Home to over 190 million people with the United Nations projecting 400 million inhabitants by 2050, Nigeria has one of the fastest-growing populations in the world. Popularly referred to as the “giant of Africa,” a sobriquet gotten from its large population and an economy largely driven by the country’s oil sector, Nigeria, just like a majority of other African countries suffers from a lack of youth inclusion in politics.
While the world seems to be moving at a rapid pace concerning youth inclusion in politics, young people in Nigeria, who currently make up more than 60% of its current population, constantly struggle when it comes to getting a seat at the proverbial table.
A major feat achieved over the last few years concerning this endemic problem in Nigeria was the signing of the Not Too Young To Run bill by President Muhammdu Buhari in May 2018.
The bill, which was championed by several youth groups and organizations including Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA), saw the reduction in the age for eligibility to seek and hold public office in Nigeria, with a new age limit of 35 years for a presidential candidate as opposed to 40 years, 30 years for state governorship aspirants and the senate, and 30 to 25 years for contenders in the House of Representative and State House of Assembly. Groundbreaking as this bill was, not much progress has been recorded so far in terms of actual representation.
As memorable as it was, the 2019 presidential polls in Nigeria was, in many ways, the same as many elections before it. President Muhammadu Buhari having first ruled Nigeria in 1983 as a military head of state before returning as a democratically elected president under the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2015, stood for re-election against his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice-president, who ran under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Both candidates were in their 70s.
Winning the election, Buhari joined Cameron’s 85-year-old Paul Biya and Uganda’s 72-year-old Yoweri Museveni among many others, in the class of older leaders who were leading a predominantly young population.
With global examples like Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who is 47 years old, David Cameron, who became Prime Minister of the UK at 43 years old, and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who at 42, has ensured radical changes, there are a lot of examples to draw from, however, several factors stand in the way of actual change.
Party Domination
Since the first democratic elections in 1999 that saw the emergence of former military ruler, Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigeria’s first democratically elected president, two political parties – the PDP and the APC – have continued to dominate the political scene.
These two parties have made it hard for “third party” candidates at different levels of government. With a wide network and tentacles deep in both urban and rural parts of the country, the big two have established themselves as the major contenders at the polls, as most uneducated voters tend to vote for the familiar party, not necessarily the candidate or policies behind them. In Nigeria, politics is more of a popularity vote, than a vote of confidence.
In 2019, Omoyele Sowore (forty-seven) of the African Alliance Congress (AAC); Fela Durotoye (forty-seven) of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN); Tope Fasua (forty-seven) of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP); Kingsley Moghalu (fifty-six) of the Young Progressives Party (YPP); Donald Duke (fifty-seven) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); and Oby Ezekwesili (fifty-five) of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) all indicated an interest in the presidential race. While most of these candidates might have been more qualified educationally and experience-wise when it comes to leadership, their inability to penetrate the grassroots or make functional coalitions turned the election into a two-man race.
This dominance can be seen in the case of Bankole “Banky W” Wellington, who despite being one of the biggest musical acts in Nigeria and the star of Nollywood’s highest-grossing film at the time, could not leverage his fame while running for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, losing to Babajide Obanikoro of the APC.
Lack of Funding
Another major issue with youth participation in politics can be traced to limitations of funds, which in turn makes campaigning less effective.
“Funding is a major challenge with young candidates across the board,” Rinsola Abiola of the Action Democracy Party tells Quartz Africa prior to the 2019 general elections. Contesting to become a federal legislator, the daughter of a famous politician, M.K.O Abiola also adds, “We don’t have the kind of resources that the older generation does and politics here is notoriously expensive.”
Abiola’s statement is true for a majority of Nigerian youths looking to go into politics. Starting at the primary levels where nomination tickets for major political parties can cost as much as N10 million and smaller parties pricing their nomination tickets not too far behind, contesting against older more established politicians with access to more resources puts them at a disadvantage in a country where wealth and class remain the gateway to power on every level.
This has pushed most candidates to rely heavily on crowdfunding, cost-saving social media-heavy campaigns and word of mouth during elections, which oftentimes fails to penetrate the grassroots area, stifling their campaigns and reducing their chances of winning.
Widespread Corruption
In March, a report published by the United States government’s Department of State accused security agencies in Nigeria, including the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services (DSS), of influencing the outcome of the 2019 presidential elections in favour of President Muhammadu Buhari. An allegation that has been vehemently denied by the security agency.
This allegation mirrors several others made during and after the last elections, as well as other elections over the years, with the two major parties going back and forth accusing one another of election fraud and manipulation.
Elections in Nigeria have always been marred by violence, vote-buying, ballot snatching, etc. These actions often orchestrated by bigger parties, also influence the elections, reducing the chances of smaller candidates running under even smaller parties.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
