• Home
  • Agric
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation
  • Health
  • Environment
  • Hausa Articles/News
  • More
    • Business/Banking & Finance
    • Politics/Elections
    • Entertainments & Sports
    • International
    • Investigation
    • Law & Human Rights
    • Africa
    • Research and Development
    • Corruption/Accountability
    • Hassan Gimba
    • Column
    • Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Prof. M.K. Othman
    • Defense/Security
    • Education
    • Energy/Electricity
    • Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    • Society and Lifestyle
    • Food & Agriculture
    • Health & Healthy Living
    • Technology
    • International News
    • Interviews
    • Investigation/Fact-Check
    • Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    • Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    • Media/PR/Journalism
    • Elections
    • General News
    • Presidency
    • Press Releases
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board Of Advisory
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ethics Policy
    • Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    • Fact-Checking Policy
    • Advertising
  • The Stories
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • UNICEF seeks increased access to menstrual hygiene facilities for girls
  • Lassa fever, meningitis kill 366 in 24 states – NCDC
  • NEMA, PTD partner on checking tanker crashes in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara
  • 2027: Why obsession with being the ‘big man’ will make Tinubu lose Lagos again – Rhodes-Vivour
  • Rhodes-Vivour, at GINN 4.0, Ikorodu, continues people-based health support programme for Lagosians
  • FG calls for acceleration of broadband in underserved regions
  • NMA urges govts to improve budgetary allocation to health sector
  • NGO calls for tax-free sanitary pads 
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
AsheNewsAsheNews
  • Home
  • Agric

    EU unveils agribusiness platform for inclusive growth

    May 28, 2025

    NiMet, HEDA strengthen collaboration to support smallholder farmers

    May 28, 2025

    FG trains women, others on sack farming, home gardening

    May 28, 2025

    Food security: FG secures $134m loan facility from AfDB – Minister

    May 28, 2025

    Urgent climate action needed to address agricultural vulnerabilities – AATF

    May 28, 2025
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation

    FG calls for acceleration of broadband in underserved regions

    May 30, 2025

    Dangote Cement rewards distributors, customers with CNG trucks, cash gifts worth N11bn

    May 29, 2025

    FG introduces degree programme in AI

    May 29, 2025

    UNIOSUN, Nigerian Machine Tools sign MoU to boost engineering skills

    May 28, 2025

    NSITF partners NIMC to link enrollees data to NIN

    May 28, 2025
  • Health

    UNICEF seeks increased access to menstrual hygiene facilities for girls

    May 30, 2025

    Lassa fever, meningitis kill 366 in 24 states – NCDC

    May 30, 2025

    Rhodes-Vivour, at GINN 4.0, Ikorodu, continues people-based health support programme for Lagosians

    May 30, 2025

    NMA urges govts to improve budgetary allocation to health sector

    May 30, 2025

    NGO calls for tax-free sanitary pads 

    May 30, 2025
  • Environment

    NEMA, PTD partner on checking tanker crashes in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara

