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[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”30px”][vc_row_inner el_id=”newsletters”][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Vice Presidential Debates and the Nigerian Story” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”25px”][vc_column_text]
Watching the Vice-Presidential candidates’ debate on Friday 14th December was for me listening to an unfolding story about Nigeria. The different voices, varying analysis, pitches, the questions and the answers told me a lot about the future of this country.
The first positive thing that seemed clear is that the vibrant young people of Nigeria are becoming adequately represented in the political process.The Vice-Presidential candidate for the ANN, Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya is 44 and the Vice-Presidential candidate for the YPP Mrs. Umma Getso is 37. This is very good for our political landscape because the Not Too Young To Run flag was soaring high at the debates.
The second positive thing was the gender balance. It was good to see two women up there debating and representing the women folk. It would be good to see a female vice president and perhaps a female president in Nigeria in the near future.
The third good thing is that statistics has become a weapon of choice for our politicians. Stats, stats and more stats were flying around particularly from Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo. I heard about number of out of school children, misery index, terrorism index, GDP, you name it. This is commendable. It shows that we are becoming more issues based in our approach to communicating with the citizens.
The fourth good thing is that the debate showed the power of social media in Nigeria. I was very impressed with how people were challenging false statements and false statistics reeled out by candidates on an online real time basis. This is good for our country. Politicians should not lie to us or give us false statistics and get away with it. We must challenge them and expose them.
That said, I think a few things were not exactly salutary about the debate. Some of the questions for example were just blah, for want of a better word. For example, how could you ask someone: ‘’You have been Vice President for three and half years how tasking has this been for you? What kind of question is this? Where is the debate element in this question? Off course he will say it is tasking and yet fulfilling. So how does this show anything?
Also, on a sad note, I am not sure I understood how you stage a debate and people are asked different questions? This does not allow for transparency if you ask me. A proper debate should ask the same questions to everybody and give each person an opportunity to say something about that issue and challenge each other’s perspectives.
It was also not very nice to see people who aspire to be the number two citizens dodge some questions by answering what was not asked or embarking on a merry go round. I think that sometimes the candidates actually didn’t have enough depth on economics or the subject matter to answer some of the questions and deflection was the best approach.
I am also not quite sure how the organizers picked these 5 candidates out of the 31 candidates vying for this same office.The moderator announced that this was one of the most difficult decisions and they used online polls and surveys. These polls and surveys were not made public and Nigerians do not know how the decision was reached. It smirks of lack of transparency and surely does not give equal opportunity. It also lets some other candidates who don’t want to debate off the hook. It is understandable that we have 31 candidates, and this poses a problem, then we should have 6 debates back to back. Every voice must be heard! It is not a bad thing that 31 people have the audacity to vie for the highest office in the land. It makes a statement that Nigerians are not content with the caliber of politicians we have bred in our democratic dispensation. On this matter the organizers issued the following statement: ‘’We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate. We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates. However, Nigerians have spoken through the multi-stage process and we urge all Nigerians to respect their choice as we abide by the outcome of the independent party selection process.” Perhaps we should ask the organizers when and how Nigerians spoke? Who heard them? How many of them spoke? Can they make the poll results public?
On a lighter and less acrimonious note I enjoyed some of the humour between Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo when Peter Obi said ‘’You cannot lock your shop and chase after thieves’’ and Yemi Osinbajo responded that ‘’if you leave thieves to steal the inventory, there will be no shop’’. There have been online debates about these statements and the logic behind the statement and the rebuttal. At least this has kept Nigerians mentally alert.
Finally, if I use my telescope to do a bit of star gazing for a minute, some questions surely do arise: Did we get a sense from listening to the debate that the newer parties (YPP, ANN and ACPN) have demonstrated from their choices of Vice-Presidential candidates that they are a new political class to whom we can entrust our commonwealth? Did their candidates give the main parties (PDP and APC) an intellectual contest? Yes or No. If your answer is No, then there is cause for concern for those who would like to see a new breed of public office holders that make the former brigade look as bad as most of us have painted them.
