only the top 1.2% of taxpayers experienced rate increases. For example, married couples with incomes above $140,000 had their income tax rates increased, from a marginal tax rate of approximately 28 to 36 or 39.6%. As it turned out, the tax revenues raised on upper-income individuals in the years following 1993 were far higher than had been anticipated. The increased revenues were primarily responsible for eliminating the deficit in the late 1990s. It is worth noting that Professor Martin Feldstein, Reagan’s chairman of Economic Advisers, argued that the tax increase would raise less revenue than what was estimated. But history showed he predicted wrongly.

In the context of Nigeria’s macroeconomic and social crisis, turning a blind eye to inequality would prove disastrous in years to come. Like Clinton, a political will to tackle these issues is required. This year, 2022, will be the last full fiscal year of President’s Buhari, where he has the opportunity to make amends.

Dr Aminu is a senior lecturer in Economics at Cardiff Metropolitan University (Twitter: @AminuEcon)

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POLITICAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: A VERITABLE INSTRUMENT FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2020, Multi- Disciplinary Journal of Academic Excellence

The irregularities that fraught the political process of the Nigerian State stems from the deviant perception, orientation and attitudinal disposition of the political class and the masses. These irregularities which bedevil the nation are shown in the ethos of leadership and followership, the intolerance of election, failed roles of educative institutions, low level of patriotism and popular participation etc. This paper revealed that these absurdities accentuate the expediency of civic reorientation and positive attitude which can only be facilitated by the process of political education. Consequently, the paper argued that enhancing institutional efficiency of agencies of public enlightenment is timely and expedient for national orientation and development. Hence, the paper opined that political education is a process of orientation that could elicit patriotism and a sense of responsibility which are imperative for national development. Basically, education is intrinsically inter-linked with national development and is therefore the bedrock of any meaningful and sustainable national development of a developing economy such as Nigeria. In this discourse, the nature, content and trends of skill and knowledge inculcating process (otherwise known as education) gained relevance within the context of politics and governance. Although political education is not novel in the literature and reality of politics, Nigeria, as a developing economy and democratizing polity, exigently needs political education to mitigate its myriad of challenges.

Related Papers

Sa'Aondo

Saaondo simon

Abstract The impact of politics can only be felt on the people through their participation in politics either positive or negative, this ascertain the level of legitimacy of such government. However, absence of political education in the society promotes electoral violence, divide the people along political parties, and promotes election malpractice and post-election crises. This paper therefore, aimed at finding out; the role played by political education on sustainable national development in Nigeria, with the view of examining the role of political education through the process of political culture which increases political awareness of the people and enables them to have incessant information about their political system. Furthermore, the concepts of political education and national development which serve as cordial points of discussion is exhaustively treated. Thus, the paper adopts secondary sources for data collection. The paper adopts the theory of political culture as its theoretical framework. The paper argues that, if political education is employed in Nigerian democracy, it will promote national unity, enhance nation building, promote political participation and it will help the citizens to hold those in government accountable for failures and accolade them for successes. The paper recommends that concerted efforts should be made to brings about political education of Nigerians citizen. This could be achieved by making political education compulsory at all levels of the educational system, televised on national media, state and private owned radios, television channels, telecommunication, publishing it on the social media and in the print media.

Canadian Social Science

Dr. Ebenezer Oni

Arguably, political education is lacking in Nigeria (people do not get proper orientation from Government, the newspapers only set agenda for the citizens to be battling, most of which are not always correct), and that is why coordinated efforts by the masses towards development is largely unattainable as the people are disconnected from what the Government is doing. Consequently, the focus of this study is specifically to appraise the extent to which the Nigerian Political system nurtures politically active citizens that are products of effective political education and serve as facilitators for the development of the Nigerian society. The research combines the presuppositions and assumptions of agenda setting theory of the mass media with that of communication theory of politics in its theoretical framework, reviewed a number of existing literatures on the subject matter, and adopted survey research design within the framework of a case study method with questionnaire as its instrument of data collection. The study reveals that political education is still rudimentary, inadequate and mostly an one-way channel that is neither adequate to prepare respondents for political activities nor effective enough to serve feedback purposes. The research concluded that political education plays a very important and significant role in the development of any community. A role that shapes the political landscape of such a community as the extent of participation and the consequent level of development ensured through this means are all a factor of and dependent on the type, nature and quality of political education received by the people.

https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR_Vol.5_Issue.11_Nov2018/Abstract_IJRR0010.html

International Journal of Research & Review (IJRR)

The attainment of political stability appears not to be dependent on the type of government (democratic or authoritarian) or ideology (capitalism or communism) a country adopts. While some nations are democratic, capitalist and politically stable (e.g. USA), some are authoritarian, communist, and politically stable as well (e.g. China). Some countries are democratic, with a mixed economy and politically unstable (e.g. Nigeria).The paper articulated the positive impacts civic education can make to enhance political stability in Nigeria. This is done by attempting to explore ways in which civic education can be repositioned for the attainment of political stability in Nigeria. In its attempt, the paper considered the politically stable climate of authoritarian China and the unstable political climate of democratic Bangladesh. This is necessary as civic education optimally strives in a democratic setting, like Nigeria, though politically unstable. The definition of democracy as an institutionalized form of government is that which enables the citizens to express their rights and perform their duties with the required skills and dispositions, necessitated the paper"s advocacy for the repositioning of civic education to focus more on teaching on responsibility. This is considered from the perspectives of individual and shared or multi-level responsibility.

Silas Akpan , silas Ekereke

This paper discussed the contributions of education to politics as medium for grass root participation. It emphasized the fact that participation in politics is as a result of the achievement in education. This stressed the reason why the whole world focused more attention on education as an instrument of enlightening the people especially from the grass root to embrace politics with consequential hope of human advancement in terms of living conditions and exposure. Education is an instrument par excellent that breaks barrier of communication in any nation with different languages like the case of Nigeria; it is the life of a nation who believe in oneness, and also the foundation of moral regeneration and revival of its people. It has been observed that no nation rises above the level of its education since it is the only medium by which individual has to develop themselves. For effective participation in politics especially the grass root, education has to be given its rightful place as proper funding from federal, state and local governments should be made a priority to make the sector produce the desired results which will stimulate political participation. In Nigeria for instance, much is not being derived from the education due to neglect on the part of government, corruption, policy discontinuity, infrastructure decay and lack of man power. To make the grass root participate in politics fully, education should be a priority and corruption be seen as death trap. Useful suggestions and recommendations are made. Keywords: Education, Politics, Political Participation, grassroots, Nigeria. Pp 151-157 in the Journal .

Mazlina Mat Isa

A r t i c l e I n f o r m a t i o n A b s t r a c t Politics and education are very important aspect of educational management practices in Nigeria in the sense that education is an offshoot of the political system. Politics fashions education and education modifies politics. This paper examines the concepts of politics, education and the relationship between politics and education in Nigeria.

