 What are presidential candidates to say about us as the people? The race is on, or should I say the battle, for who we hold the seat for the highest office in the land, the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal government of Nigeria. Just thinking about this title actually gives me shivers. The president, commander-in-chief, two roles that will define the success otherwise about their nation. The president is really from the root word to preside. President, he presides over the affairs of the nation, particularly the growth and development of the economy, which in turn translates to the wealth of its people. Basically, the economy of the nation contributes largely to the economy of its people, which in many cases contributes to the happiness index and can contribute to your level of welfare and therefore happiness. In other words, if I may exaggerate a bit, your choice of presidents can contribute to your level of welfare and your happiness. If you don't believe me, I may just look around you today. It's the 12th of May, 2022. Are you a happy citizen? Does having this do with what is going on around you rising costs of food and welfare in general and doing doing value of your currency and your economic power? On the other hand, also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, this speaks to the safety, security and the protection of the lives and properties of citizens. Again, look around you. Do you feel safe? Does your family feel safe? What about your relatives in the North or in the South East? Are they living a life devoid of fear of kidnap, robbery, assassination, et cetera? Many times we do not actually consider the gravity or import of our decisions when it comes to elections. This time, we're choosing the president of a country like Nigeria. Now, look closer at 10 days we've had, you know, before now, Castleman back, president since 1999 when we decided to take part of democracy. We've had one president, Mr. Gover-Sendra, had a late president, Mr. Yeradwa. We have the president, Goodluck Jonathan, then president, Mohammad Okwari. Assuming we chose the best qualified candidates and indeed the best of us representatives as presidents, then what do these four men say about us as a people? It's another election cycle. The policy is heating up again. Beyond party priorities in which these events are bedeviled with bribery and counter-bribery of delegates, which actually results in the candidates with the most money, you know, printing the tickets versus the most qualified or experienced candidates. So the more money you have, the more your chances of printing these tickets. I do advocate that we actually put the candidates to the test by doing the following one, ask the important questions, ask pertinent questions about how they actually intend to get out of this quagmire and then that helps us to weed out those who don't have a well-asked election. Also, which disqualifies everyone that has been proven guilty for fraud or corruption. Again, we have to slash the salaries of these office holders to slightly higher than the minimum wage. So we can truly see who is really ready to serve. I mean, if you do this, let's see what happens. I'll show you what I will find at this level and we'll find those that truly care about service to the people, not just those that are obsessed with servicing their pockets. Thank you. You know, the part you talked about slashing salaries has always been an issue over the years, but we all know that no member of the legislature or the executive, or even the judiciary, we will be happy to do such, you know, a slash of the salaries. I'm sure our politicians would not be happy to do that. I know there was a particular politician that came online to say that his salary was about 50,000. There was a time and a lot of people debunked that and said that it was in life. So I believe that if you want to serve, you can still end well. You can still end well. We all know that in the UK, what Nigerian politicians earn is far, you know, more than what people earn in the UK if you're serving. So I just think that it's not a function of reduce, you can reduce your salaries, but we all know that Nigerian politicians are there for the money. The money is a motivation. So you should work regardless of whether you're paid well or you're not paid well. You should be ready to serve your people. You should be able to do the right thing. And we realize that when these people, when these politicians do things for us, you know, there's so much noise. Like when we make so much noise, but this is what they are supposed to do. It's your duty to provide good roads. It's your duty to, you know, to do all of that. But you know, there's this assumption that they are doing something fantastic. So that's why they make so much noise. So that's my opinion. I think for me, my thoughts actually is around when Tudu mentioned access to cast our mind-backs to previous precedents. I mean, it's just a reflection of our decisions. I guess some of us around here might not have been involved in that process at that point in time. But regardless, our parents were, our elders were, our siblings were, even for some of these leaders as well, we voted them in. It's just a reflection of who we are. What kind of people we have actually placed across borders. I was just thinking, if probably all of these four leaders that were placed, if any one of them was really qualified, set of, they were qualified to do the work in terms of not just saying that they went through school, because I mean, that was, there was a time that was the mantra that was I'm an educated person. Then he moved on to, I am for the people, I understand the people's plight have been there. But if we're selling beyond those things that are mundane, and we're actually looking for candidates that really would serve the people's interests, I can imagine what Nigeria would have been if those are the kind of people that were elected from 1999 up until today. That just helps us think that really indeed, our elected officials would determine the destiny of the nation and its people in general. So we really need to make wise choices going forward. Yeah. The thing is speaking about making money from politics, it's possible to do the right thing and make any decent living doing the right thing. The politicians in the US and the UK, they are paid decently, but they don't see politics. Politics to them is not just a career part, it's more like an act of service. So I remember the last time I was listening, that was a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to an interview of a Nigerian who is a Briton. She is a British, but a Nigerian. She contested for an office, I think member of the parliament in Britain. And she said, they were asking her how much was your election, the process there, everything. She said she spent less than about 8,000 pounds. Convert that to Nigeria, that's the chicken change. 8,000 pounds. And that money was like some of our friends came together, got that money. The money was made to send me letters, print some flyers and that was all. Not for bribery. But yeah, how much, if you do the mathematics, 8,000 pounds cannot even buy an expression of interest for the least political party. Because their policies is not monetization. They attach value to this thing. And is it possible for political parties to make presidential for almost free, but then let's be men of values that can afford it. If it's free, but the fact that it's free is you still can't afford it. You have to meet a certain level of criteria. So we need to shift our mind from politics of money to politics of values. I'm not saying politicians who cut down their salary beyond comforts. Of course, we know that their salary is too high. But what I'm saying is that they should do the right thing. Where they steal from, where they use misuse fund, they should stop it. They can end a decent living and actually fix the country and do the right thing. You don't have to be poor, blame politics. At the other hand, you don't have to be rich from politics either. It should be a balance. So what I hear, sorry, sorry, I'm talking to add. What I hear you say is that the filter, the set of people that goes through the system actually that we get to elect has to be corrected. Yes, the value system, the most monetization of the process. What has happened with the parties has happened with the teachers? I mean, how many of us come up and say, I want to go and teach, but once you go and teach, I mean, if you interview several teachers, they tell you, I'm just using this as my, you know, riding block to my real job, you know, so. But teachers actually, I mean, one day I was driving back home and I realized how much teachers have contributed to, you know, where we've come, right? But nobody wants to go teach because it's positioned as something that is not lucrative. So politics is also positioned as something that is lucrative now, but we've left it to some group of people. I think we need to, it's also a sheet to me personally, right? We come over here, we just talk, we need to go back and, you know, control the options. Now they decide back end who are going to vote and our vote kind of like, it's no longer so as powerful as we think. This might look very, but it's the truth. We need to go back and see, get into the grassroots. Let's not leave it to some people who supposedly shouldn't be there. But I mean, if we keep saying these things, it's a cycle. Kids will grow up and they're going to say, Dad, what did you do? You were just talking and all, but I think it's the reality, the truth, you know, that we don't want to really, we don't want to get involved, but we just want to stay out of it and keep just being intellectual around it. Let's just try and create the, even if you can't get involved, support somebody, you know, find somebody that can actually push to getting involved at that grassroots. Just like you said. If we can do that, I mean, we... These people are a reflection of the society. When it comes to campaigning or, you know, electionary process, they want to buy goods, materials or gifts to Leo voters because they believe that too much money still mark infrastructure. We need to grow beyond that and stick to re-value it. Yeah, back to tell you. Growth is nice after the break. Please tell me, guys.