What Nigerians Want In 2026

As Nigerians enter the New Year 2026, they have little to be thankful for. Just making it through 2025 to the end was no mean feat for many, for it was, for many, a tough year marked by uncertainties due to heightened insecurity across the country, a cost-of-living crisis, intermittent shutdowns of schools, hospitals and other institutions due to industrial disputes between workers and government. It was another year of mass abduction of people from schools, from their communities and while transiting from place to place, as well as bloody attacks by terrorists on communities and in places of worship.

The first thing Nigerians want this year is for those in leadership positions to remember their obligations to Nigerians and take their responsibilities with utmost seriousness.

In the run-up to the 2027 general elections, most political office holders would be tempted  to give most of their time to politics. They have started already. If they continue this way, governance will suffer and the masses will be the worst for it. Politicians, especially office holders, must serve with the seriousness and urgency that their job demands.

And one such area, amongst many, is insecurity, especially in the northern parts of the country.

Nigerians want a sustained, frontal and uncompromising fight against terrorism and violent crimes. The country has lived too long with the normalisation of fear. Banditry, insurgency, kidnappings and communal violence have drained lives, displaced communities and crippled local economies.

What citizens demand is not sporadic shows of force or reactive actions and statements after tragedies, but a coherent national security strategy that prioritises intelligence, inter-agency cooperation and accountability. Security personnel must be adequately equipped, motivated and supervised to ensure that they carry out their lawful duties to the nation without compromise.

It is also important to seek outside help to end this long-running insurgency that has gravely drained Nigeria of huge human and material resources over the last 16 years. The Tinubu administration has taken a commendable step by collaborating with the United States in the first airstrike on terrorists in Sokoto on Christmas Day.

The government should deepen this alliance to leverage America’s capacity, technology and experience in fighting international terror groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS, in taking out the terrorists across Nigeria who operate in ungoverned spaces that are difficult for Nigerian troops to engage successfully.

Beyond the U.S., the government should seek help from other friendly countries to crush the terrorists this year so that the citizenry can return to living in safety without the overriding fear of terrorists of different sorts.

The Tinubu administration must demonstrate the required political will to fight terrorism in Nigeria. It does not speak well of Nigeria that about eight million citizens are internally displaced persons (IDPs), with many others in kidnappers’ dens, and that farmers can no longer access their farms without the risk of being captured or killed by marauders.

Restoring safety across Nigeria will have the multiplier effect of improved economic activity, food security and a fertile ground for foreign direct investment, all of which will help to reduce the worrisome poverty levels among the citizenry, with over two-thirds believed to be living in multidimensional poverty.

As stated earlier, there will be heightened political activities that will culminate in the general elections next year. Nigerians want a democracy that works not just in name, but in practice. Elections should reflect the will of the voters, not the craftiness of manipulators. The introduction of technology, particularly IREV and the electronic transmission of polling unit results, raised hopes for transparency.

Those hopes were largely betrayed in the last presidential election in 2023 and left a sour taste in the mouths of many Nigerians. Nigerians want these technology tools entrenched in law and made justiciable, so that violations have clear legal consequences.

With a rising trust deficit in the political space, the resort to technology should not be optional, selective or cosmetic; it should be binding. When the people’s votes count, the masses get more purposeful and legitimate governance from their leaders.

On the new tax reform, Nigerians want clarity, transparency and accountability. Taxation is a tool for development. However, the present administration must ensure that it does not deepen the poverty that most Nigerians are already grappling with. Otherwise, it risks deepening mistrust between the government and the people.

Ultimately, in 2026, Nigerians are not asking for the moon: they want a country that works for the generality and not just for the few; a country where the Judiciary dispenses justice without fear or favour; where legislators enact good laws and conduct effective oversight of the executive; and where the executive is driven by the ultimate goal to serve and not to be served.

Happy New Year!