Post-Election Agenda: Building Social Cohesion in Nigeria, By Jibrin Ibrahim

The cost of the 2023 general elections on Nigeria’s social fabric has been very high. Many Nigerians felt threatened by strong ethnic mobilisation aimed at harassing them with the intention of stopping them from exercising their franchise. Voter suppression emerged as a core electoral tactic precisely because in many parts of the country, the assumed inclination of Nigerians to vote along ethno-religious lines were significantly undermined. In other words, political warlords were concerned that votes they had considered theirs for the taking were going elsewhere and breaking up their hegemonic control. In response, they intensified negative ethno-religious profiling to revive latent bigotry imbibed by Nigerians over the generations. Their political objective then became to intensify national disunity for the sake of preserving their political domains. The consequence of voter suppression is to question the right of belonging and participation in the political community causing deep pain and hurt.

I saw the video clip of my favourite poet and defender of the Nigeria idea, Dike Chukwumerije describing his feeling after spending 24 hours patiently waiting to vote, for the votes to be counted and for the counted votes to be transmitted and SEEN on the IReV viewer’s portal. He waited on his computer for three days without ever seeing his polling unit result, that was his pain. Subsequently, he wrote about the deepening of the pain as he watched the unholy alliance developed between unscrupulous politicians and thugs in Lagos to stop people voting because of their ethnicity and he asks: “Yes. So, what is the struggle? Not for a non-indigenous Governor. No. But for all Nigerians, wherever resident, to have the uncontested right to vote – freely and in accordance with their conscience – wherever they are. That is the struggle.” This is the struggle we need to keep alive at this moment of hurt.

Increasingly, there are questions about the idea that the existence of Nigeria and Nigerians is self-evident. There have been tons of Nigerians doing japa out of Nigeria in the years leading up to the elections. These people had decided that the best way is out. There are yet others who would have loved Nigeria to be but have deep doubts about its future and live paralysed in the agony and fear of what could have become. The majority of us however are very conscious of the challenges facing Nigeria but believe with pride that its promise could become a reality and work for its coming greatness with the skills, pride and assertiveness that Nigerians are known for worldwide. The divisions deepened by the elections presents a challenge in this regard.

In the 2021 social cohesion report by the Africa Polling Institute, they interrogated a cross section of Nigerians and the results are interesting. 49% of Nigerians are disappointed in their country while 42% feel truly proud of Nigeria. Not surprisingly, 65% of citizens expressed concerns that Nigeria is today more divided than it was four years ago. It is however revealing that 82% of respondents said that they are comfortable with their dual identity of being both Nigerian and member of their ethnic group. That is the comfort zone from where we can build the ranks of the believers in the Nigeria project. The problem is that we are in an unfortunate period of decline. In the 2019 survey, 55% of citizens said they were truly proud of being Nigerian. In the current (2021) survey, the number has declined dramatically to 42%. The key finding is that governance matters and most Nigerians believe that there is lack of equity and justice in governance, a challenge that can be addressed. The lesson is that building support for the Nigerian project requires the building of trust, equity, social justice and inclusive governance. If and when the next government takes that path, pride and commitment in building the Nigeria of our dreams will begin to grow again.

The survey revealed what we all know. That Nigerians are angry at the massive corruption in government and the on-going run of looting the treasury. Secondly, that there is a crisis of citizenship summarised in what Nigerians call the lack of “true” federalism, accompanied by the neglected call for restructuring. Thirdly, there is widespread consternation on the inability of the political class to deepen democratic practices as they remain self-serving in their actions and are actually rolling back democratic gains. These issues are even more highlighted today following the acrimony that followed the elections.

The important learning from the election is that it is still possible to generate hope, even enthusiasm about the future of Nigeria. The question that is posed is what happens when such hopes are once again dashed? I would like to believe that it is still very possible to regenerate hope, enthusiasm and belief in the Nigeria project. It is all a question of governance. If Nigeria is governed in an inclusive manner, social cohesion could be generated. Nigerians have always defined the country as a plural one so no one is looking for a homogenous society. What we need in the next government is the capacity to create pathways to inclusiveness in a diverse society. There must be concrete action aimed at healing the pains and hurt from reckless ethno-religious mobilisation and action. It is even more important to develop narratives of nation building. Central to the hurt people have against the current government is the belief they have disdain for Nigerians and rarely address issues of concern. They do not even pretend to care.

Nigerians are a resilient people and can surmount present challenges and so while nation-building is hard work, we should all commit ourselves to do the work. It can only happen however if the in-coming government demonstrates a real commitment. It must have a body language that says power is not about self-aggrandisement for the persons exercising authority. It has to be about addressing the security and welfare of the Nigerian people. If the mind-blowing level of corruption in the country today persists, saving the Nation would be almost impossible.

At the end of the day, the success of the Nigeria project will depend on our ability to engage in the task of the reconstruction of the Nigerian State. We cannot allow our political community to continue to crumble and suffer the outcome of State collapse, which Thomas Hobbes had assured us will make our lives “nasty, brutish and short”. Rebuilding the State must take the form of a new approach based on good governance in which there is effective, transparent and accountable use of public resources to provide public goods for citizens.