Nigeria’s leading survey and polling firm, NOIPolls Ltd noted in its report released on Tuesday in Abuja that the findings from its New Year poll that Nigerians are expecting the government to focus its attention on these three key areas in the next 12 months.
According to the report, most Nigerians want the government to mainly focus its attention on Education (49 percent), Security (44 percent), Electricity supply (36 percent) and Economy (32 percent) amongst other sector/areas in 2019.
For instance, poor funding is one of the major reasons for the deterioration and challenges in the education sector, especially tertiary education, which has led to frequent strikes by academic and non-academic staff since the early 1990s.
It noted that the Nigerian government’s allocation to education in the last 10 years has been inadequate as only a total of N3.90 trillion or an average of 7.07 percent has so far been allocated to the sector out of a total budget of N55.19 trillion.
On security, 44 percent of Nigerians reported that they expect the government to improve on the issue of security in Nigeria as they believe it has not fared well in 2018.
The nation witnessed a drastic breakdown of internal security challenges in 2018 ranging from terror strikes in the North-East to herdsmen and farmers conflicts in the North-Central to militants operating in the South-South.
On power, it revealed that 36 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.
According to the report, the country’s power generation was at its peak of 7,000 megawatts in August 2018. But despite reaching a peak of 7,000 megawatts, it was still inadequate considering the country’s population, therefore, the government and concerned stakeholders need to place high priority on ensuring that challenges surrounding these sectors are drastically improved to improve the economy and foster national development.
On the economy, 32 percent disclosed that they expect the government to focus its attention on all aspect of the country’s economy since the Nigerian economy did not fare well in 2018.
For instance, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.81% (year-on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2018.