A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association Dr Olisa Agbakoba SAN, on November 29, 2022, said that what drives a state is the legal, institutional and regulatory framework but that Nigeria still has a long way to go in terms of development.
He said that Nigeria is in an extremely fragile state as available indices showed the characteristics of a failing state.
The learned silk stated this in the OAL Policy Report 2022, titled: “Big Issues for the 2023 General Elections”
He said that it is generally agreed that a country with a weak legal, institutional and regulatory framework cannot develop economic opportunities but unfortunately, Nigeria suffers from legal, institutional and regulatory failure.
According to him, there are conflicts and agitations everywhere, feelings of marginalization and exclusion, a rise in political and criminal violence, loss of control of borders, rising ethnic, religious, and cultural hostilities, weak institutions, food shortages, unemployment, inflation, crumbling infrastructure, deteriorating human development indicators such as infant and maternal mortality, and literacy rates.
Agbakoba stated that these troubling realities make the 2023 general elections a defining moment for the country which, in turn, raises the need for a thorough and insightful search for who will succeed President Buhari.
He added that the candidate who emerges as president must understand all the issues and have a clear vision of where to take the country. OAL has read and followed the manifestos and issues of all the presidential candidates and is happy the campaign is issues-based, unlike previous elections.
Agbakoba said, ”OAL policy report 2022 is our little contribution because Nigeria is in a critical position and we all need to put our heads together to solve the problems.’’
He, however, recommended that any Nigerian President that comes into office next year must focus on building strong institutions.
