The president will speak, brass bands will play, and the crowd will applaud, but beyond Wednesday’s ceremonial event, many people might be asking why the celebration is taking place.
The adage “you cannot eat democracy” is frequently associated with autocrats, but elected officials have also used it to caution against giving in to public pressure.
Some Nigerians seem to be quite dissatisfied with their government, as many of them struggle to make ends meet in the face of a severe economic crisis and sharply rising costs.
Prior to the current situation, in 2022, a recognized polling organization called Afrobarometer conducted a survey which revealed that over 75% of Nigerians were either “not very” or “not at all” satisfied with democracy.
An unsettling figure for the most populous nation in Africa.
However, the majority of respondents to the same survey said they preferred democracy to all other forms of government.
Maybe because many people still harbor negative recollections of living under military control.
Generals ruled the nation for the majority of the time up to 1999, with brief intervals of civilian control following the country’s independence in 1960.
