By Theo Adebowale
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Having listened to a powerful message in church literally encouraging my faith, a thought came to me to deal with a hill not far from my home. I was contemplating to exercise my faith by commanding it to move from that location. All I needed was the rationale to embark on the faith exercise. Would its removal not make for ease of movement? Perhaps there would be more breeze for residents? On the other hand, I reasoned may be the hill is a wind breaker, protector of roofs in the neighborhood at times of furious storms.

Whatever, there is a probability that the mountain could move or be moved. A few days later, Gbenga Alabi my associate in a farmers cooperative society came around. We started discussing possible projects for our organization. Gbenga informed me that there are scientific reports indicating that hills are an asset for goat rearing. They do well when the livestock farmer provides facilities for them by the hill. If necessary resources were at our disposal and the hill was on our property, we could have made a case to do something to the hill. On the other hand, it could be leveled for some other infrastructure to be provided.

Alternatively, we could make it a facility for a cattle ranch. This much has been described as basis for scale of preference by the Economics teacher, a rational basis for determining opportunity cost. It is useful for the individual, family, group, community or nation.

It is common knowledge that economic resources do not abound in sufficient quantity to take care of all human needs. They are insatiable. To make the most of what we have, we need to construct a scale of preference ascribing values in material, financial, moral, or even spiritual terms. A community might consider what to do with its resources. Should it build more schools, provide skills for trainees to go into self employment, having been equipped on how to identify opportunities and provide for the needs of that community? Or should we spend more on industries to create wealth such that residents would be able to pay for quality services they consume thereafter? A people should be able to identify challenges of their environment and begin to think out steps, approaches, preferences. They should be able to spell out costs of action and inaction. This should lead to interest articulation wherein associational groups in unions and business would give expression to preferences of members. Their expression is usually made in quantifiable terms as they demand for “minimum wage”, favourable terms in foreign exchange impacting bonds and stocks. There are also ethnic, religious and other non-institutional groups whose inputs affect shape and patterns of decisions taken at the processing point.

Academic Staff Union of Universities has influenced education policies in Nigeria encouraging Federal and State Governments to make such policies like ETF Education Trust Fund, TETFUND Tertiary Education Funds and NEEDS which benefit all levels of education within the length and breadth of Nigeria. The Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress have mobilized members to agitate for improved working conditions including the national minimum wage. Religious organizations have been more particular about dressing, uniforms, holidays and ownership of institutions ever ready to cause chaos to draw home their point. Examples abound in Oyo and Osun States. Unfortunately for the Nigerian polity, political parties especially in the current Republic have been most irresponsible. Whereas they must project and comport themselves as institutions, the operators have run them as a tool for self aggrandizement. Of the ninety political parties or thereabout, not more than three or four are seen as making any genuine efforts at all to build the political institution gladiators use their position to deceive the electorate, and trade their chances, however slim for a plate of pottage. Some of them are satisfied serving as second fiddle, booby traps, to scuttle the political process. All political parties appear unashamedly poised to engage in annoying, endless legal contestation to frustrate the system to the end that All Progressives Congress appears not to be fielding any candidates other than President in Zamfara and River States.

Today, many young men and a few women introduce themselves as politicians but the quality of party politics has declined, regrettably, very sharply. The decline has been traced to military interregnum which created a disconnect between the nationalist-independence era politicking and 1999 experience to date. The 1979-83 political intervention was too shortlived to have any positive influence on the present. Between 1999 and 2018, vote buying was the innovation, the highest bidder often coming tops. There is no room for serious engagement or dialogue between the political class and the voters. Those who have the message do not get attention because, unlike in the days of the Unity Party of Nigeria and the National Party of Nigeria when the people moved to campaign grounds to listen to the message. Now they have to be hired, transported, sometime accommodated to go and populate the campaign grounds. These political parties have symbols, slogans, party secretariats, pamphlets and working committees, but none has a message. We are aware of efforts of the Federal Government in reaching the economically vulnerable particularly market women, unemployed youths. We are not ignorant of investment in transportation and communication especially the road network and railway. We are well informed of efforts of the Federal Government to ensure that public employers meet their responsibility to their employees, but there is no evidence that such efforts are the best option at the given point in time.

It is the responsibility of political parties to offer choices and justify them. This is done through political education. A political party, among other things is expected to prepare and present objective principles and procedures by which it sets to accomplish stated goals. It has a responsibility to educate the electorate that its offer is the best in the circumstance, and the means are the most economically effective in cost and quality. It is summarized as manifesto or platform which they speak to at campaigns. The Independent Electoral Commission INEC has announced 16 February 2019 date for Presidential Election. Many observe, and rightly so, that there are no indications that the elections are for real.

Politicians themselves are not even sure there would be Presidential and National Assembly Elections next month, because less than five weeks to go, election fever is yet to catch them. In previous elections, many politicians would have painted the town red. It would have been season of amala politics. At Molete, Ibadan there would be feasting, dining, wining, and sharing of ‘logistics’. 2019 Elections would be different because the various parties are not responding appropriately to the environment, and who would bell the cat? Peoples Democratic Party is not helping the matter. They are manufacturing stories about the President and spreading rumors about Heritage Bank, 9 Mobile and Mrs Amina Zakari of INEC. Spurious allegations against the ruling party at the center would not win any credit for the PDP. Any party wishing to win the General Elections convincingly should embark on mass mobilization of the people on what its programs are, and how they would address the economic, social, security and infrastructural challenges of the people.

As the elections get so close, vote buying is not likely to achieve much during the exercise. A systematic, aggressive marketing of programmes and candidates would go a long way to determine victory. There is no more time to waste.