The alarming rise in corruption, lack of transparency and accountability in governance poses a primary challenge to the sustainable development of Nigeria. When leaders are elected into positions of power, they are empowered/legitimized to preside over the affairs of the citizenry, enact laws, policies and undertake reforms on mandates that will solve key pressing issues in the society. However, once in office a majority of these leaders fail to execute their mandates over the period of their tenure or simply execute on mandates that do not impact the citizenry or even worse, misappropriate public resources. This trend is made possible due to lack of transparency and accountability on how national resources are utilized to tackle national issues. Besides the many consequences, this trend impedes development and national wealth creation.

More this issue is not unconnected to the apparent disconnect between governance and the governed in the nation and there are several contributory factors to this, these factors are all interconnected.

There is a poor level or quality of citizen engagement during and after elections. A notable percentage of Nigerians, on one hand, are not even interested in voting or supporting a party because they feel their interest or support will not produce any results that translate to a change in their immediate reality or the plights they are suffering. Data trends published by Stears.ng report that Voter turnout for the 2019 elections was the lowest since Nigeria returned to democracy. In 2003, 69% of 61 million eligible voters participated in the presidential elections, and this number declined to 57% in 2007 and 54% in 2011, before dropping below 50% to 44% on 2015. This year, only 35% of registered voters turned up; less than 30 million out of a possible 84 million eligible Nigerians who could determine who would run the country for the next four years.

As far as most Nigerians are concerned, all governments or election cycles are the same and are only in the interest of the power brokers and not the grassroots. During this time, the political landscape is defined by the frenzy that comes with a change in leadership cycle, from campaigns to party affiliations to agendas, to the electioneering process itself. The dance between political parties, candidate choice and propaganda plays out and public opinion debate finds its place on the stages of social and traditional media but even that is characterized by unhealthy, irrelevant conversations that show a clear lack of priority and understanding of the issues.

But any politics that isn’t fostering the welfare of the citizenry isn’t progressive because at the heart of it all, governance, in itself, is not politically partisan. Therefore, examining and addressing the underlying reasons for misplaced voter enthusiasm/citizen apathy is all too important.

There is also a problem of ignorance. The average citizen doesn’t know how government works or how to engage the processes and when they do, their voices are not coordinated and because the average Nigerian is not fully equipped with a basic understanding of the issues or the medium to hold them accountable, we literally take anything we can get.

This ignorance is reflective of the paucity of comprehensive data, lack of access and low adoption of the available data and information tools which ultimately impacts significantly on the capacity of citizens to engage and hold their leaders accountable. Citizen awareness and participation need to be backed by the necessary tools to take action and exercise their rights both as voters and as citizens.

There is also a high level of misinformation and fake news manipulated to reduce the quality of citizen engagement on governance issues, thereby causing these issues to have a partisan or tribal colouration, thus shifting the focus from issues to persons or interests.