Learn How To Make Money From Home Using Your Smartphone In 2025
By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
AfricaNews360AfricaNews360
  • Politics
    PoliticsShow More
    The future is African – Ghana President declares at UN Assembly
    September 26, 2025
    Burkina Faso to ‘street honour’ late Ghanaian President Jerry John Rawlings
    May 19, 2025
    Burkina Faso honours late president Thomas Sankara with memorial park
    May 19, 2025
    Nigeria Presidency refutes Catholic leaders’ criticism of economic hardship
    March 11, 2025
    Ghana’s President Mahama strengthens ties with Mali during Bamako visit
    March 10, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ghana secures additional $28m grant from China for infrastructure projects
    October 17, 2025
    Ghana’s President Mahama seeks investment partnerships during Singapore visit
    August 25, 2025
    Ghana’s Tourism Minister commends Emirates at grand opening of Travel Store
    May 15, 2025
    Burkina Faso strengthens Russian ties with new mining licence
    April 27, 2025
    Ghana Bauxite Company targets 6 million tonnes production by end of 2025
    April 7, 2025
  • Showbiz
    ShowbizShow More
    Davido releases ’10 Kilo’ Music Video
    August 13, 2025
    Nigerian Star Davido’s Foundation supports 500 orphanages in annual Charity drive
    February 13, 2025
    Nigerian president Tinubu celebrates Nollywood icon Nkem Owoh ‘Osuofia’ at 70
    February 8, 2025
    Burkina Faso’s Bissa music sensation Eunice Goula drops new Banger ‘Mariage’
    September 25, 2024
    Kenya’s president hosts national music festival
    August 16, 2024
  • Sports
    SportsShow More
    CAF announces nominees for National Team of the Year Award
    October 22, 2025
    Morocco beat Argentina to claim maiden Under-20 World Cup
    October 20, 2025
    Ghana considering Dede Ayew’s return to Black Stars for 2026 World Cup
    October 17, 2025
    Cape Verde secure historic World Cup qualification with victory over Eswatini
    October 13, 2025
    Ghana seal 2026 World Cup qualification with narrow victory over Comoros
    October 13, 2025
  • Biographies
    BiographiesShow More
    Michael Gallup Bio, Age, Net Worth, Height, Parents, Siblings, Wife, Children
    July 25, 2024
  • Columns
    ColumnsShow More
    Ghana Government does not subsidize Hajj Pilgrims: Debunking the myth with facts
    March 7, 2025
    Full Speech: South African president’s address at first G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting 2025
    February 22, 2025
    Ing. Abdullah Mohammed Billey: The Ghanaian road expert victimised for political reasons by the ousted Government
    February 3, 2025
    Ghana President Mahama’s speech at Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2025
    February 2, 2025
    An American opinion on the impending NDC Government structure
    December 17, 2024
  • Travel
    TravelShow More
    Ghana’s Tourism Minister commends Emirates at grand opening of Travel Store
    May 15, 2025
    Thousands of Ethiopian diaspora heed PM’s call to ‘come home’
    May 2, 2024
    Malawi and Ghana sign visa waiver agreement to enhance bilateral ties
    March 21, 2024
    Ghana signs visa waiver agreement with Bahamas
    February 22, 2024
    Malawi scrapes visa restrictions for 79 countries
    February 9, 2024
  • Editorial
    EditorialShow More
    FEATURE: Kigali City- A glittering jewel of Africa
    September 2, 2023
    All eyes on INEC as Nigeria decides
    February 26, 2023
    Feed Africa Summit: Continent Plans to Achieve Zero Hunger by 2030
    January 25, 2023
    Africa must speak with one voice at COP27
    November 8, 2022
    Nigerian headteacher sentenced to death after pupil’s murder
    July 28, 2022
  • World
    WorldShow More
    Robert Prevost
    American prelate Robert Prevost elected New Pope
    May 9, 2025
    Rwanda cuts diplomatic ties with Belgium amid Congo conflict tensions
    March 17, 2025
    ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Ibrahim Al-Masri
    November 21, 2024
    Voting underway in US as Donald Trump faces Kamala Harris for presidency
    November 5, 2024
    Biden directs US forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran
    October 2, 2024
Reading: Nigerian elections: 5 major challenges facing the country’s next president
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
Ghana’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings dies aged 76
October 23, 2025
CAF announces nominees for National Team of the Year Award
October 22, 2025
Morocco beat Argentina to claim maiden Under-20 World Cup
October 20, 2025
Ghana secures additional $28m grant from China for infrastructure projects
October 17, 2025
Former Kenyan VP Kalonzo Musyoka mourns ‘brother’ Raila Odinga
October 17, 2025
Aa
AfricaNews360AfricaNews360
Aa
  • Technology
  • Science
  • Education
  • Health
Search
  • Topics
    • Business
    • Columns
    • Gossip
    • News
    • Politics
    • Showbiz
    • Fashion
    • Climate
    • World
    • Videos
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
AfricaNews360 > Columns > Nigerian elections: 5 major challenges facing the country’s next president
ColumnsPoliticsTop Stories

