As campaigns for 2023 general elections commences, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has urged political parties make their campaigns issue based and convince Nigerians to vote for their candidates based on sound proposals of alternative solutions to the issues that are of utmost concern to Nigerians.
The group urged politicians avoid of hate speech; abusive, intemperate, or slanderous language likely to provoke violent reaction and physical attack on supporters.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Executive Director of CTA Faith Nwadishi, urged citizens and the media to monitor and track campaign promises made by political office holders in order to hold them accountable.
While setting campaign agenda for political parties, she admonished them to in practical terms tell Nigerians how they intend solve security, education, energy, and other challenges confronting Nigerians.
According to her, political parties and their candidates must tell Nigerians in realistic terms how they intend to end insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other criminalities.
“Citizens are eager to know the solutions that political parties are proffering to the lingering security challenges,” she said.
Speaking on Nigeria energy crises, Nwadishi tasks Political parties to include discussions on fuel subsidy and domestic consumption of fuel in their campaigns.
“Our ask is that political parties and their candidates should tell Nigerians how they will cushion the effect of high energy cost, whether fuel subsidy will stay or go and how they will provide renewable energy options since that is where the world is going now,” she said.
Continuing, she said “It is sad that Nigerian university students have been kept at home for over 7 months due to strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Within this period, other unions at tertiary institutions had embarked on strike actions that are inimical to the education system in Nigeria.
“Political parties and their candidates should make it a point to tell Nigerians how they will mitigate the protracted strikes in the education system and other rots bedevilling the Nigerian education sector from the Primary, post primary and tertiary levels. Foreign educational institutions are cashing out on the rot of our system, encouraging Nigerian youth to seek alternative education in foreign lands. What is the way out?
“Amid dwindling resources arising from oil theft, non-remittances of revenue to the government-by-government agencies. The dwindling fiscal outlook has put the country in a financial quandary. The economic future of Nigeria is linked to fiscal responsibility. The fiscal choices we make today has implications for the future. Political parties and candidates need to tell Nigerians in their campaigns how they will strengthen the fiscal policies to encourage growth and productivity.”
