Elect people who will move Nigeria forward, Babalola urges electorate

A former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, Mr Sunday Adebayo Babalola, has called on Nigerians to use the presidential and national assembly elections coming up on Saturday, February 25, 2023, to elect people who will move the country forward and create a new Nigeria.

 

He decried that many Nigerian are languishing in unbearable suffering, abject poverty and a high unemployment rate could be insecurity.

 

He pleaded with the electorate to vote wisely, adding that this is an opportunity for Nigerian to elect people who will manage the country better.

 

Babalola said, “This is an opportunity for Nigerians to elect people who can turn the economy around for the better, bring in good governance and affect their lives positively by improving the quality of their lives and standard of their living, improve the ease of doing business, enhancing the security of lives and property, boost national unity and cohesion and accelerate national development. We should vote because we want a change.

 

“Everybody should go out and vote. We should not vote based on religion, tribe, ethnicity, and emotion, We should vote according to our conscience. We should find out who is our candidates, we should do due diligence on them. We should know where they have been, what they have done in the past, and know what they have achieved. We should vote according to our conscience. We should not vote egregiously or with a bandwagon effect, Even if your candidate does not win, you have spoken your voice. ‘This is who I want but I will take who the majority agrees to.’”

 

He called on Nigerians and the incoming governments: at the federal, state and local levels, to make agriculture a priority.

 

Babalola said, “Agriculture remains a veritable sector that will create massive employment, business opportunities and foreign exchange earnings. What is your advice to the incoming administration in this regard?

 

“The incoming administration should take agriculture very seriously and appoint a man who understands agriculture as the Minister of Agriculture. The new administration should not appoint a Minister of Agriculture and other appointments based on political patronage. They should do appointments by merit and competence, It should be by the knowledge of those people they are going to put into positions. It is absolutely wrong to put anybody in a key position based on political considerations. Nigeria has not gotten to the stage where you can put people in any position based on political patronage. They should put people who understand their job.

 

“They should put people who are not going to see their job as a reward for their political contributions and activities. I know this may sound impossible. But if appointments will be a reward system for one fighting for another to be President, Governor and not that the person is also knowledgeable in the area he is appointed, then they will be putting mediocre in positions of power, You also got to know a little before civil servants will advise you.

 

“The failure of Nigeria today is simply, “I will put my man there whether he knows what to do or he does not know what to do, Even if you are going to put the person there partly on political patronage, let the people you are going to give the job tell you what they can do with the positions you are giving them. Let them bring new ideas and new innovations. You should also hold them accountable for those positions. As long as appointments are being made the way they are made now, not necessarily based on merit but based on political patronage, ethnicity, religion and other non-capacity-based consideration, we may remain as we are.”