    May 30, 2025

    Mokwa flood: Over 80 feared dead, as search for survivors continues 

    May 29, 2025

    Flood ravages Mokwa in Niger, properties destroyed, several missing

    May 29, 2025

    Assessing HYPREP’s clean-up mandate in Ogoniland

    May 29, 2025

    NADF, GIZ pledge commitment to gender-inclusive, climate-smart agriculture

    May 29, 2025
  • Hausa Articles/News

    A Saka Baki, A Sasanta Saɓani Tsakanin ‘Yanjarida Da Liman, Daga Muhammad Sajo

    May 21, 2025

    Dan majalisa ya raba kayan miliyoyi a Funtuwa da Dandume

    March 18, 2025

    [VIDIYO] Fassarar mafalki akan aikin Hajji

    January 6, 2025

    Mafarkin gaisawa da makiyi, Tare da Sheikh Aliyu Y. Sokoto

    January 5, 2025

    [RA’AYI)] Adawar Siyasa A Jihar Sokoto Da Sauran Lamurra

    September 6, 2024
  • More
    1. Business/Banking & Finance
    2. Politics/Elections
    3. Entertainments & Sports
    4. International
    5. Investigation
    6. Law & Human Rights
    7. Africa
    8. Research and Development
    9. Corruption/Accountability
    10. Hassan Gimba
    11. Column
    12. Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    13. Prof. M.K. Othman
    14. Defense/Security
    15. Education
    16. Energy/Electricity
    17. Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    18. Society and Lifestyle
    19. Food & Agriculture
    20. Health & Healthy Living
    21. Technology
    22. International News
    23. Interviews
    24. Investigation/Fact-Check
    25. Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    26. Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    27. Media/PR/Journalism
    28. Elections
    29. General News
    30. Presidency
    31. Press Releases
    Featured
    Recent

    UNICEF seeks increased access to menstrual hygiene facilities for girls

    May 30, 2025

    Lassa fever, meningitis kill 366 in 24 states – NCDC

    May 30, 2025

    NEMA, PTD partner on checking tanker crashes in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara

    May 30, 2025
  • About Us
    1. Contact Us
    2. Board Of Advisory
    3. Privacy Policy
    4. Ethics Policy
    5. Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    6. Fact-Checking Policy
    7. Advertising
    Featured
    Recent

    UNICEF seeks increased access to menstrual hygiene facilities for girls

    May 30, 2025

    Lassa fever, meningitis kill 366 in 24 states – NCDC

    May 30, 2025

    NEMA, PTD partner on checking tanker crashes in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara

    May 30, 2025
  • The Stories
AsheNewsAsheNews
Home»Column»Trust Dialogue on the 2023 Presidential Agenda, By Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
Column

Trust Dialogue on the 2023 Presidential Agenda, By Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim

EditorBy EditorJanuary 27, 2023Updated:January 27, 2023No Comments5 Mins Read
Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Yesterday, I participated in the Annual Trust Dialogue on the theme of interrogating the 2023 Presidential Agenda. In his opening remarks, the Chair of the occasion, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, expressed the strong view that we must be optimistic that positive change is possible and that indeed the time has come to do things differently, with millions of young Nigerians ready to perform their civic duty. INEC and the State must ensure they do the needful to ensure that riggers are kept out of the ring and the choices of citizens are respected.

One issue of concern that was debated was the introduction of the new Naira at a critical time of election-related tension. The worst part of the policy move is that the Central Bank simply does not have enough of the new currency to swap so markets and indeed the economy is likely to collapse at a time when the elections are to be organised. Many wondered what the intention of the government is in trying to instigate a national crisis at election time. Are there other plans we are not aware of?

I made the point that the presidential election agenda for Nigeria has been set since the Jonathan Administration. That Nigeria was facing an existential crisis because the three core maladies of insecurity, corruption, and economic crisis have been allowed to deepen and fester to the level where the corporate existence of the country was at risk. Jonathan promised a breath of fresh air for the country and he was elected but failed to deliver. The disappointment with the performance of the Jonathan regime created an opening for serial contenders for the presidency, Muhammadu Buhari, to promise he could deliver. He got the mandate but woefully failed to deliver after eight years on the job. His failure was a massive disappointment for the country because there was very high expectation that he had the character, integrity, and grit to deliver. It turned out that Nigerians knew him less than they thought.

This is what sets the stage for the 2023 presidential agenda. The candidates ate telling us they know the problems and promise to deliver solutions. This is simply not good enough. The real issue is that Nigeria desperately needs a president with a sound vision of the way forward and the capacity and integrity to perform to our expectations. Going through the manifestoes of the presidential candidates, what we see is a long list of the problems and an affirmation that they will all be solved. It is very little on the modalities that would be used to solve them, the resources required, milestones and processes.

