EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
In the next 24 hours, Nigerians will exit 2019, and move into a new year. From projections, the upcoming year – 2020 – will be a calendar year filled with lots of insightful political dramas.
While it is key to note that the future cannot be accurately predicted, it is public knowledge that there are signs one can pick from political happenings, economic trends, news occurrences to serve as pointers in reaching assumptions on issues that will play a significant role in Nigeria come the new year.
TheNewsGuru(TNG) took time to understudy some of the major highlights of the outgoing year (2019) and project for its readers likely front-burner issues that will dominate Nigeria’s political centre stage in the year 2020.
- 2020 BUDGET: AFFECTS BOTH RICH AND POOR
To every nation, budgets are very crucial because they are the culmination of the political process and contain most of the country’s important economic and social roadmaps. Nigeria is not an exemption. the 2020 budget answers critical questions like which level of government, region or sector gets what and that is why it will remain a very key issue that will shape the governed and government as well as affect the individual decision of the high and low in the Nigerian society.
Despite the early passage of the 2020 budget, more needs to be done in seeing the budget work for the sake of Nigerians. In 2020, Nigerians will place a lot of pressure on the government to ensure the budget is significantly implemented. Doing so will help boost the economy that is still vulnerable to both internal and external shocks. It is on record that the nation has not been achieving more than 50 percent of budget implementation. To achieve the objective of the 2020 budget, lots of conversations, engagements, activities will be channelled by the government on this aspect.
- APC’S LIKELY IMPLOSION: OSHIMOHOLE VS OBASEKI; AKEREDOLU’S SECOND TERM BID
One major political event that would serve as a topical tonic to Nigerians in the New Year is the governorship election in Edo State and the battle is two folds. Apart from the fact that there would be crisis internally amongst the parties, the election proper is not looking good for either of the two leading parties also.
Governor Godwin Obaseki is having the battle of his life with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole, a development that could deny the governor a return ticket of the party. Also, with the recent defection of some heavyweights into the APC, the challenge appears tougher for the governor.
Although the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not settled with itself also, as a result of some internal wranglings, a development believed to have pushed out Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the battle is open and most likely, the incumbency factor might only play a distant role.
In Ondo the story isn’t different. At a time one expects Rotimi Akeredolu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government to be rallying on forces on a train ahead of the state’s election, there are signals that an internal implosion, which may weaken the party at the base, is well underway. And party faithfuls are becoming restless.
First, some party members have raised concerns over the way the government is being run by some cabinet members, especially since the alleged sudden disappearance of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu from the state.
From palpable signs, things are said to have further degenerated since the governor proceeded on his annual vacation, while his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, was presumed to have taken over in acting capacity.
- Visa on arrival policy
Another issue that will be significant in Nigeria by 2020 is the Visa-on-arrival policy.
Recall that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari recently announced that beginning from January 2020, citizens of other African countries would no longer require visas to enter Africa’s most populous nation. Travellers will now be able to get visas on arrival at the airport or at any Nigerian border.
The belief of the proponents of the ‘Visa-on-arrival’ is that the policy would ensure continental economic integration between Nigeria and other African nations. This doesn’t come without its own challenges.
Already, the Nigerian Senate has rejected the policy. The lawmakers in the red chamber said the move by the president is premature, considering the spate of insecurity currently witnessed in the country – we can tell you that the debate is not over and if implemented, the policy will seriously shape others issues and decisions that will be made in Nigeria in 2020.
- 2023 Presidential bid started so early: Tinubu, Atiku, other names will flood media space
By year 2020, Nigeria’s general elections will just be three years away. It is unbelievable! But the race for 2023 started about the same time the race for 2019 was declared open. In fact, the outcome of the 2019 elections was a reflection of the positioning for 2023.
And that’s not going to change in the New Year as the political temperature is expected to go some notch up with its usual distractions and intrigues.
For the active political player, 2023 holds a lot of promises and worries at the same time, in terms of determining the future of the country. It is expected, therefore, that there would be realignment, collaboration and cooperation as being witnessed already. The push for 2023 is an inevitable character in the New Year.
One should expect individuals like the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu; presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Atiku Abubakar among other big names to break the open secret concerning the 2023 presidential bid – they will all try to be more relevant, manipulate the media to their advantage and be a lot more in our faces.
- ACFTA and Border policy
Nigeria signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). The ACFTA allows goods to move between member states in Africa without tariffs. In the same vein, Nigeria has ordered the closure of its border, a policy that will largely decide the relationship between Nigeria and its neighbouring countries.
The closure of the Nigerian border some say goes against the spirit but the Nigerian government has in recent times highlighted several gains after its border closure policy, and as of July 2020, Reflecting Agenda 2063, the AfCFTA aspires to “create a continental market with the free movement of persons, capital, goods and services”. Nigeria is seeking to enforce that imports through her land borders originate or have had value addition from African markets those imports come from.
6. IMPEACHMENT: TRUMP VS PELOSI
The United State is still the number one superpower state that towers above its rival countries and anything that affects the US seems to shake the world (Nigeria inclusive), one of such is the status of Trump.
In 2020, the US President already impeached by the House of Representatives will face trial in the US Senate controlled by his Republican Party. He is expected to be exonerated. But until the articles of impeachment withheld by Speaker Nancy Pelosi are transmitted to the Senate, the trial cannot commence.
Moments after a historic vote to impeach President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House could at least temporarily withhold the articles from the Senate — a decision, she suggested, that could depend on how the other chamber chooses to conduct its trial on Trump’s removal.
7. ORJI KALU’s AS A BIG LESSON TO LOOTERS: NO HIDING PLACE
In 2020, Nigerians will no longer be shocked to see the high and mighty being caught up the law. The conviction of Kalu in December, 2019 is one rare historical antecedent. It was not for a cheery reason but a moment that put paid to a profile believed to have been built over the years.
Kalu has been standing trial for nearly 12 years and perhaps by sheer coincidence was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. He was charged with N7.1 billion fraud and was found guilty of the entire 39 counts filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court also ordered the winding up of Kalu’s company, Slok Nigeria Limited, charged as a defendant in the case.
The above scenario encapsulates the long standing epic trial which ended Senator Kalu’s short-lived tenure at the red chamber of the National Assembly.
He perhaps did not anticipate that the law would at this time catch up with him, having secured a smooth ride to the hallowed chambers of the Senate.
Like many past leaders, indeed former governors, they retire to the Senate and expect that they would protect themselves from any scrutiny after leaving office. But for Kalu, and former governor Joshua Dariye who also was jailed earlier during a stint at the Senate, there was no hiding place as the long arm of the law caught up with them eventually. The third of such convict, former governor of Taraba State, Reverend Jolly Nyame is for now the third former governor cooling his heels in one of the nation’s correctional centres.
With these landmark cases executed,more Nigerians have called that the searchlight be beamed on all other pending corruption related cases that have either been swept under the carpet or suppressed for parochial reasons.