Hello,

How are you doing today? Are you excited that 2021 is coming to an end? It is just about six weeks to the end of the year. Though it is a short time, compared to the 46 weeks that have already passed, there is still time to accomplish some things before the year ends. For example, all who have not done any reading this year can still join me in reading “The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty,” by authors Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon. You can get the book here.

Reading this book made me think about politics in Nigeria. Two weekends ago, I followed the Anambra elections. Of the 2,466,368 registered voters, only 253,388 cast their votes. Based on this result, we can say that about 90% of the voters belong to the “non-consumption economy”. Imagine the difference that their participation in the elections could have made! I am not saying it would have changed who eventually won the elections. What I am saying is that it could have.

So innovative politics in 2023 calls for three things:

1. Identifying existing alternatives
2. Understanding why voters don’t choose these alternatives
3. Creating a better option.

As has been noted using the Anambra State example, the strongest competition for votes that every Nigerian politician faces is not opposing political candidates. It is voter apathy.

To innovatively overcome voter apathy, politicians need to walk in the shoes of the voter. They need to understand why apathy exists and create an option that will make the voters abandon apathy and take part in the electoral process.

And this is what we are doing in Oyo State. We are showing what is possible when people let go of apathy and support their candidate of choice. We are saying: This is what happens when people vote for politicians who don’t have godfathers. 

So, all forward-thinking people have one job before the 2023 elections: Fight Voter Apathy!

We must get the average voter to become so uncomfortable with not voting that the only sensible alternative they have will be to go out and vote. We must play innovative politics—the politics of education.

When people ask you: Why are things so expensive now? Why are salaries not coming at the right time? Why are so many Nigerians leaving the country? Why are doctors on strike? You must answer the question in one sentence: the majority of us did not vote in the last elections. When we do not vote, there are consequences.

We must repeat this statement at every opportunity until people subconsciously tie the solution to our problems to that one action: voting. Only after they have bought into this ideology can we sell them the complementary products: help them identify the right people to vote for.

I will be expanding on these thoughts in the coming weeks.

Please stay safe and get vaccinated!