Public Policy and Administration Research

Adedayo Muyiwa

The history of the linkage between politics and education is rooted in the development of the civil society itself (Adelabu, 2004:188). It is based on this understanding that this paper engages how the interaction between education and politics has been impacting on national transformation in Nigeria. From the colonial administration in Nigeria till the contemporary political dispensations, politics has exerted implied or expressed influence on education policies and their implementations. Successive regimes and administrations in Nigeria have seen education, through their manifestoes and actions, as a political tool. The paper focuses on tertiary education as the case study but with some reference to primary and secondary education. Through theoretical understanding of relevant literatures, it is observed in this paper that the inconsistency in the education policies and programmes in Nigeria is as a result of the interplay between politics and education. This paper is therefore of...

The impact of politics can only be felt on the people through their participation in politics either positive or negative, this ascertain the level of legitimacy of such government. However, absence of political education in the society promotes electoral violence, divide the people along political parties, and promotes election malpractice and post-election crises. This paper therefore, aimed at finding out; the role played by political education on sustainable national development in Nigeria, with the view of examining the role of political education through the process of political culture which increases political awareness of the people and enables them to have incessant information about their political system. Furthermore, the concepts of political education and national development which serve as cordial points of discussion is exhaustively treated. Thus, the paper adopts secondary sources for data collection. The paper adopts the theory of political culture as its theoretical framework. The paper argues that, if political education is employed in Nigerian democracy, it will promote national unity, enhance nation building, promote political participation and it will help the citizens to hold those in government accountable for failures and accolade them for successes. The paper recommends that concerted efforts should be made to brings about political education of Nigerians citizen. This could be achieved by making political education compulsory at all levels of the educational system, televised on national media, state and private owned radios, television channels, telecommunication, publishing it on the social media and in the print media.

SAPIENTIA FOUNDATION JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, SCIENCES AND GENDER STUDIES

https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR_Vol.5_Issue.8_Aug2018/Abstract_IJRR0013.html

Politics and participation in it shapes, influences and determines the quality of lives of citizens and the directions that development of institutions in the State take. Citizens and regions of a state that play active part in politics influence developments in their favour in ways that others in the same state cannot achieve, no matter the pedigree of physical force and violence they mount on the state. Active participation in politics is also litmus for determining true citizenship or index for demonstrating nationalism, that is, love one has for his father land as well as identity for admitting states into comity of civilized states. Paradoxically, there is a global apathy to politics and participation in politics. Using the philosophical approach, this paper makes a case on how innovations in education via curriculum and pedagogy can become strong platforms for promoting politics and participation in it especially in Nigeria. The paper recommends that repackaging some subjects eg political education, social studies, moral education etc in the curriculum and existentially teaching them in ways that stimulate critical thinking in learners especially their show of interest in politics and participation in it in a way that learners see their exploration as instruments through which they can politically solve their individual and general problems can be right directions through which education can be reinvented for solving problems of states.

Developing Countries Studies

Dr. Chiedozie O . Okafor , NANJI R UMOH

One of the organs of political education is the political party. Political parties are also the candle lights that lead and provide guidance to the majority of the electorate when general elections are imminent. Through their manifestos, they raise national consciousness by shedding more light on the activities and plans of the incumbent or incoming governments. Despite the performance of these functions by political parties in Nigeria, democratic governance over the years has reflected a divergence from the promises made to the electorate while mirroring the deeply ingrained partisan voter alignment that asserts the interests and dominance of the 'few' to the detriment of those of the majority. The propositions of the elite theory and the dominant-ideology and sociological models provide the basis on which the renegation of campaign promises by the elected individuals thrives. The paper reiterates the calls for professional political education to improve the status quo. The processes focusing on voter de-alignment and realignment should engage the electorate through (re)socialization mechanisms that enhance their capacities for the in-depth evaluation of politics and related issues. Further, they should reposition the electorate on the requisite pedestal which on one hand affords effective political exchange, interactions and renegotiations for their future and on the other, does not relegate them. The recommendations of the paper include political counseling proposals for empowering the electorate with modalities for redefining and reestablishing beneficial relationships with their political leaders. The proper implementation of these strategies is expected to elicit tangible political sensitization, value-reorientation of the electorate and a redesign of Nigeria's political landscape that will culminate in the achievement of political-cum-socioeconomic growth and development. Introduction Formal or informal education resonates in all facets of human endeavour and is the bedrock upon which human behaviour is developed. Putnam (quoted in Campbell, 2006) observes: 'Education is one of the most important predictors-usually, in fact, the most important predictor-of many forms of social participation-from voting to associational membership, to chairing a local committee, to hosting a dinner party, to giving blood…' The essence of education of any kind-political education inclusive-is to ensure a degree of behavior modification that determines a relationship between attitudes, behavioral intentions and behavior (Dekker, 1991). Political education as with socialization, is influenced by the family, media, school, religious and peer groups, workplace relationships, and so forth. Pandey and Kumar, (1977) hold that political education is a process whereby people learn several matters including how to socialize within political culture, how to think and act on politics and government, how to adapt to the political process, how to shape political systems and how to make decisions. Dag, Sozer & Sel (2015) describe political education as a process through which citizens internalize the set of values of the political system. Pacho (2014) noted that political education enables the sensitization of individuals to their rights, duties and obligations as enshrined in Article 21 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states the rights of individuals to partake in the government of his or her own country directly or through freely elected representatives. What is paramount in the positions of these scholars is the notion of political education representing a socialization process through which individuals acquire knowledge about the political happenings around them, about responsibilities attached to rights, and about the formation of appropriate responses towards the different political processes. Political education or socialization therefore implies processes for the development of political beliefs and opinions that influence behavior in social spheres. It combines several factors working together to produce belief systems that ultimately guide the attitudes and actions of stakeholders in the political process. These factors engender, define the trajectories and mould the impressions, outcomes and political makeup of individuals in the political arena.

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Problems Of Nigeria: 15 Major Problems/Challenges Of Nigerian Economy

• Post author: Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka ACMC
• Post published: August 16, 2023
• Post category: Scholarly Articles

Problems in Nigeria and Solutions : Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country and the world’s sixth most populous country. The burgeoning population has resulted in a slew of new issues, including environmental deterioration and traffic congestion in major cities. Violence is being perpetrated in northern Nigeria by a group known as Boko Haram, which is fighting for a state-controlled by Sharia Law.

The organization has kidnapped children and murdered Christians across the country. Nigeria is regarded as Africa’s country with the highest unemployment rate. As a means of surviving, many unemployed adolescents have turned to internet frauds. Corruption has been a big issue in Nigeria for quite some time. Political leaders have a history of engaging in corrupt practices.

