Prof Kila Slams 2027 Politicians For 'Trivial' Discussions, Ignoring Nigeria's Future

Professor Anthony Kila, the Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), has issued a stern warning to Nigerian politicians. Less than seven months before the general election, Kila criticized political actors for neglecting fundamental issues concerning Nigeria's future in favor of trivial matters. Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, Professor Kila, a renowned political economist and jurist who also heads the Strategy and Advocacy Committee on Constitutional Reform of Nigeria of The Patriots, emphasized that limiting conversations to non-salient issues at the expense of core problems constitutes a significant disservice to the nation.

Professor Kila lamented that politicians are currently preoccupied with discussions about defections and the choice of running mates, rather than engaging with strategic questions vital for national development. He highlighted crucial areas that demand attention, including building and strengthening institutions, creating jobs, addressing the troubled economy, improving education and healthcare, making government more efficient, fostering a productive economy, ensuring justice, and enhancing security of lives and property. He underscored that in mature democracies, the central question is "win to do what?", implying a focus on outcomes rather than just victory.

The academic stressed that the period leading up to an election should be dedicated to debating the nation's future, not merely its politicians. He pointed out that strategic questions about Nigeria's long-term vision (10 or 20 years) are often overshadowed by tactical conversations about party alliances and political momentum. Kila firmly believes that until ideas gain more value than mere slogans, political campaigns will remain exciting but lack enlightenment. He decried that Nigerian politics has devolved into an endless discourse about political actors instead of public outcomes, asserting that every election should serve as an opportunity to renegotiate the social contract between citizens and the state, rather than just alliances among elites. He called for a "competition of ideas" over "a competition of pesos" (or resources/personalities).

Professor Kila expressed concern that the main political gladiators, candidates, and parties have not adequately focused on core national problems. He observed that most political actors are investing more energy in "electoral arithmetic" – counting delegates, negotiating alliances, measuring regional strengths, and calculating electoral pathways – than in developing robust "policy architecture." While these activities are part of politics, he argued they should not substitute for effective governance. He highlighted the "tragedy" that many politicians mistakenly assume voters are only interested in who can win, neglecting the deeper question of what they intend to achieve if they win. He noted that while many parties have manifestos, few campaign around them or explain difficult policy choices and trade-offs required for governing.

Nigeria, Professor Kila asserted, deserves campaigns where candidates openly debate critical policy areas such as taxation, energy policy, constitutional reform, education, industrialisation, food security, security architecture, and the future of federalism. These are the conversations, he explained, that truly determine whether elections lead to changes in lives or merely changes in office holders. On the existing political trend, Kila stated that blaming one group alone would be overly simplistic. He criticized politicians for preferring easy promises over difficult conversations and political parties for functioning as mere election vehicles rather than centers of policy development.

Furthermore, Professor Kila extended the responsibility beyond politicians. He urged the media to ask tougher questions, shifting focus from political drama, defections, and campaign strategy to consistently interrogating policy. Journalists, he suggested, should ask not just "Can you win?" but also "What exactly will you do, how will you fund it, and how will Nigerians measure your success?" He also called upon civil society, universities, professional bodies, and think tanks to play a more active role in shaping the national conversation, asserting that democracies strengthen when intellectuals define the agenda rather than merely commenting on events.

Finally, Professor Kila underscored the crucial responsibility of citizens. He posited that politicians rarely rise above the expectations of the electorate; if voters reward ethnicity over competence, noise over knowledge, or popularity over performance, politicians will naturally respond to those incentives. Despite these challenges, Professor Kila conveyed a "ray of hope," believing that the current cycle can be broken. He maintains that the quality of democracy improves when elections become competitions of ideas rather than contests of identities. Nigeria, he concluded, possesses sufficient talented people, resources, and experience for issue-based politics, but what has been lacking is "collective insistence." The most vital campaign in any democracy, he argued, is not the one run by political parties, but the one citizens run to demand that ideas matter more than personalities. He highlighted a significant democratic gap in Nigeria: the absence of a strong "citizens’ campaign" to define how power should be used, contrasting it with the loud and relentless "politicians’ campaign to win power."