The New Year celebration is one of the most celebrated events in Nigeria and often characterized by various activities to usher in the New Year. While Nigerians ushered in a new decade with great excitement and optimism as well as resolutions to be better individuals, great expectations also lie in the government to focus on key areas to create desired socio-economic changes that would stimulate development of the nation as well as affect the lives of the citizens positively. Against this background, NOIPolls conducted its Annual New Year Poll to gauge the expectations of Nigerians for 2020.
The poll result revealed that the top three areas most Nigerians want the government to focus its attention on in 2020 are the Economy (70 percent), Job creation (69 percent) and Electricity supply (62 percent). Other areas mentioned include Education (55 percent), Infrastructural development (38 percent), Healthcare (29 percent), Agriculture (23 percent) and Security (7 percent). On the economy, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from 2.12 percent in the second quarter of 2019 to 2.29 percent in the third quarter of 2019 indicating an increase of 0.17 percent. However, during the course of the survey, most of the respondent lamented the increasing cost of goods and services in the country especially food items. Given that average Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of the increase in the nation’s GDP, the call for government to focus its attention on the economy this year is understandable.
With regards to Job creation, 69 percent of Nigerians want the government to channel its resources to ensuring that they create more jobs for its citizens in 2020. This will go a long way in reducing the level of poverty and number of dependent people as well as in reducing crime rate in the country. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 23.10 percent in the third quarter of 2018 from 22.70 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
Opinion on power revealed that 62 percent of the respondents expect the government to significantly focus its attention on the sector, considering that this sector has faced huge challenges over the years. The status quo in terms of electricity generation and distributions is still inadequate considering the country’s population. Adequate electricity means that Nigerians will be empowered to work from the domestic level and the cottage industries, through the small-scale and medium industries to employment in the large-scale manufacturing complexes. Therefore, the federal government and concerned stakeholders need to place high priority on ensuring that challenges surrounding these sectors that Nigerians have singled out are drastically improved to improve the economy and foster national development in the country. These are the key highlights from the New Year poll conducted in the week commencing December 16th 2019.
In conclusion, the poll has revealed that the status quo on the economy, job creation and electricity supply as well as in other sectors mentioned are no longer acceptable as most Nigerians task the government to improve these sectors in 2020. Thus, the onus lies on the government to listen to the demands of its citizens and work to improve these areas that Nigerians have pointed out to ensure a better quality of life for all its citizens.