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[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Vice Presidential Debates and the Nigerian Story” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Watching the Vice-Presidential candidates’ debate on Friday 14th December was for me listening to an unfolding story about Nigeria. The different voices, varying analysis, pitches, the questions and the answers told me a lot about the future of this country.
The first positive thing that seemed clear is that the vibrant young people of Nigeria are becoming adequately represented in the political process.The Vice-Presidential candidate for the ANN, Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya is 44 and the Vice-Presidential candidate for the YPP Mrs. Umma Getso is 37. This is very good for our political landscape because the Not Too Young To Run flag was soaring high at the debates.
The second positive thing was the gender balance. It was good to see two women up there debating and representing the women folk. It would be good to see a female vice president and perhaps a female president in Nigeria in the near future.
The third good thing is that statistics has become a weapon of choice for our politicians. Stats, stats and more stats were flying around particularly from Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo. I heard about number of out of school children, misery index, terrorism index, GDP, you name it. This is commendable. It shows that we are becoming more issues based in our approach to communicating with the citizens.
The fourth good thing is that the debate showed the power of social media in Nigeria. I was very impressed with how people were challenging false statements and false statistics reeled out by candidates on an online real time basis. This is good for our country. Politicians should not lie to us or give us false statistics and get away with it. We must challenge them and expose them.
That said, I think a few things were not exactly salutary about the debate. Some of the questions for example were just blah, for want of a better word. For example, how could you ask someone: ‘’You have been Vice President for three and half years how tasking has this been for you? What kind of question is this? Where is the debate element in this question? Off course he will say it is tasking and yet fulfilling. So how does this show anything?
Also, on a sad note, I am not sure I understood how you stage a debate and people are asked different questions? This does not allow for transparency if you ask me. A proper debate should ask the same questions to everybody and give each person an opportunity to say something about that issue and challenge each other’s perspectives.
It was also not very nice to see people who aspire to be the number two citizens dodge some questions by answering what was not asked or embarking on a merry go round. I think that sometimes the candidates actually didn’t have enough depth on economics or the subject matter to answer some of the questions and deflection was the best approach.
I am also not quite sure how the organizers picked these 5 candidates out of the 31 candidates vying for this same office.The moderator announced that this was one of the most difficult decisions and they used online polls and surveys. These polls and surveys were not made public and Nigerians do not know how the decision was reached. It smirks of lack of transparency and surely does not give equal opportunity. It also lets some other candidates who don’t want to debate off the hook. It is understandable that we have 31 candidates, and this poses a problem, then we should have 6 debates back to back. Every voice must be heard! It is not a bad thing that 31 people have the audacity to vie for the highest office in the land. It makes a statement that Nigerians are not content with the caliber of politicians we have bred in our democratic dispensation. On this matter the organizers issued the following statement: ‘’We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate. We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates. However, Nigerians have spoken through the multi-stage process and we urge all Nigerians to respect their choice as we abide by the outcome of the independent party selection process.” Perhaps we should ask the organizers when and how Nigerians spoke? Who heard them? How many of them spoke? Can they make the poll results public?
On a lighter and less acrimonious note I enjoyed some of the humour between Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo when Peter Obi said ‘’You cannot lock your shop and chase after thieves’’ and Yemi Osinbajo responded that ‘’if you leave thieves to steal the inventory, there will be no shop’’. There have been online debates about these statements and the logic behind the statement and the rebuttal. At least this has kept Nigerians mentally alert.
Finally, if I use my telescope to do a bit of star gazing for a minute, some questions surely do arise: Did we get a sense from listening to the debate that the newer parties (YPP, ANN and ACPN) have demonstrated from their choices of Vice-Presidential candidates that they are a new political class to whom we can entrust our commonwealth? Did their candidates give the main parties (PDP and APC) an intellectual contest? Yes or No. If your answer is No, then there is cause for concern for those who would like to see a new breed of public office holders that make the former brigade look as bad as most of us have painted them.
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[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Vice Presidential Debates and the Nigerian Story” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Watching the Vice-Presidential candidates’ debate on Friday 14th December was for me listening to an unfolding story about Nigeria. The different voices, varying analysis, pitches, the questions and the answers told me a lot about the future of this country.
