Political analysts and governance experts expressed concerns over the Nigerian political class, stating that it has largely failed to serve the interests of the people.
They made this known on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels TV on Friday.
The discussion featured Mallam Baba Yusuf, a strategist, policy advisor, and former CEO of Airport Free Trade Zone, alongside Emeka Ejikonye, a budget expert. Both analysts highlighted the disconnect between political actors and citizens, attributing Nigeria’s governance challenges to structural deficiencies and a deep-seated erosion of values.
Mallam Baba Yusuf lamented the state of governance in Nigeria, describing it as a reflection of the country’s systemic failures. He argued that the political elite have largely abandoned their primary responsibility of serving the people.
“It reflects the tragedy of our state as a nation because people we elected into office do not have being in those public offices. It is clearly what we are seeing. It appears the political class has now begun to show that they are actually not there for the interest of their people, neither are they there for the interest of Nigerians. That’s not to go without saying that there is a fraction of them that are good people. But, the majority pulls the weight. To that extent, what we are seeing today is a reflection of how dire our situation is. In the last two weeks, we’ve prioritized what I can call petty issues. Nigerians are concerned with multidimensional poverty, insecurity, food insecurity, a lot of issues. I have not seen the dramatis personae, in this case, the executive or in the legislature, focusing on those core issues,” Yusuf stated.
Emeka Ejikonye echoed these sentiments, emphasizing the structural problems within Nigeria’s governance system that prevent meaningful service delivery. He pointed out that the governance framework is fundamentally flawed, allowing public officeholders to lose sight of their responsibilities to the citizens.
“There is a complete disconnect between political actors and the citizens they are supposed to serve. The structure of governance in Nigeria is so defective that when you enter there, there is nothing to tell you that I’m here to fix this on behalf of the citizenry. You have a structure in Nigeria where the Civil Service is so powerful and the elected officials are so uninformed about what is going on or what they are supposed to do,” Ejikonye explained.
Mallam Baba Yusuf further traced the governance crisis to the erosion of values within Nigerian society. He argued that leadership is a mirror of society, and the current political dysfunction is a reflection of broader societal decay.
“It goes back to the fundamental erosion of our value system as a people. Indeed, leaders are a reflection of the society,” he added.
Ejikonye decribed Nigeria’s governance issues as deeply rooted in structural deficiencies. Without fundamental reforms in governance architecture and public service orientation, he warned, the disconnect between leaders and the people would persist, further exacerbating the country’s socioeconomic challenges.