Diseases like HIV/AIDS have also been a major problem that has cost the government billions of dollars to address. Currently, 3% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 64.

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Table of Contents

Major Problems Facing Nigeria

1. Economic crisis: Nigeria’s economic situation has deteriorated significantly. The country’s purchasing and selling situation are dire and depressing. The country’s annual profits have decreased, significantly impacting the country’s population. Inflation is a significant issue in the country.

Inflation is defined as a rise in the overall level of prices for goods and services, resulting in a decrease in the buying power of the currency. Workers’ incomes are no longer sufficient to purchase physical goods from marketplaces. It poses a serious threat to many people’s lives, which is one of the reasons why many workers are requesting pay raises.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 11.23 percent in August 2018, up from 11.14 percent in July, which was higher than the market’s forecast of 11.11 percent. It was the first time the inflation rate has risen since it began to fall in January 2017, when it hit a 12-year high of 18.7%. (Trading Economics 2018).

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been growing at a slow pace in recent years. The gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the most important indices of a country’s economic health. In addition, the GDP has decreased during the last few months. In the first quarter of 2016, it fell by -13.98 percent. In addition, the country’s GDP fell by -13.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018.

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2. Ethnicity: Nigeria, Africa’s colossus, is the world’s most populated black country. Nigeria has a population of around 180 million people. The country’s population is diverse, with over 250 ethnic groups represented. Nigeria’s multi-ethnic character has many advantages as well as disadvantages – ethnicity issues in Nigeria.

Naturally, when it comes to ethnicity, Nigerians are extremely sensitive, with tempers frequently flaring and occasionally resorting to violence. Below are some of the difficulties impacting ethnicity in Nigeria, as well as proposed.

3. The problem of Amalgamation: The British colonial authorities constructed Nigeria as a geographical place to make administration easier. Despite being neighbors, the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south were never united until 1914. Some of the current conflicts in the country may be traced back to this forced union.

Even though the country has been together for almost a century, it has failed to fully integrate. Northerners continue to be suspicious of their southern counterparts, and vice versa. There is a lot of debate about the “ Northern agenda ” and the “ Southern agenda ,” but not much about the “ Nigerian agenda .”

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4. Inequality : This is due to the government’s and its agencies’ apparent favoring of people or regions belonging to one tribe over another. There is an unspoken belief that ethnic majority dominate the affairs of the country, which makes minorities feel like second-class citizens in their own country, not for any fault of their own, but just because they are few.

This frequently causes a sense of perceived unfairness by the government and its agents towards these communities.

5. The problem of Internal Land Conflicts: Land ownership disputes have frequently caused conflicts among Nigerians. Border settlement inside the country is still a work in progress. Many lives have been sacrificed as a result of land ownership disputes, and many more are likely to be lost until these concerns are resolved once and for all.

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6. Resource Management: Tensions frequently arise when it comes to the control of the country’s natural resources. Across the country, groups have emerged to compete for control of resources located on their land. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is a good example (MEND).

This organization has filed a lawsuit against the government for control of money derived from the sale of crude oil produced in their territory. They claim that, despite being the golden egg-laying chicken, their territory is severely undeveloped. Members of the Niger-Delta militants have reintroduced the use of weaponry in expressing their grievances.

In their pursuit, they have damaged oil pipelines and abducted oil employees. Even if they have suspended operations for the time being, their actions have drastically reduced crude oil output in the country.

7. Corruption : Many of Nigeria’s issues are caused by corruption. Corruption manifests itself in a variety of ways and infiltrates all political and economic organizations. It is heartbreaking to learn that the government, which was established to strengthen the country and combat corruption, is taking from its citizens.

The government officials tasked with combating corruption are unconcerned about what is expected of them. Non-governing citizens are also judged guilty, even though they are supposed to be free of corruption. Power abuse may be found in practically every branch of the federal government. The present ruling administration is not fulfilling its promises, and officials are more concerned with stuffing their wallets than with properly governing.

Nigeria was ranked 144th out of 177 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index in 2013 , making it one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Nigeria was the 33rd most corrupt country in 2013, mathematically.

In Nigeria, election tampering is not uncommon. Nigerians are tired of going to the polls on election day only to discover that their ballots haven’t been counted. In the year preceding up the 2007 elections, a Foreign Affairs study found about 700 election-related violent actions, including two killings.

International monitors witnessed widespread vote box theft in 2007, and while the situation improved in 2011, ballot-rigging remained widespread. Nigerians and foreign watchdog groups describe accounts of candidates using thugs to steal ballot boxes and threaten voters during elections. Many of these assailants are disgruntled and jobless teenagers.

Also see: Why is Nigeria so corrupt? See Reasons

8. Terrorism: Terrorism is a major concern in Nigeria daily. The daily massacres, kidnappings, bombings, and rape carried out by Boko Haram throughout the country are quite concerning. Nigeria was rated fourth in the world with the most international war deaths in 2016, according to the Global Peace Index.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram is known as a destroyer, and the northern section of the nation has been so badly damaged that even students are unable to complete their studies In Nigeria, Boko Haram is a well-known terrorist organization. Even if you don’t live in Nigeria, you’ve probably heard of Boko Haram’s kidnappings of hundreds of children, predominantly girls, from schools and communities in northern Nigeria in 2014.

Boko Haram kidnapped roughly 276 Chibok schoolgirls on the night of the 14th and 15th of April in 2014. According to a source, the females were between the ages of 17 and 18. They were pupils of Government Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria’s Borno State.

9. Unemployment: In Nigeria, unemployment is spreading like a virus. Due to the economic recession, there has been a high rate of unemployment; no jobs are available for the youths; 24 percent of Nigerians are unemployed; now, let’s move on to the youths; there is no rating I can give you for that because there are so many jobless youths on the street; however, based on some facts, I can estimate that 8% of youths under the age of 24 are unemployed. 500,000 job hopefuls were in a rush to apply for roughly 5,000 openings in Nigeria’s immigration agency in 2014, and 16 people were murdered in a melee. Unemployment is also one of the key causes of social vices in the country; even graduates have difficulty finding work.

Students who attend tertiary education institutes frequently leave with no employment and low morale. Nigerian education has a significant difficulty. Many Nigerian graduates did not acquire useful skills during their education. They were too preoccupied with reading textbooks to understand how to apply what they had learned. They apply for employment but are not recruited due to a lack of qualifications.

Graduates frequently have to stay in their parents’ houses for an extended period, leading to dissatisfaction and pessimism. This negativity is one of the main reasons for crime among Nigerian youth; they turn to illegal activities since they have nothing better to do with their time or money. 200,000 students graduate from colleges each year, yet many struggles to find work and others resort to less-than-honorable ways of subsistence.