Nigerian elections: 5 major challenges facing the country’s next president

Posted Africanews360 February 1, 2023 5 Min Read
Updated 2023/02/01 at 5:12 PM
Nigeria’s next President must unite Nigerians across party, religious and ethnic faultlines. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
SHARE

Nigerians will soon determine who their next president will be in a general election. Polling is due at the end of February and inauguration is scheduled for 29 May 2023.

As Nigerians count down to election day, it’s worth considering the key challenges the country’s next president will deal with as he takes on his mandate.

The challenges revolve around five critical areas:

  • national cohesion
  • security
  • the economy
  • the university system
  • the fight against corruption.

It’s a lot to ask, but the challenges are surmountable if the president has the will and commitment to the ideal of democratic governance.

Learn How To Make Money Online Using Your Smartphone In 2025

The big threats
Fractured polity: Nigeria is more divided and polarised than it’s ever been. The cleavages and fault-lines of ethnocentrism, sectarianism, sectionalism, parochialism and religious extremism are pushing the country to the brink.

The polarisation is evident in conversations around the de facto rotational presidency, the controversy over presidential candidates and religious faith, the neo-Biafra separatist agitations in the south-east, and the toxic and bigoted ethnocentric rhetoric peddled in the mainstream and social media.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU  Sudan's RSF condemns killing of Darfur governor

The next president must undertake urgent measures at national reconciliation and integration to avert impending chaos.

Collapsing national security: The prevailing state of national security in Nigeria is apocalyptic. The receding Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east is being substituted by a nexus of banditry and terrorism  in the north-west.

The north-central is still grappling with the deadly farmer-herder crisis. For its part the south-east is enmeshed in separatist violence and the associated criminal opportunism.

There is an upswing in gang and ritual brigandage in the south-west while south-south is still afflicted with militancy, piracy and oil theft.

The next president must get a grip on these dire security threats.

Battered economy: Nigeria is battling with slow economic growth. The national currency (naira) has been grossly devalued amid a volatile exchange rate. Inflation and unemployment rates are high and rising.

Rises in the cost of living are unprecedented and unbearable. The government seems to have lost traction on national economic planning and management. The next president has the challenge of revamping an ailing and critically dysfunctional economy.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU  EU warns violence could delay Nigeria elections

Restive university sector: Nigeria’s university system is witnessing a systematic deterioration as a result of government neglect.

In 2022 public universities in the country lost nearly a year due to an industrial dispute between the federal government and the various university unions over issues relating to funding, governance and workers’ welfare. The crux of the dispute was government’s failure to honour a series of agreements it signed with the unions.

In an effort to break the continuing strike of the academic staff union in late 2022, the federal government secured a court order compelling the lecturers to go back to work. But the conditions and issues that warranted the strike have barely been addressed.

This means industrial harmony and stability won’t last in the country’s university sector. The next president may wish to take early note of this.

Endemic public corruption: Corruption among public functionaries in Nigeria is endemic, though the current administration claims to be opposed to it.

