Beyond 2027: The real measure of this electoral season should be whether Nigerians have had a serious conversation about the country they want to build and the institutions required to build it. We should vote, but we should also think beyond the ballot. Because changing the person occupying an office matters. Changing the quality of governance that citizens experience matters even more.
By Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi
Nigeria has entered another election season. Since campaigns for the presidential and National Assembly elections officially began on August 19, 2026, political conversations have become increasingly dominated by candidates, alliances, defections, campaign structures and the familiar calculations about who can win. But perhaps the more important question for Nigerians is one that cannot be answered by any candidate alone: what kind of Nigeria are we actually trying to build?
That question was raised in a recent intervention by former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, who argued that Nigerians should not allow the 2027 presidential election to become the sole focus of national discourse. Her argument was that the deeper challenge is the quality of Nigeria’s political and governance system and the absence of a sufficiently shared national vision. This is an important distinction.
Elections determine who occupies public office, but they do not automatically determine whether institutions work, whether public resources are properly managed, whether citizens can hold government accountable or whether communities have meaningful influence over decisions that affect them.
Nigeria has repeatedly experienced political transitions without resolving some of the structural questions underneath them. We change political officeholders, but the citizen’s experience of government can remain remarkably similar: poor public services, weak accountability, limited opportunities, insecurity and a persistent distance between government decisions and everyday life.
The 2027 election therefore presents an opportunity for a much bigger conversation. What should the Nigerian state guarantee to every citizen? What should be the relationship between federal, state and local governments? What responsibilities should citizens themselves carry? How should public institutions be held accountable? What should determine how resources are distributed across communities? What kind of education, healthcare, infrastructure and economic opportunities should a Nigerian child be able to expect regardless of where he or she is born?
These questions may sound larger than an election campaign, but they are precisely what elections should help us debate.The danger is that political campaigns can reduce complicated national questions to slogans. A candidate promises jobs, another promises security, another promises education, another promises reform. Yet Nigerians are often left with very little information about how these promises will be financed, implemented, measured and sustained beyond a campaign period. A serious national conversation requires more.
Candidates should be challenged to explain not only what they want to do, but how the Nigerian state will actually deliver it. If the promise is to improve education, where will the money come from, which institutions will implement it and how will success be measured? If the promise is to create jobs, which sectors will generate them and what happens to young people in communities that are currently disconnected from those opportunities? If the promise is security, what institutional reforms and community-level systems will support it? This is where citizens must become more sophisticated participants in democracy.
Democracy cannot depend entirely on politicians presenting themselves to citizens every four years. Citizens must also develop the capacity to interrogate public policy, compare competing ideas and demand evidence for promises. Civil society, the media, professional bodies, young people, women’s organisations and community groups all have a role in making the election a national policy conversation rather than merely a political spectacle.
There is already evidence that Nigerians are thinking about elections through practical issues. A 2026 BusinessDay poll, for example, found electricity among the issues respondents identified as particularly important in assessing economic progress and influencing voting decisions. That is significant because it shows that citizens do not necessarily need complicated political language. They need government to solve problems they experience every day.
The challenge is to take those everyday concerns and connect them to a larger national vision. Nigeria does not need citizens to agree on every political question. A diverse democracy will naturally contain competing ideas about the economy, federalism, education, taxation, social protection and the role of government. What citizens should be able to demand is that these disagreements are addressed through institutions, evidence and a shared commitment to the country. The 2027 election will eventually produce winners and losers. But Nigeria’s larger challenge will remain after the results are announced.
The real measure of this electoral season should therefore be whether Nigerians have had a serious conversation about the country they want to build and the institutions required to build it. We should vote, but we should also think beyond the ballot. Because changing the person occupying an office matters. Changing the quality of governance that citizens experience matters even more.
- Precious Ebere-Chinonso Obi, CEO of Do Take Action, is an independent consultant on edtech, climate change, public policy, and women’s procurement empowerment