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10. Education system: Students who attend tertiary education institutions are usually unemployed and depressed. Education in Nigeria is a major challenge. During their schooling, many Nigerian graduates did not learn practical skills. They were too absorbed with reading textbooks to see how what they had learned might be applied. They apply for jobs, but owing to a lack of credentials, they are not hired.

Graduates are usually required to live with their parents for lengthy periods, which can lead to discontent and pessimism. One of the biggest causes of crime among Nigerian young is negativity; they turn to unlawful activities since they have nothing better to do with their time or money. Every year, 200,000 students graduate from college, but many struggles to find jobs and turn to less-than-honorable means of sustenance.

Another issue in Nigerian schools nowadays is political meddling; politics is the most powerful factor in the Nigerian educational system. Many educational institutions are now founded and administered on political grounds in many states; entrance to universities, colleges, and polytechnics, particularly universities, is sometimes influenced by politicians rather than academic merit.

Today’s parents utilize their political clout or influence to affect their children’s education. Malpractices and a lack of preparation Test malpractices have been identified by education experts, with poor examination preparation by pupils being another setback in the educational system. Due to the escalating costs of education ( school fees, enrolment fees, the cost of books and other materials), students and even their parents will not want to be held behind by any type of deficit or failure in any of the needed topics, and would thus go to any length to avoid being held back.

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11. Infrastructure : Following other issues such as Boko Haram, infrastructure may appear to be a minor concern, but how can a country advance without a steady power supply? The power sector is crooked and mismanaged, and many personnel in the energy industry lack the necessary skills and training. Domestic output suffers as a result of these conditions, but frequent power outages also make it impossible for many international enterprises to do business in Nigeria. Nigeria is a third-world country year after year due to this issue.

Without a reliable road system, business suffers. Roads are in disrepair due to corruption and misappropriation of public monies Only 67 percent of paved roads and 33 percent of unpaved roads were in good or fair condition in 2011, according to the World Bank. Between 2001 and 2006, just $50 million of the $240 million needed for road repairs was paid.

Water resources and railways have similar problems with insufficiency and corruption. Nigeria must address its infrastructure challenges by providing adequate financing and clamping down on the misappropriation of public monies intended for infrastructure. Any engineer or contractor who does not complete his work properly should be held accountable.

Nigeria’s environmental and health standards are deplorable. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of oil leaks occur each year in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, owing to pipe degradation, sabotage, and carelessness on the part of oil firms. Oil spills deplete soil microorganisms and nutrients, which impacts Delta fishing and farming communities as well as the broader economy. In Nigeria, litter is strewn across the highways and streets. The spread of illness is aided by improperly dumped waste.

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12. Lack of skilled personnel’s: Brain drain has become a common phenomenon today, as our highly skilled professionals are now relocating to countries where there are quality infrastructures to work, great standard of living, and a good pay to match.

This issue of lack of highly skilled personnel and sufficient manpower has led to reduced productivity in most sectors of our economy, and as such has limited our economic development and growth.

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13. Inconsistent economic policies: In Nigeria, every Government comes into office in with their own economic policies which often differ from the policies of the previous administration, hence the previous policies suffer fatally from poor implementation because before it is fully implemented to produce maximum result in our economy, the tenure of the initiator will elapse, and the policies will not be implemented further by the proceeding administration, so therefore resulting in a situation of an ever changing and poorly implemented economic policies which does no good to the growth of our economy.

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14. Electoral malpractice: Election malpractice is corruption defined. It has become a disturbing menace in Nigeria that elections are hardly conducted freely and fairly. The 2023 election was an eye-opener for everyone. Regardless of the various measures that were put in place to curtail election malpractice, all were to no avail. The good news, however, is that the recent innovations in the electoral law, policy and practice made the electoral irregularities very obvious.

15. The removal of fuel subsidy: After the current president Tinubu was sworn in, his opening statement included the intention to remove fuel subsidy. Nigerians know exactly what this entails. This led to the abrupt outrageous increase in price of fuel in Nigeria. This is the worse Nigeria has recorded so far from the history. The president later on, made a statement, stating that nothing can be done to remedy the situation. Recall that the announcement for the intended removal of fuel subsidy was made without any single measure being put in place to remedy the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy.

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Solutions to the Problems in Nigeria

a . Nigerians must come to embrace the truth that, despite the fact that the country was founded by the British, we are all one people.

b. Those who advocate for one tribe’s supremacy over others should be warned and potentially sanctioned. This will contribute to the country’s unity and build greater trust among all tribes.

c . All tribes and areas should be treated equally by the government. The Principle of Federal Character, which stipulates that all states are represented in the federal government, was included in the constitution to address this issue.

d . Resource management should be prioritized so that groups like MEND can no longer exist in our country.

e . Land disputes, many of which have been dragging on for years, should be resolved as soon as possible to avoid further loss of life and property.

f. The educational sector should receive enough funding. The Nigerian government requires a rebirth. Especially for all of the promises they made on education. As stated in the Nigerian constitution of 1999, basic and secondary education would be free. Every kid has the right to an education in a safe and healthy setting.

g . Since we are all aware of our economy’s job dilemma, everyone should strive for a “ back up plan .” If there are no jobs in the economy, try to create some. This can be accomplished by learning one or two different trades. Attending school provides you with extra information, allowing you to become an educated tailor, baker, or shoemaker, for example. Being your own boss pays better than anything else.

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h. Finding a remedy to corruption has proven to be a dead end throughout the years. This is because corruption affects practically all Nigerians on a daily basis, not only crooked politicians. It might be by bribery or connections, or by attempting to force someone who lacks quality into a position he does not belong. Corruption must be combated as a team effort. We must all take a stance to expose corruption and tell the truth about issues that affect our environment.

I. The use of violence to combat violence is unlikely to succeed in eliminating terrorism since it will result in the deaths of many innocent people. According to studies, the most effective approach to terrorism is effective security and dialogue with terrorists to tackle issues related to the source of terrorism, and the government must prioritize the benefits of the people. The government is responsible for this discourse, which must be conducted in order to keep the country secure.

j . To begin, the government should put in place policies that have already been developed, such as a gender policy that aspires to achieve gender equality. The administration has also pledged an equitable transfer of wealth to the people, which should be implemented.

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The use of violence to combat violence is unlikely to succeed in eliminating terrorism since it will result in the deaths of many innocent people. According to studies, the most effective approach to terrorism is effective security and dialogue with terrorists to tackle issues related to the source of terrorism, and the government must prioritize the benefits of the people.

The government is responsible for this discourse, which must be conducted in order to keep the country secure. The government should put in place policies that have already been developed, such as a gender policy that aspires to achieve gender equality. The administration has also pledged an equitable transfer of wealth to the people, which should be implemented.

Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka, ACMC, is a lawyer and a certified mediator/conciliator in Nigeria. He is also a developer with knowledge in various programming languages. Samuel is determined to leverage his skills in technology, SEO, and legal practice to revolutionize the legal profession worldwide by creating web and mobile applications that simplify legal research. Sam is also passionate about educating and providing valuable information to people.

This Post Has 7 Comments

Mr question is that, all this solution you’ve have written down, have once ever secretly or openly impacted at least one of it to solve one part of the problems?

These vague and two-line solutions proffered to the mountain of problems are insufficient to shed light on the way forward, they {solutions} seem better said than done!

Hmmmmmm true talk, may the Lord restore our country and guides our leaders to lead us well

Our story is not as bleak as presented here. That this report is coming from a Nigerian saddens my heart. The tone here is so negative! If we scored ourselves so low like this, how can we be rated any better by foreigners? I admit that things are bad but not as bad as we are made to believe here!

I what to know the genesis of thi s Nigeria problem

Thanks so much, I love the way you broke things down and not just that. You also gave solutions. Nice one!

Comments are closed.

Ways of Solving the Common Social Problems in Nigeria

Back to: Religion and National Value JSS 1

Welcome to class!

In today’s class, we’re going to be talking about ways of solving the common social problems in nigeria. I trust you will enjoy the class!

Understanding Social Problems

Before we can solve social problems, we need to understand what they are. Social problems are issues that affect many people within a society and can include poverty, corruption, unemployment, and more.

Strategies for Solving Social Problems

• Good Government Policies

– Example: Implementing fair tax laws and providing social welfare programs to reduce poverty.

• Participation in Civil Society

– Example: Joining or forming community groups that work towards solving local issues like cleaning up neighborhoods or setting up free tutoring for students.

• Personal Discipline

– Example: Practicing contentment and honesty can reduce the desire for corrupt practices and promote fairness.

• Upholding Justice and Fairness

– Example: Ensuring that everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources, and that laws are applied fairly to all.

• Improving Education Standards

– Example: Investing in quality education, training teachers, and providing necessary resources for schools.

• Providing Basic Societal Needs

– Example: Building infrastructure like roads and hospitals, and ensuring access to clean water and electricity.

• Promoting Ethics, Religion, and Political Tolerance

– Example: Encouraging respect for different beliefs and opinions to foster a peaceful coexistence.

• Enforcement of Child’s Rights and Laws

– Example: Protecting children from abuse and exploitation by strictly enforcing child protection laws.

• Good Governance and Responsible Leadership

– Example: Leaders should be transparent, accountable, and focused on the well-being of the citizens.

Every citizen has a part to play in solving social problems. By being informed, voting responsibly, and participating in community activities, individuals can make a significant impact.

Solving social problems in Nigeria requires a collective effort from the government, civil society, and individuals. By working together and each doing our part, we can create a better society for all.

We have come to the end of today’s class. I hope you enjoyed the class!

In case you require further assistance or have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below, and trust us to respond as soon as possible. Cheers!

Question Time:

• What kind of policies can the government implement to effectively reduce poverty?
• How can individuals and groups in civil society contribute to solving social issues like unemployment?
• Why is personal discipline important in combating corruption, and how can it be encouraged?
• Discuss how upholding justice and fairness can address social inequalities.

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Will Biden Withdraw?

Democratic worries about the president’s age have surged after thursday’s debate..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Natalie Kitroeff. This is “The Daily.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week set off a furious discussion among Democratic officials, donors, and strategists about whether and how to replace him as their party’s nominee. Today, chief White House correspondent Peter Baker takes us inside those discussions and Biden’s effort to shut that conversation down.

It’s Monday, July 1.

Peter, you’ve been reporting on what I think can be best described as the great Democratic freakout that started basically from the moment the debate began at 9:00 PM on Thursday night. Tell us about the aftermath.

Yeah, I’ve been covering politics for 38 years, and I’ve never seen a political panic like we saw after that debate. It was like a run on the bank. Everybody in the Democratic Party was suddenly confronted with what they didn’t want to admit up until then, which is that they have an 81-year-old candidate who would be 86 at the end of his second term. And it’s very possible that he was not capable of completing this campaign in a vigorous and competitive way against Donald Trump. That’s what really it comes down to for many Democrats. Can Joe Biden take the campaign to Donald Trump and stop what they think is an existential threat to the country?

I want to know more about who you were hearing from. Who are the people that are calling you? What are the big questions they’re asking? What are they struggling with?

Yeah, I don’t want to get into too many names. A lot of people don’t want to be out front. But you did see even publicly, people like Senator Claire McCaskill.

Joe Biden had one thing he had to do tonight and he didn’t do it.

The former Senator from Missouri, red state Democrat, was on MSNBC just minutes after the debate.

He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was reassure America that he was up to the job at his age. And he failed at that tonight.

She talked about this was a crisis, that her phone was blowing up with a lot of Democrats. And she was very forthright about it. It was very striking that she said that.

I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now,

People like van Jones, who was on CNN, he used to work in the Obama White House.

We’re still far from our convention. And there is time for this party to figure out a different way forward, if you will allow us to do that.

He very candidly talked about how this was going to raise questions about whether the President should continue as the candidate.

Some Democrats are calling for Biden to step down. Andrew Yang —

Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination, popular with some younger voters, he said on social media it was time for Biden to step aside. Those are some of the public people. And obviously, in the hours and days that followed, more came out and said, well, this is something we need to think about.

But the people I was talking to were people behind the scenes, people who have run White Houses before, people who work for President Biden in this administration. I heard words like, “He can’t win.” “This is a disaster.”

“This is a nightmare.” And they were very, very concerned that he could not beat Donald Trump.

Right. And you saw these really prominent media figures, outlets, “The Times” as an actor in this situation calling for Biden to step aside. Our editorial board did this. We should say this is entirely separate from our newsroom from the show, but there was this real crescendo. And there was a sense that this was a turning point, right?

Absolutely. But it’s not just the media. I think what the Biden campaign would like it to be is about the media. It’s just that the media tends to be more out front and say things more openly than Democrats were saying. It really was rank and file Democrats. It really was high ranking Democrats, and they were absolutely flipped out.

Right. These doubts are coming from all over, from many corners. Take me through, Peter, the argument for why this poor performance meant that Biden should be replaced. How do they explain that thinking?

Well, look, a lot of people who defended President Biden will say is that incumbent presidents don’t do well in their first debate, and that is true. Historically, that’s been true. Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump all lost, arguably, their first debate when they were running for re-election.

But the difference is, if Obama doesn’t register a good performance against Mitt Romney, first of all, nobody thought that Obama wasn’t capable of being president as a result. And second of all, he had another debate about a week or two later in order to try to recover. Neither of those factors works here.