Even the former accountant general of the federation was alleged to have swindled over 100 billion naira (US$216,449 million).

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU  Egypt: President El-Sisi Holds Talks with Tanzanian President; Affirms Egypt's Readiness to Promote Ties Tanzania at all Levels

The next president must confront the menace head on, setting an example of transparency and zero tolerance of self-regard.

What’s needed
It’s clear that the next president is inheriting a massive governance burden. Dealing with it requires forthrightness, sincerity of purpose and radical political will.

To succeed he needs to be ready to approach governance differently. He must be decisive enough to confront an entrenched system of vested interest and self-regard.

He must be a patriotic statesman who is committed to the utilitarian principle of democratic governance – the greatest happiness for the greatest number of the civil populace.

The fate of the country in the face of these challenges largely depends on the strength of character and dedication of the incoming president.

A good statesman will be able to mitigate the problems by adopting a hard-line commitment to the principles of democratic good governance, even in the face of possible reactionary pressures arising from entrenched vested interests.

But, under a bad statesman, the chances are that the challenges will aggravate into a combustible mix that may herald a failed state in Nigeria.

RSS EDITORS’ SUGGESTIONS

  • OFFICIAL: Zimbabwe sack Coach Michael Nees after a year in charge
  • WAFCON Qualifiers: Black Queens midfielder Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah confident ahead of Egypt Clash
  • No Black Stars player complained after budget disclosure – Dr. Randy Abbey
  • Black Stars technical team to be strengthened ahead of 2026 World Cup – Dr. Randy Abbey
  • “We’ll keep our identity” — Tanzania coach Hemed Suleiman on facing Nigeria, Tunisia and Uganda
TAGGED: Atiku Abubakar, democracy, economy, Elections, Governance, Industrial dispute, Nigeria, Nigeria election 2023, Nigerian elections, Peter Obi, politics, poverty, security, terrorism
SOURCES: The Conversation
Africanews360 February 1, 2023
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Telegram Email Print
Previous Article FEATURE: Angelique Kidjo, the diva from Benin could win a record sixth Grammy Award
Next Article OPINION: Accra is congested, but relocating Ghana’s capital is not the only option
Leave a comment Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Latest on AfricaNews360

  • Ghana’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings dies aged 76
  • CAF announces nominees for National Team of the Year Award
  • Morocco beat Argentina to claim maiden Under-20 World Cup
  • Ghana secures additional $28m grant from China for infrastructure projects
  • Former Kenyan VP Kalonzo Musyoka mourns ‘brother’ Raila Odinga

More recommendations for you

  • Ghana and Bournemouth Star Antoine Semenyo eyes Champions League future
  • Dual-Footed Semenyo Confuses Defenders: Ghana star doesn’t know his stronger foot
  • Semenyo credits hard work for his rapid rise
  • Antoine Semenyo – From rejection to Premier League star
  • OFFICIAL: Zimbabwe sack Coach Michael Nees after a year in charge

You Might Also Like

BereavementNewsTop Stories

Ghana’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings dies aged 76

October 23, 2025
BusinessTop Stories

Ghana secures additional $28m grant from China for infrastructure projects

October 17, 2025
SoccerTop Stories

Ghana considering Dede Ayew’s return to Black Stars for 2026 World Cup

October 17, 2025
News

Newly qualified radiographer kidnapped in Nigeria

October 2, 2025
  • Bereavement
  • Debt Management
  • Finance
  • Job Creation
  • Small Business
  • Climate
  • Education
  • Fashion
  • Health
  • Rights
  • Science
  • Sanitation
  • Mobilisation
  • Secondary Education
  • Celebrity News
  • Tertiary Education
  • Culture
  • Security
  • Corruption
  • Creed
  • Athletics
  • Basketball
  • Boxing
  • Formula 1
  • Rugby
  • Soccer
  • Tennis
  • Minning
  • Gaming
  • Technology
AfricaNews360AfricaNews360
Follow US

© 2024 - AfricaNews360 | All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?