*The Politics of Backwardness and Sustained Poverty, and the 2023 Election*

*By*

*Chinedum Nwajiuba,* *24/03/23*

*Assume a state with about 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs).*

*Assume each LGA has 10 council wards. That will mean 300 wards in the state.*

*If each ward has 10 polling units that will mean 3,000 polling units in the state.*

*If a political party in the 2023 election spent minimum $500USD per polling unit in buying* *votes, that will mean $1,500,000USD (One Million Five Hundred Dollars).*

*If as at March 18, 2023, the street exchange rate per Dollar was N740, the $1,500,000 will mean N1,110,000,000. That is* *One Billon, One Hundred and Ten Million Naira, spent by the political party in vote-buying, in one election day, say* *March 18, 2023. This may also have been for states having just one election, that is the House of* *Assembly, and not the Governorship.*

*This type of money as widely known comes from the coffers of the state. There is a huge opportunity cost to this* *because there are many useful things, especially those that can have multiplier effects, which such a state could have* *invested this money.*

*An enlightened rulership and political class that invests such funds patriotically and with love of the people they rule,* *will win the minds and support of the people, and will not need to use violence to win* *elections. The further expenditure on hiring thugs to destroy and cart away ballot boxes, the costs of bringing in* *soldiers and policemen, is not part of the bill here.* *That is additional.* *Nevertheless, our rulers chose to use force and intimidation, as well as buying the people so they remain in office. This can* *be different* .

*The political party and her government decided to spend such amount, N1.11 billion on vote buying, and atomise such* *significant accumulated financial resources, and this becomes disaggregated into individual hands.* *This is the opposite of the benefit of financial accumulation, via such tools as taxation, by* *which small amounts are aggregated from individual units of the economy. Such* *aggregated financial resources by the state, which are usually significant amounts,* *should be invested in activities that could create positive development impact.*

*In serious societies such aggregation via taxation and similar, are preferably invested in a manner that* *could generate sustained economic growth and development, and by this address unemployment* , *poverty, and insecurity, among others, while creating a basis for private sector investment, which is* *imperative for sustainable upliftment of the wellbeing of the people. The* *disaggregation of already available significant funds under the control of the state, achieves the opposite.*

*This is the case, especially in poverty-stricken economies, as the small funds that accrues to the* *individual voters and party operatives end up in consumption, often on commodities that may* *not help the local economy. The people who so benefit from such disaggregation via their votes being bought,* *dissipate this in a manner that does not lift them higher than their low-level equilibrium life.*

*This is one factor that those who often wonder why the sections of the country that have dominated political* *rulership also seem to be the region with more mass poverty may not have recognized. Taking money from the public till* *and sharing to people will not lift them out of poverty, rather it often has the opposite effect.* *For one, dependency results. When on the other hand people are stimulated to be productively engaged* , *and become creators of wealth, especially by mass entrepreneurship, the indices of human* *development are better.*

*The rulers of the states are not equipped to understand this. Their inability to operate at the required level of* *understanding is inherent, arising from the underdevelopment of their minds, lack of exposure, inadequate* *quality education, outright irresponsibility and lack of patriotism, lack of love for those they rule, among other* *inhibitions. Clearly today in Nigeria, there are no philosopher kings, and no one operating at the* *mental, moral, and spiritual level of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Obafemi Awolowo,* *Ahmadu Bello, and Sam Mbakwe. There is little doubt that we suffer little men with* *underdeveloped minds prancing about the political space. It is evident that the political space in Nigeria is* *dominated by a buccaneer band, and gangs of pillaging manipulators.*

*As many of them celebrate their triumphs obtained not just by sharing the USD in polling units, but in many cases,* *outright stealing of tools of the election including the BVAS, ballot papers, warehousing of* *electoral officers and staff, abduction of collation officers and results sheets, they* *assume that people are ignorant. They indeed need to be pitied, for what they have become in the eyes and to the* *knowledge of citizens.*

*Assume however, the political party decided to spend half of the N1.11 billion on the buying of votes and put half into* *genuinely helping the youth, that will mean spending N555,000,000 (Five hundred and* *fifty-five million naira) on elections and another N555,000,000 on a youth programme* *entrepreneurship and business start-up programme.*

*If you have a certain university with a Faculty of Agriculture which has about 200 final years* *students – Agriculture with all her options, Food Sciences, and Nutrition and Dietetics, and you* *share this N555,000,000 equally to them, that will mean N1,775,000 (One Million Seven Hundred* *and Seventy-Five Million naira) per student.*

*Assuming each interested and willing student invests this on entrepreneurship and business start-ups, will* *society not be better? Who cares? In any case, our society is failing in raising the next* *generation of farmers, as we are confronted by an ageing farming population. Suppose* *therefore Government offers scholarship to students of agriculture in our universities, would* *that not be preferable?*

*The absence of a ruling class that can imagine this type of programmes and implement them, is a* *key factor in the continued backwardness, unemployment, and poverty in our society.* *This fuels insecurity. This is a key contributor to making life and living such a challenging matter in contemporary* *Nigeria.*

*Chinedum Nwajiuba,* *240323*

*Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba*
*Former Vice-Chancellor* ( *February 2016 – 10 February 2021)*
*Alex Ekwueme Federal* *University Ndufu-Alike,*
*P.M.B. 1010, Abakaliki,* *Ebonyi State, Nigeria.*