Stakeholders to FG, states, LG: Build confidence in citizens

To avoid viewing every action with skepticism, government at all levels have been urged to build trust and confidence in the citizens through effective communication.

This is the view of a cross section of guest speakers at the public presentation of a recent findings of a polling agency, ‘Afrobarometer Round 10 Survey on Democracy and Economic Direction of Nigeria’ on Friday in Abuja.

Speaking as one of the panelists on the poll result, Barr Frank Tietie, the executive director of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) noted that Nigerians do not really care about the type of government the country practices as long as their living condition is good and they have access to basic amenities.

He was of the view that the ability of the government to communicate its intentions effectively through its arrays of spokespersons about its programmes and policies speaks volumes about how genuine those programmes impact the people.

According to him, “It is not enough for the government to design a policy, no matter how good they are, and not communicate it effectively to the people on whose mandate they are in that position.”

On her part, a programme officer/representative from Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) Arigbabu Folashade said Nigerians have lost confidence in the government, therefore the needed trust to believe in whatever comes out of official quarters is lost.

She therefore, admonished leaders to live exemplary life because trust, she said, is earned at that level.

While presenting the poll result, the head of social research, NOIP Poll, Raphael Mbaegbu disclosed that it was conducted between June and July 2024, a year after the current administration came to office.

The detailed poll indicates that many Nigerians do not support the removal of fuel subsidies, but that 12 percent of the respondents supported the removal for obvious reasons.

On a whole, the poll noted that nine in every 10 people interviewed were opposed to the subsidy removal as, according to them, it worsened their economic situation.

Among the major challenges the removal caused, according to the poll, is increasing cost of living, crime and insecurity, poverty/destitution, unemployment accounting for 33%, 31%, 27% 27% respectively while corruption and democracy/political rights, the poll noted, accounts for only 8 and 3 percents respectively.

It is for this reason that discussants generally agreed that no matter the noble intention of the government about any policy, if it is not properly communicated to the citizens, that noble intention would be defeated.

“That is why Nigerians still view some of those policies with skepticism,” the discussants agreed.