Why vote on Saturday? Here are 5 reasons the governorship and state assembly polls matter
With the buzz that often surrounds the presidential elections in Nigeria, it is very easy to lose sight of the importance of the governorship and state assembly election and why they really matter.
The focus of many young Nigerians, especially first-time voters, has been on the February 25, 2023, presidential election. It was the major reason why many young people registered to vote in 2023.
A winner has since emerged amid claims of manipulation and irregularities. The next big elections hold on Saturday, March 18, 2023, and the big names – Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and Bola Tinubu, who were the major reason why many young voters showed interest in politics, will not be on the ballot. But the election is as important as the presidential election and the actions of the elected officials will impact your life as a citizen over the next couple of years.
There are many reasons why the elections matter, but we have picked five reasons why you should vote.
The road infrastructure
There are three categories of road networks in Nigeria – the Trunk A, B and C roads. Trunk A are roads linking two states and are under the federal government. Trunk B roads link the major cities within states and are under the state government while C are the local roads under the LGAs.
Most of the bad roads citizens complain about in their respective states are under the control of state governors. It is also the duty of the lawmaker representing your area in the state house of assembly to call the attention of government to the dilapidated roads. The quality of people you elect as lawmakers and governors will determine how these issues will be prioritised.
Healthcare Centres
The state governments oversee the operation of General Hospitals, State-owned Teaching Hospitals and coordinate the Primary Health Centres (PHC) at the Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The PHCs serve as the first point of access to healthcare for citizens and they bring healthcare services closer to the people, but only about 20% of the 30,000 PHC facilities across Nigeria are working, according to a report in 2021. General Hospitals in many parts of the country are also poorly managed and unequipped.
In a country where many public hospitals are poorly managed and refuse to attend to patients due to inadequate bed space, it is important to be bothered about who becomes the governor of your state since the state government provides financing for health services.
Security issues
Although the security agencies are under the authority of the Federal Government, as the Chief Security Officer of their respective states, governors also go to different lengths to fund security agencies in their respective states to function effectively and protect the state.
It’s not surprising to see governors buying vehicles and putting other measures in place to strengthen the security outfits in their state. Many governors fund the security agencies from their security votes.
Primary and Secondary Education:
Primary and Secondary education and state-owned tertiary institutions are under the authority of the state government. For a country with the highest number (20m) of out-of-school children in Africa as of 2022, the quality of leaders elected to run the state will also reflect on the quality of primary and secondary education which has been described as crucial for the development of children.
To ensure increased enrolment of children in school, governors in many parts of Nigeria often declare free education from primary to secondary levels. In some states, governors pay the WAEC and NECO fees of students enrolled in public schools.
There have been stories online from many Nigerians claiming they are products of free education and wouldn’t have been able to write WAEC if the governors of their states had not paid the fee.
For checks and balance at the state assembly
To tackle abuse of power by governors, it is important to elect lawmakers to the state house of assembly who can question the activities of the governors.
Checks and balances hardly exist at the State House of Assembly where majority of lawmakers belong to the same party with the governor and are seen as ‘rubber stamp’ legislators. They hardly scrutinise the governors’ activities, giving room for the abuse of power in many cases.
To put the governors to constant check, it is important to elect the right lawmakers to the State House of Assembly.
