Lessons from the recent US elections: 10 Nigerian institutions that need to be operationally independent of ruling party politicians

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Independent National Electoral Commission
(2) Nigeria Police Force
(3) Department of State Security
(4) The three branches of the armed forces
(5) Central Bank of Nigeria
(6) National Judicial Council
(7) Nigerian Governors Forum
(8) Nigeria Immigration Service
(9) Supreme Court of Nigeria
(10) Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

It should be up to the government to formulate policy for all these bodies. It should then nominate a head and send a name to the National Assembly for approval.

After that, the government should have no say in the day-to-day running of these agencies. In the US, we have seen how Donald Trump has been unable to use the organs of state to annul election results and mount an assault on democracy.

For now, we are not politically mature enough in Nigeria to operate agencies independent of the government as our oga-at-the-top mentality, sycophancy, desperation from crumbs from the boss’s table and ethnic bias, will always cloud our judgement. However, the youth give me hope and we will get there with time.