Escaping the Bubble

More than three years after the 2023 presidential election, many people still struggle to accept that the incumbent President Bola Tinubu won. This disbelief is for a number of reasons. First was the momentum surrounding Peter Obi, who emerged as a fresh and energetic candidate determined to challenge the political establishment and upset the big boys. Then there was the widespread dissatisfaction with the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari. The timing of the naira redesign policy also seemed to favour the opposition. The cash crunch was a significant blow to the party even though it wasn’t a policy introduced by Tinubu. At the same time, Tinubu himself was not largely courted. At 71, there was uncertainty about what his presidency would look like. And with Obi as a candidate under the Labour Party, a different party from the popular APC or PDP, it signaled a shift for many young Nigerians from the old to the new. So given the general frustration with the ruling APC after Buhari’s eight years in office, it just made sense that the party was destined to lose, but it didn’t. Tinubu won with 36% of the votes cast — the lowest winning vote share by a presidential candidate in Nigeria’s democratic era.

The outcome left many asking the same question: after everything Nigerians experienced under the APC during Buhari’s administration, how did the party manage to win again under a new candidate? Are Nigerians somehow addicted to hardship? Or was it a case of stockholm syndrome?

I asked myself those same questions, but over time, I think think the answers are now very clear. Many of us, including myself, live in a bubble. We consider the opinions of our friends, family, colleagues, and social media timelines for the opinion of Nigeria as a whole. We assume that that popular opinions will automatically translate to popular votes. We forget that there are millions of Nigerians who vote and are not on any social media platform. We forget that there are still so many Nigerians with a striking affinity for Tinubu and the APC at large. We also forget that there are communities who have never heard of Obi or Kwankwaso. At least, we all remember “Who be Kwansogbu?”

The disconnect between our perceived reality and the country’s actual diversity has now become very clear to me. Why do I say this? In October 2025, the Federal Government constituted a committee to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). As part of the process, it conducted an online nationwide survey to gather opinions on how the scheme could better serve Nigeria’s development goals and the aspirations of young people. Personally, I believed the NYSC had outlived its original purpose. If anything, I felt it should become voluntary and perhaps only be required for those intending to work in public service. I don’t think anyone should have to complete NYSC before qualifying for employment. The country has even become more insecure for corps members. In fact, during my own service year, we were instructed not to wear our khaki uniforms for several months because we could be easy targets in places affected by insecurity and violence.

But going by the outcomes of the reform, I was shocked. I genuinely felt the reforms weren’t as bold or far-reaching as many people had hoped. These outcomes could not have been the kind of wholistic reforms one would expect to be made. But upon reviewing the findings of the survey that informed those recommendations, it seemed to me that there are many people who still share the sentiments that NYSC is relevant and should continue. I was shocked that half of the respondents, about 5,000 people, which includes corp members, employers and the general public, believe that the scheme is still relevant. Not just that, the idea of specialised tracks was popularly picked by 85% of the respondents. Also, the idea of a redesigned six-week orientation programme with stronger focus on leadership, entrepreneurship, digital skills and specialised career streams is simply because 63% said that the primary purpose of NYSC should be Youth Employment & Skills. I would have thought it was primarily for national integration. Afterall, for many people, NYSC is the first opportunity to live in a different part of the country, interact with different cultures, and build relationships across ethnic and religious lines. And if employability has now become its primary purpose, why should graduates spend four or five years in higher institutions only to require another government programme to teach them the skills needed for the workplace? These were my genuine thoughts but alas, many other people don’t think the same way.

The current uproar over the reforms is valid but the outcome simply reflects what many of the people who participated in the survey process actually wanted. I can’t fault that to be honest. It may not have been a perfect process with perfect outcomes but the idea that public policy in Nigeria does not take into cognisance the ideas and interest of those it affects is not true. Whether in policy development or legislative processes, there are always opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to make their views known. Do enough or quality people participate? That’s another question entirely.

I honestly don’t have all the answers. I don’t know whether the problem is that the majority always seem to think differently either at the ballot or in surveys like this or whether those who believe they have better ideas aren’t participating enough when these consultations or votes happen. But what I do know is this that Nigeria is an incredibly large and diverse country and the seemingly big and popular ideas we have in our minds are only just a bubble. Every now and then, we all need to step outside and touch grass.

Photo by Lê Lâm on Unsplash