By Dr. Chiogo Constance Ikokwu (Ugonecheora)
Politics is too important to be left to career politicians alone. Hear me out, please.
For decades, many educated and professionally accomplished Nigerians have dismissed politics as dirty, dangerous, or beneath them and best left alone. Instead, they have concentrated on building careers, raising families, and, increasingly, leaving the country. There is nothing wrong with travelling. But what is the purpose of that journey? Is it simply to flee, or to gain knowledge, build networks, acquire skills, and return, physically or intellectually, to help build the country?
Every time decent people abandon politics, they leave the field open for those who see public office as a route to power, patronage, and personal enrichment. By abandoning politics, the middle class has inadvertently ceded the public space to those who often view political office as a business rather than a public trust. Politics abhors a vacuum. If responsible citizens won’t occupy that space, others will.
Nigeria will not be transformed by criticism alone. We cannot keep lamenting the quality of leadership while treating politics as somebody else’s business. Our political system will not improve because good people complain from a distance. It improves when good people organise, join political parties, contest elections, influence policy, hold leaders accountable, and defend the public interest. We may not be able to salvage the current system completely, given that it seems designed to fail. But we can in the interim usher in some sanity and decency in public life.
I must say that Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of talent. It suffers from the political withdrawal of too many of its brightest minds. Doctors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs, artisans, and academics have transformed societies across the world. They can help transform Nigeria too, but only if they are willing to engage, because we need that critical mass for any meaningful change.
The middle class cannot outsource the future of this country and then complain about the outcome. If we continue to treat politics as a no-go area, we should not be surprised when those with the weakest commitment to public service continue to dominate it.
The choice before us is stark: leave politics to those who have held the system hostage, or enter the arena and help reclaim the Nigerian state. Silence and disengagement are no longer neutral. They have become part of the problem.
Politics isn’t the problem. Our absence is.
Politics for Public Good. Take Back Your Government
