Nigeria Needs A System Reset: Accountable Leadership, Active Citizenship – Gov. Makinde

Over the years, we have changed governments, introduced new policies and promised ourselves new beginnings. Yet, for millions of Nigerians, the fundamental outcomes have remained largely the same.

Too many of our people are still trapped in poverty. Too many families work hard without experiencing real progress. Too many young Nigerians are unable to see a clear path from education to opportunity. Insecurity continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods, while many of the institutions created to serve the people do not work as effectively as they should.

This tells us that Nigeria’s challenge is bigger than the individuals occupying public office at any particular time. We must address the systems, institutions and structures that continue to reproduce outcomes that do not serve the majority of our people.

Take petroleum pricing as an example. For years, the debate in Nigeria has largely been presented as a choice between subsidising petroleum products or allowing Nigerians to pay the full market price. I believe we are asking the wrong question. The more important question is: what is the right pricing framework for an oil-producing country like Nigeria?

Different countries arrive at petroleum prices differently. What Nigerians deserve to know is the current pricing framework and the assumptions that determine what we pay at the pump: the crude price benchmark, refining costs and margins, exchange-rate assumptions, logistics and distribution costs, taxes and levies, and the other variables included in that calculation. These should be publicly accessible and sufficiently clear for Nigerians to interrogate the basis of the price they are paying and compare it with the alternatives.

We should also reject the argument that Nigerians must pay more for petroleum products simply to eliminate the price difference that makes smuggling into neighbouring countries profitable. Nigerians should not be made to bear the cost of government’s inability to secure its borders.

Reset Nigeria means being willing to interrogate the system itself. The petroleum question should therefore not simply be whether subsidy should return or remain removed. It should be whether the pricing system we are using is the right one for Nigeria and whether it allows Nigerians to derive a fair benefit from the natural resources they own. In the coming weeks, we will put forward our alternative and allow Nigerians to judge it for themselves.

Reset Nigeria is a national movement to rebuild Nigeria’s systems and institutions so that Nigeria works for every Nigerian.

A national reset therefore requires both accountable leadership and active citizenship. It asks those who govern to serve differently, but it also asks every Nigerian to participate differently.

This will not be an instant transformation, nor will it be the work of one person. It must be a deliberate national effort supported by a clear roadmap, measurable priorities and the sustained participation of Nigerians at home and abroad.

I will continue to share more about what it means to reset our economy, our security architecture, our education system, our institutions and our social and political order. I will also explain the lessons I have learnt from public service and how those lessons have shaped this vision.

Most importantly, I want to hear from you.

If Nigeria is to work for every Nigerian, what do you believe we must reset first?

Let us begin the conversation.

Talk to you again soon,