As a Nigerian, I watch the current pre-election season with pain. On TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, our politics has been reduced to choreographed dances, skits, diss tracks and uniform aso-ebi. The serious questions that should define our future are missing: How do we secure this country? How do we revive the economy? How do we guarantee the welfare of the average Nigerian?
Electioneering has started, but campaigning has not.
In serious democracies, elections are job interviews. In Nigeria, they are becoming entertainment shows. This is dangerous.
1. The Cost of Entertainment Politics
When campaigns are built on songs and dances, three things happen:
a) Accountability dies. A candidate who dances well never has to explain his plan for out-of-school children or for the 133 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty (NBS, 2022).
b) State capacity collapses. We elect performers, not managers. The result is visible in our budget performance and in abandoned projects.
c) The voter is insulted. The average trader in Maiduguri, Onitsha or Bodija who has survived insurgency, inflation at over 30%, and unemployment does not need a dance. He needs security, power, and schools that work.
2. What Serious Countries Do Differently
History shows that nations that turned their fortunes around did so when politics became boring, technical, and issue-based.
Rwanda – From Genocide to Security and Welfare Governance:
After 1994, Rwanda did not rebuild on slogans. It anchored governance on three measurable pillars: security (disarmament and community policing), national unity (Ndi Umunyarwanda), and economic transformation (Vision 2020/2050). Every election is fought on Imihigo performance contracts – local leaders sign contracts with citizens on health, agriculture and security targets. Result: Rwanda today has one of Africa’s lowest homicide rates and over 90% health insurance coverage.
Germany – The Politics of Plans, Not Personalities:
In Germany, you rarely see a candidate dancing. The 2021 federal election was fought on Wahlprogramme – 100-page manifestos detailing energy transition (Energiewende), industrial policy, and pension reform. The coalition agreement that followed was 177 pages long. The voter knows exactly what will be done on rent control and minimum wage. That culture of issues produced Europe’s largest economy.
United States – Town Halls on Security and Economy:
Even in America’s highly mediatized politics, the core remains issue-based. Presidential debates are structured around: foreign policy, economy, healthcare. Voters can compare tax plans line by line via the Tax Foundation and Congressional Budget Office.
*Ghana – Our Neighbour’s Lesson:*
In 2020, Ghana’s two main parties both launched fully costed manifestos debated for weeks on Joy FM and Citi TV. The conversation was about Free SHS, One District One Factory, and fiscal deficit, not dance challenges. That discipline is part of why Ghana has maintained peaceful transfers of power.
3. What an Issues-Based Campaign Must Address
As citizens, we must force candidates to answer three questions:
SECURITY: Not “we will end insecurity” – but HOW? We need to hear about technology-driven community intelligence, formalization of community policing with salaries and insurance, investment in street lighting, safe school corridors and justice sector reform. Rwanda and Botswana show that security is not bought with more guns alone, but with trust and employment.
ECONOMY: We cannot dance our way to prosperity. We need to hear about: rebuilding major markets with fire safety and SME credit, dry-ports and logistics hubs leveraging our borders, and solar power clusters for commercial wards to reduce generator costs. This is what India did with its MSME cluster model.
WELFARE: Welfare is not palliatives sharing rice. Welfare is systems. As seen in Brazil’s Bolsa Familia and Egypt’s Takaful and Karama, direct conditional cash transfers linked to school attendance and antenatal care work. We need education insurance and functional PHCs with drug revolving funds, not campaign souvenirs.
Conclusion: Vote Positivity, Vote on Issues
I call this VOTE POSITIVITY not as a slogan, but as a mindset – looking at what is possible when we are serious.
To the youth: Do not let anyone reduce your future to a 15-second dance video. Ask the candidate for his written plan. Ask for his numbers. Ask him where he was when his community needed him.
To political parties: Sign a pact to debate issues, not abuse or entertain. Let universities and media houses host public manifesto debates.
Nigeria’s problems are too serious for unserious campaigns.
The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday – but the best politics is one that protects the people after Friday prayers.
Mal. Abubakar Yakubu Gana