Biden’s problem from this debate is much more existential. It’s much more profound because it’s about whether he is able to perform the office of president, not just for the next few months, but for the next 4 and 1/2 years. And there’s not going to be another debate until September. So he doesn’t have another big audience opportunity to change people’s minds, to show that, in fact, he does still have it and can run the country. And that’s a real problem for him.

And there’s this broader context here, right. Voters have been telling pollsters for a year now that Biden’s age is a major concern for them. We’ve seen Biden’s age before our very eyes. We’ve seen him stumble in speeches, in public appearances. And, Peter, we had talked to you about this very issue a few months ago after a special counsel investigating Biden’s son, Hunter, issued this report focusing on Biden’s mental state, in part, saying that the president was, quote, a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” and had, quote, “diminished faculties in advancing age.”

But at the time, the White House dismissed that report as a partisan hit job. So in a sense, this debate performance was the capstone of something that’s been in the air for a very long time. It’s just that this time, it was undeniable. There was no spinning it.

Well, I think that’s exactly right. There was no spinning it. One Democrat put it to me. He said, for a long time, the fear of Trump stifled Democratic criticism of Biden. People didn’t want to criticize him because they desperately want to beat Trump.

But now, that same fear, he said to me, now meant that they could no longer stand behind Biden, that they worried that he had been diminishing over a period of time and that his staff and the people around him had hidden that from the public. There’s a real anger out there among some Democrats. Now, what the Biden circle would tell you is, no, we didn’t hide anything from you.

Yes, he does have moments where he is not as lucid as you would want him to be, but that, broadly speaking, when they see him operate, when they’re sitting with him in the Oval Office or in the situation room, he is sharp. He asks good questions. He understands and grasps the issues that he is confronting.

And I mean, we all have good days and bad days. But when you’re 81, your good days and bad days may be more pronounced.

And if he has good days and bad days, well, Thursday night was a very bad night.

Peter, I want to ask you about that, about your view on all of this, because I do think all this has raised this fundamental question for a lot of Democrats, for a lot of journalists, for voters, which is what you’re getting at. Was what we saw on the debate stage the real Biden? And had the White House been hiding him from us? Or were the people around him just unable to recognize the perils of this themselves? Like, have they been gaslighting us all, or are they in denial?

Yeah, it’s a good question. That’s the question in some ways, right. I think that people who work closely with the president and like him, admire him, respect him want to see the best in him and want everybody else to see the best in him. And they have been unwilling to admit whether or not he has slipped in the last 3 and 1/2 years.

And part of it may be strategic. They recognize in their view that he is the president. They’ve got to build him u and make him as successful as possible. And they have shielded him as much as possible from public scrutiny.

He hasn’t give as many interviews or as many press conferences as any of his predecessors going back to Reagan. He’s never getting interview to “The New York Times,” or “The Washington Post,” or “The Wall Street Journal,” or the “LA Times,” or any other newspaper, which is, I think, the first president, certainly in my lifetime, who hasn’t done that. And that’s been part of a pattern of them trying to protect him. And I think there’s kind of a reckoning right now among other Democrats, wondering whether they went too far.

OK. So we have this huge reaction to this moment, the debate from the Democrats in the news media. Can you walk us through how the Biden team responds to the full-blown panic?

His campaign was thrown into full-blown damage control over the weekend. And the President himself set out to do two things. First, privately, he met with donors and assured them, yes, he’s still a viable candidate and that they should still support him.

And then publicly, he went on a campaign blitz, traveling to seven events in four states. And his first stop on Friday, in fact, was at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Hello, hello, hello.

This was already scheduled before the debate, but it gave him an opportunity to both show that he can do the job —

Thank you, North Carolina.

— to demonstrate vigor and vitality —

I don’t know what you did last night, but I spent 90 days and 90 minutes on the stage debating the guy who has the morals of an alley cat.

— and to address his own performance.

I know I’m not a young man. State the obvious. Well, I know.

And he says pretty candidly, he says, yeah, I’m not a young man.

I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to.

But he goes on.

Well, I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth.

And I know how to tell right from wrong.

And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.

And, you know, he comes across as pretty vigorous, pretty energetic. Of course, he’s reading from a teleprompter. Always a lot easier to read from a teleprompter. But I think more important than that was the body language and the spirit that he brought to the moment.

It sounds like teleprompter, not the Biden who appears at the rally is meaningfully different, at least in style from the President that we saw on the debate stage. I’m wondering if you think this has changed anything. Has the conversation changed?

No, not fundamentally. I think fundamentally that people still recognize that there’s an issue here. Now, there was pushback among Democrats saying, OK, take a breath. Get a hold of yourself. He’s not dropping out.

I don’t think you judge a person’s — the body of their work on one night. They don’t always go the way you want to. I have confidence in the President because he’s delivered.

And I understand that he had a raspy voice. But like I’ve told folks, who cares? We have a choice this November between someone that’s a good person, a good president with a real record of results, and someone that has brought shame on the presidency.

Don’t let 90 minutes define a career of a president who’s been in office for 3 and 1/2 years, been in politics for 50 years, and overshadow the important issues that he stands for. And so you heard that line of thinking in the spin room and on TV.

Look, I think Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but it doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump was a bad president.

And by the way, Trump did terribly, too, which is a fair point. Trump may have been more lucid in the sense that he sounded stronger. But if you actually looked at what he said, listen to what he said, he said so many things that were just not true. And it helped Biden that former President Barack Obama put out a statement saying, hey, guys, I’ve seen bad debates. It’s fine. Don’t freak out, in effect, is what he said.

And Jim Clyburn —

And if he asked my opinion, I would give it, as I always do —

— who is his very close ally in Congress from South Carolina, the Congressman who helped get him the nomination in the first place, said, stay the course.

He should stay in this race. He should demonstrate going forward his capacity to lead the country.

So it was important to have those voices out there among prominent Democrats trying to calm the waters. But it only went so far because the waters are still churning underneath.

Peter, I’m curious how his donors are reacting to all this. I mean, you mentioned that part of his full court press is to reassure them that he’s got the mental acuity to run. How successful has he been at that?

Yeah, I think that there are certainly some donors who are resigned. They feel like there’s not much choice. But there are others who actually are considering jumping off the boat. Jumping on what Mika Brzezinski on “Morning Joe” called the hysteria train. And I think that it’s an open question.

But part of the thing is, of course, they’re waiting to see how the polls really shake out. The initial polls after any debate are often not really representative of how an event settles into the political narrative. And the polling and data so far have been kind of contradictory. On the one hand, it shows that Trump clearly beat Biden. Biden clearly lost, and that Biden has only reinforced the doubts that most voters have about his age and mental capacity. That’s absolutely true.

At the same time, there’s some polling showing that the overall horse race number, who are you going to vote for, hasn’t moved dramatically yet, if it does at all, and that it’s possible this is baked in that people who were going to vote against him are still going to vote against him. The people who would vote for him, holding their nose, may not be happy about it, may still be voting for him.

