By Charles Pemu 
Former Kaduna State Governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has urged Nigerians to embrace federalism, credible elections, and elite consensus as the foundational pillars for the country’s progress over the next 65 years.
Speaking at an interactive session in Owerri, El-Rufai emphasized the urgent need for a collective vision to address Nigeria’s structural challenges, which he said threaten the stability of the world’s most populous Black nation.
The Crisis of Confidence and Elite Consensus
El-Rufai highlighted a growing disconnect between the public and the political process, citing a drastic drop in voter participation—from over 60 percent in 2003 to barely 27 percent in 2023. He noted that Nigeria’s structural fragility is compounded by high poverty, youth unemployment, inflation, and mounting public debt.
To reverse this trend, he called for a new elite consensus an unwritten agreement among political, business, and civil society leaders on the nation’s core direction. He argued that in functioning democracies, stability rests on this agreement concerning “the limits of power, the sanctity of citizenship, and the rules of political competition.”
E-Voting and True Federalism
To rebuild public trust in democracy, the former governor strongly advocated for a transition to electronic voting and real-time transmission of results ahead of the 2027 general elections. He cited Kaduna State’s successful use of electronic voting in the 2018 and 2021 local government elections as proof of concept.
“Imagine a system where each voter is verified electronically, votes digitally, and sees results transmitted instantly and transparently. Public confidence begins to rebuild itself, one fair vote at a time,” he stated.
Beyond elections, El-Rufai called for a return to Nigeria’s founding principles of decentralization and true federalism. This means granting states more autonomy over key sectors like policing, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and taxation. He concluded that true federalism “replaces uniform mediocrity with decentralized excellence,” acknowledging recent constitutional moves on electricity and railways as positive steps.
El-Rufai concluded with a powerful challenge: “At 65, Nigeria must choose. We can continue to lurch forward, or we can reset deliberately, boldly, and with collective purpose. Nigeria can be great—but it must be deliberately made great, not wished into greatness.”