All the candidates for example promise to successfully combat corruption, good. The question is how. Let’s first note that corruption is an illicit activity not just in statute but expressly addressed even in the Constitution. We know two things about corruption that have provided structural constraints for those who have tried to fight it. First, the entire public service is configured to engage in massive corruption and hide its tracks. I have not heard the candidates explain how they will reconfigure the public service to serve the public rather than themselves. The second thing we know is the majority of party barons are in politics to create openings for themselves to access public resources for their personal aggrandizement. I have not heard most of the candidates express their vision of how they can combat corruption while surrounded by an entourage that is in politics precisely for the purpose of engaging in corruption.

I have looked at how some of the presidential candidates have explained they will combat insecurity in their Manifestoes. The APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, PRP, and YPP have all promised to:

Better equip the armed forces and police

Massively increase the number of service personnel

Improve the professionalism of security forces

Implement community and state policing

Build the capacity of the Nigerian police

Provide improved training and training facilities

Construct adequate housing for security staff etc.

These are an obvious wish list for addressing the problems. For these promises to make sense, there is a need to address how all these would be financed in a context in which the Nigerian State is almost bankrupt. As these are only a small part of a very long list of “to do” promises, what are the priorities in terms of things that could be addressed immediately and which other ones would need to be set aside for future programming. How would the National Assembly be persuaded to pass the necessary legislation? These are the issues that people need to know to make an assessment about which candidate is the most convincing in translating their wish list into concrete action.

Some participants at the event raised serious concerns about the establishment of state police. They argued that state governors have virtually all become dictators in their states with no respect for the separation of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary. The state police could, therefore, be a license for them to detain and jail all their political opponents thereby increasing insecurity and ultimately destroying the democratic system itself.

The other issue that virtually all candidates have made promises on is diversifying the economy, industrializing the economy embarking on the pathway of the digital economy, and transforming agriculture to feed the Nation and export processed agricultural products. I love all these ideas but I know that in previous electoral cycles, the same promises have been made with nothing to show at the end of the day.

The Chair id Daily Trust in his opening remarks wondered whether all the words we are hearing from the candidates were not words of desperados for power rather than democrats seeking to deepen our democracy. There are certainly many desperados but our task as citizens is to sift through the candidates and identify those with the democratic ethos who also have the competence, strength, and integrity to take the country forward.

2023 Presidential Agenda John Cardinal Onaiyekan Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim Trust Dialogue
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
Editor
  • Website

Related Posts

Insecurity: One-on-One with the CDS, General C.G. Musa [II], By Prof. M. K. Othman

May 26, 2025

Insecurity: One-on-One with the CDS, General C.G. Musa [I], By Prof. M. K. Othman

May 26, 2025

Of journalists’ deaths, security lapses and cut-throat taxes, By Hassan Gimba

May 25, 2025

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

UNICEF seeks increased access to menstrual hygiene facilities for girls

May 30, 2025

Lassa fever, meningitis kill 366 in 24 states – NCDC

May 30, 2025

NEMA, PTD partner on checking tanker crashes in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara

May 30, 2025

2027: Why obsession with being the ‘big man’ will make Tinubu lose Lagos again – Rhodes-Vivour

May 30, 2025
About Us
About Us

ASHENEWS (AsheNewsDaily.com), published by PenPlus Online Media Publishers, is an independent online newspaper. We report development news, especially on Agriculture, Science, Health and Environment as they affect the under-reported rural and urban poor.

We also conduct investigations, especially in the areas of ASHE, as well as other general interests, including corruption, human rights, illicit financial flows, and politics.

Contact Info:
  • 1st floor, Dogon Daji House, No. 5, Maiduguri Road, Sokoto
  • +234(0)7031140009
  • ashenewsdaily@gmail.com
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
© 2025 All Rights Reserved. ASHENEWS Daily Designed & Managed By DeedsTech

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.