But there’s a tell. The tell was from the Biden campaign. When they put out a memo by Jen O’Malley Dillon, who was his top political person at the campaign, and she says if you see polls go down in the next few days or weeks, what’s telling is that she is, in fact, anticipating that polls would be bad for them and trying to set expectations for supporters and voters and donors saying, don’t let that panic you any further. That’s normal, and we’ll get past that just as we have other bumps in the road.

It seems like the Biden effort over the weekend has, in some sense, quieted some public doubts from key Democrats, right? There’s not a — we didn’t see a deluge of senior lawmakers going on Sunday talk shows and saying, Mr. President, step aside. But from what you’re saying and based on the reporting that we’ve seen from our colleagues, the effort has not, by any means, ended the discussion about replacing Biden. That is very much still happening under the surface.

Yeah. That discussion is very much alive among Democrats. Will Biden and should Biden remain as the candidate? And the question then becomes is if he doesn’t, what then?

We’ll be right back.

Peter, given that this discussion of Biden stepping aside is still, as you said, very much alive, what would it look like for someone to replace him on the presidential ticket at this point in the campaign just a few months before election day? It sounds like it would be pretty daunting.

Yeah. I mean, look, we have never had a situation like this, not certainly in modern times. No president has ever dropped out of the race so late in the cycle. And you have to remember a couple of things.

First of all, the Democratic National Convention, which would anoint a new nominee, is in late August. But they’re actually scheduled to take a roll call vote before the convention begins on August 7. So that means we have five weeks between now and when the roll call is scheduled to be held to decide a nominee.

If the president were to drop out, that would create this truncated, incredibly intense, incredibly wide open, incredibly volatile, short campaign to figure out who would be the nominee. And it’s complicated logistically. It’s complicated politically, it’s complicated in all sorts of ways. And we don’t really know what’s going to happen or how it would happen because we’ve never seen it before.

But it is conceivable. It is possible. The President has to decide that he’s not going to run. If that doesn’t happen, then there’s no contest. There’s no way anybody sees a forcing him off the ballot if he chooses to continue to run. That doesn’t seem to be any appetite for trying to find a way to undo his nomination other than with his consent.

He controls the 3,900 delegates that are going to be at the convention. They’re obligated to vote for him on the first ballot. So it has to be first, his decision on whether he continues to run. If he does, then that’s it. That’s the end of that question. But if he doesn’t, then it’s jump ball.

Would his replacement automatically be Kamala Harris as the vice president?

No, not at all. If it were after the convention and they were both nominated, and then he stepped aside at the last minute, then they probably would simply go to Kamala Harris because she had been ratified by the convention as the vice presidential candidate. That’s possible. But if we’re talking about a situation before the convention, it’s anybody’s guess. There’s about a dozen other prominent Democrats out there who are looking at jumping in if suddenly, the nomination is up for grabs.

But so who are we talking about? What are some of the most prominent names that have come up?

Well, other than Kamala Harris, you have a number of governors, particularly Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois. There are, of course, those who ran last time who might jump back in, in theory. Senator Cory Booker, Senator Amy Klobuchar, potentially even maybe Pete Buttigieg, who is currently the transportation Secretary.

But the ones who are going to have the best chance are those who have an apparatus already, who have a set of donors and fundraisers who can raise money instantly, and who have the ability to get on TV and get media attention without having to work as hard for it. And that does suggest, obviously, a sitting vice president or a sitting governor.

Basically hitting reset on the whole nomination process requires embracing a moment of genuine political chaos. I mean, that’s the theoretical downside of this. But of course, I mean, there’s also a potential upside, right? Massive media attention potentially for whoever the replacement Democrat is, the possibility that that replacement could energize a lot of Democratic voters and independents, and even potentially moderate Republicans out there who dislike Trump but just couldn’t get excited about Biden.

Yeah, absolutely. Whoever emerges will have a certain advantage of freshness, right. And that person will have a generational argument to make against Trump because whoever it would be would be younger than Trump. And suddenly, Trump is then the old candidate. He’s 78.

And that new Democratic candidate would be able to say, I’m the next generation. This guy is also too old to be president. And if you’re concerned about our guy was, can he make it through four years, then you should be picking me because the other guy can’t make it either through four years.

Now, the downside, of course, is these are people who are largely untested on a national stage, at least in this kind of an environment. And you don’t know how people will do once they actually jump in. They didn’t have the advantage of a year-long primary contest to prove themselves.

Before you jump into a race, you can look really attractive. Look at Ron DeSantis. Before he jumped in to the Republican primaries, on the Republican side, they all thought, wow, he’s really great. Didn’t turn out to be so great once he got on the campaign trail. The magic didn’t actually appear. So that’s the danger here, is we don’t know which of these Democrats, if any, would have the ability to shine when the big giant klieg lights are on them.

And we’re clearly in a delicate moment right now. But are any of these potential contenders trying to signal interest at this point? I mean, what does that look like? It sort of seems like the art of raising your hand for something but not wanting it to publicly.

Yeah, it’s a really good question because you obviously can’t do anything that seems disloyal to Biden, right. Nobody’s willing to take on Biden directly and say, I’m now running, and you should take him down. So the trick here is you have to be loyal, loyal, loyal right up to the minute that Biden says he’s not running, at which point then suddenly you’re off to the races.

And doing that from a standing start is not a good idea for any campaign. So they have to find ways of talking to their people, lining up donors, thinking about what kind of a campaign would look like, who might be their strategist, without letting anybody know that they’re doing that, or at least not let anybody in our business know that because it would obviously backlash on them. And that’s a very hard thing to do. I mean, I heard that there are people out there making phone calls who want to run, but nobody’s going to admit that outright because it would be damaging to them.

And in terms of logistics here — I know this is all very hypothetical — but if a new candidate were to become the nominee, do they get all the money Biden raised? Do they get his campaign team, or are they literally creating a presidential campaign from scratch with four months to go?

I mean, presumably, they would adopt a lot of Biden’s apparatus. As for the money, a lot of the money these days is in kind of superpacs and these sort of amorphous structures that can go immediately to a different candidate. And everybody who contributed to Biden can now contribute to the new candidate. And then Biden can still spend his money as he chooses in support of whoever the candidate is.

So there’s that advantage in a way it could actually increase some fundraising. But you’re right, they would be starting from scratch in a lot of ways, at least in terms of a national organization.

And obviously, for this to even happen, it relies on Biden stepping aside here, as you said. Everything you’ve laid out so far suggests that he is, for now at least, closed off to this suggestion. And I have to ask what you think from your reporting would change that.