The first positive thing that seemed clear is that the vibrant young people of Nigeria are becoming adequately represented in the political process.The Vice-Presidential candidate for the ANN, Khadijah Abdullahi-Iya is 44 and the Vice-Presidential candidate for the YPP Mrs. Umma Getso is 37. This is very good for our political landscape because the Not Too Young To Run flag was soaring high at the debates.
The second positive thing was the gender balance. It was good to see two women up there debating and representing the women folk. It would be good to see a female vice president and perhaps a female president in Nigeria in the near future.
The third good thing is that statistics has become a weapon of choice for our politicians. Stats, stats and more stats were flying around particularly from Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo. I heard about number of out of school children, misery index, terrorism index, GDP, you name it. This is commendable. It shows that we are becoming more issues based in our approach to communicating with the citizens.
The fourth good thing is that the debate showed the power of social media in Nigeria. I was very impressed with how people were challenging false statements and false statistics reeled out by candidates on an online real time basis. This is good for our country. Politicians should not lie to us or give us false statistics and get away with it. We must challenge them and expose them.
That said, I think a few things were not exactly salutary about the debate. Some of the questions for example were just blah, for want of a better word. For example, how could you ask someone: ‘’You have been Vice President for three and half years how tasking has this been for you? What kind of question is this? Where is the debate element in this question? Off course he will say it is tasking and yet fulfilling. So how does this show anything?
Also, on a sad note, I am not sure I understood how you stage a debate and people are asked different questions? This does not allow for transparency if you ask me. A proper debate should ask the same questions to everybody and give each person an opportunity to say something about that issue and challenge each other’s perspectives.
It was also not very nice to see people who aspire to be the number two citizens dodge some questions by answering what was not asked or embarking on a merry go round. I think that sometimes the candidates actually didn’t have enough depth on economics or the subject matter to answer some of the questions and deflection was the best approach.
I am also not quite sure how the organizers picked these 5 candidates out of the 31 candidates vying for this same office.The moderator announced that this was one of the most difficult decisions and they used online polls and surveys. These polls and surveys were not made public and Nigerians do not know how the decision was reached. It smirks of lack of transparency and surely does not give equal opportunity. It also lets some other candidates who don’t want to debate off the hook. It is understandable that we have 31 candidates, and this poses a problem, then we should have 6 debates back to back. Every voice must be heard! It is not a bad thing that 31 people have the audacity to vie for the highest office in the land. It makes a statement that Nigerians are not content with the caliber of politicians we have bred in our democratic dispensation. On this matter the organizers issued the following statement: ‘’We wish to emphatically state that the NEDG and BON were not influenced or induced by anyone to include or exclude any political party from the debate. We understand the disappointment of some political parties who would have wished to see their candidates share their visions for the country at the Debates. However, Nigerians have spoken through the multi-stage process and we urge all Nigerians to respect their choice as we abide by the outcome of the independent party selection process.” Perhaps we should ask the organizers when and how Nigerians spoke? Who heard them? How many of them spoke? Can they make the poll results public?
On a lighter and less acrimonious note I enjoyed some of the humour between Peter Obi and Yemi Osinbajo when Peter Obi said ‘’You cannot lock your shop and chase after thieves’’ and Yemi Osinbajo responded that ‘’if you leave thieves to steal the inventory, there will be no shop’’. There have been online debates about these statements and the logic behind the statement and the rebuttal. At least this has kept Nigerians mentally alert.
Finally, if I use my telescope to do a bit of star gazing for a minute, some questions surely do arise: Did we get a sense from listening to the debate that the newer parties (YPP, ANN and ACPN) have demonstrated from their choices of Vice-Presidential candidates that they are a new political class to whom we can entrust our commonwealth? Did their candidates give the main parties (PDP and APC) an intellectual contest? Yes or No. If your answer is No, then there is cause for concern for those who would like to see a new breed of public office holders that make the former brigade look as bad as most of us have painted them.
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