Well, President Biden is a proud man. He’s a stubborn man. As a lot of people of any age are, he is reluctant to confront and face his own weaknesses, and he’s not going to be talked out of running by a bunch of media chattering class, pundits, and junior Democrats. I mean, think about it. He’s been running for president since 1987. And the idea that he is now in office and running the country and as he thinks it, running it pretty well, that he’s going to simply step aside because a bunch of people tell him he should, he reacts viscerally to that. Of course, he doesn’t want to do that.

In fact, when you talk to Democrats, they’re very conscious of not trying to push him because it could have the opposite reaction. It could trigger him to want to stay even more. The people who have influence with him, not that many people.

I mean, at this point, he’s been in politics since 1972 when he was elected to the Senate. And the people he considers his peers, most of them are gone. He’s not surrounded by people whose opinion he truly respects.

Obama and Clinton, the only two former presidents out there other than Jimmy Carter, who are Democrats, I don’t know that if they told him it was time to pull the plug, that he would listen to that. In fact, he might, again, do the opposite. He still resents Obama for discouraging from running in 2016.

Obviously, congressional leaders like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, Jim Clyburn, people like that, could have an influence if they were to go as a group to him in a way like the Republicans went to Nixon in 1974 and said that he wasn’t going to survive. Maybe that might influence him. But I don’t think they’re likely to do it. It doesn’t look like they’re likely to do that.

Who does have his ear? I mean, who does he really listen to? Who do we know he’s going to be listening to in this moment?

Well, the real people he listens to the most are his family. He’s a very family-oriented guy. Remember, he went home to Wilmington almost every night when he was a Senator. Even now as president, he flies home to Wilmington most every weekend.

And he’s at Camp David this weekend with his family. They’re there because they had already planned to be together for a photo shoot, ironically, with Annie Leibovitz. So the family was already gathering at Camp David —

— gives him an opportunity. Right. And it gives him an opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the people who mean the most to him, in particular, Jill Biden, of course, the first lady and his sister, Valerie, the kids, and the grandkids. We don’t know what that conversation looks like.

I mean, that’s as private as it comes. Someday they’ll be histories written and memoirs written. And I’m fascinated to read what’s happening this weekend at Camp David, because I think it’s kind of pivotal. But what we do know is that up until now, at least, Jill has been all in.

She’s been encouraging him to run. And it sounds like she’s been encouraging him to stay in. And a lot of people think her voice is the most important voice in this.

And just to pause on this for a second, Peter, it sounds like you’re saying something pretty remarkable, actually, which is that this very small handful of people have influence over what is going to be a massive decision that affects hundreds of millions of Americans and really the entire world.

Well, don’t underplay it. But yeah, that’s exactly right. And you’re right to point out the stakes here, because it’s not just about Joe Biden and his future. It is about this presidential race. And it is about whether you want Donald Trump back in office. That’s the way most Democrats look at it. And the difference between a Biden presidency and a Trump presidency is about as stark as you can imagine. And this will have consequences that will ripple out for years to come.

Peter, I kind of want to end where we began this conversation, which is with this question of Democrats’ mindset right now, post-debate, and the question of what’s motivating them in this moment. Privately, they’re talking about replacing Biden. They seem too scared to do that publicly for all the reasons we’ve discussed, including that the White House is basically telling them to stop talking about it and that Biden probably won’t step aside anyway. So all of this may just be useless hand-wringing.

And all of that raises a pretty essential question for me, which is, are Democrats about to recommit to a damaged nominee who had a disastrous debate, who may only get worse over time out of loyalty to President Biden? Or do you think on some level they really believe this is all just overblown, that it’s one debate, everybody has bad days, and Biden really can recover from all this?

I think there’s a lot of doubt in the party that he can really recover from. This is the argument obviously the Biden campaign is making. And it’s really the only argument they have available to them to say, look, don’t overreact here. It’s just the media hyperventilating. We will recover like we’ve recovered before.

And it is what they have to say because they don’t have anything else that they can say. But almost every Democrat outside of the inner circle that I talk to says this was a complete disaster. They are not sugarcoating it. They saw what they saw with their own eyes, and they think that it’s not tenable for the campaign to pretend otherwise.

And it’s particularly devastating because the weakness of the Biden campaign has always been concerns about his age. People have expressed that to pollsters and in interviews with reporters going back more than a year. And now they just saw it for themselves on TV, in their living rooms, more than 50 million of them. And to convince them not to believe what they saw with their own eyes is just a monumental task politically.

So for Biden’s team and for the Democrats, it’s a big roll of the dice. Do you stick with him and try to correct the damage in the four months you have? Or do you say, it’s time for somebody else, which is going to be a roll of the dice itself?

And assuming Biden continues, Peter, it sounds like we won’t know if that bet, that bet that he’s the only one that ever beat him. He’s the only guy that can get this done, if that was solid or diluted thinking until November 5.

On November 5, or whatever day of the election is resolved, we will know how history judges this. And maybe everybody looks back on this and says, well, that was close, but they were right to stick it out because they won. Or in fact, it was a disastrous decision, and they wasted an opportunity to fix campaign that was already having trouble. Hindsight will be perfect, but there’s no question that this weekend will be remembered as perhaps the most decisive of this campaign.

Peter, thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me.

After we spoke with Peter, “The New York Times” reported that while at Camp David, Biden’s family urged the president to stay in the race, arguing that, yes, he could still show voters he’s capable of serving another four years.

Here’s what else you need to know today. Early projections show that France’s far-right national rally party won a decisive victory in the first round of voting for the country’s national assembly on Sunday. National rally, an anti-immigrant party long on the fringes of the French political scene, captured about a third of the vote, according to polls, and now appears poised to become the largest force in the lower house of parliament.

The results dealt a blow to French president Emmanuel Macron, who took a gamble by dissolving parliament last month and calling for snap elections. But his bet that the far right wouldn’t repeat its recent success in European parliament elections backfired. A run-off election between the leading parties will be held on July 7.

Today’s episode was produced by Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Will Reid, and Rob Szypko, with help from Olivia Natt and Lynsea Garrison. It was edited by Lexie Diao, with help from Ben Calhoun, Paige Cowett, and Mike Benoist. And special thanks to Michael Barbaro.

Contains original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Natalie Kitroeff. See you tomorrow.

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Produced by Rachelle Bonja ,  Will Reid and Rob Szypko

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Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

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President Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week set off a furious discussion among Democratic officials, donors and strategists about whether and how to replace him as the party’s nominee.

Peter Baker, who is the chief White House correspondent for The Times, takes us inside those discussions and Biden’s effort to shut them down.

On today’s episode

Peter Baker , the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading

President Biden’s allies can no longer wave away concerns about his capacity after his unsteady performance at Thursday’s debate.

Mr. Biden’s family is urging him to keep fighting .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Special thanks to Michael Barbaro .

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson, Nina Lassam and Nick Pitman.

Natalie Kitroeff is the Mexico City bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Natalie Kitroeff

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework. More about Peter Baker

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