Nigeria isn’t suffering from voter apathy, Osita Chidoka says. It’s suffering from a system that punishes people for caring.
Delivering the 2nd Distinguished Personality Lecture at Enugu State University of Science and Technology on Thursday, the former Aviation Minister and Athena Centre Chancellor said the country faces a “conversion crisis” — millions want to vote, but structural barriers stop them.
“Nigeria does not have an intention crisis,” Chidoka told the audience at the Barr. Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah Multipurpose Auditorium. “Nigeria has a conversion crisis. Nigerians intend to vote, but the system makes caring expensive.”
He cited INEC data: just 26.7% of registered voters turned out for the 2023 presidential election, down from 53.7% in 2011. Of 93.4 million registered voters, 68 million stayed home.
Transportation costs, lost wages, and electoral uncertainty are turning civic duty into a financial gamble, he said. “The design of governance itself discourages participation.”
Chidoka’s lecture, “Beyond Participation: Rebuilding Nigeria’s Political Culture for a New Generation,” went further, exposing what he called a “severe transparency deficit” in Nigeria’s legislatures.
Athena Centre research found only 39% of state Houses of Assembly have functional websites. Just 11% stream proceedings on YouTube. None publish Hansards online. The average score on the Athena Legislative Transparency Index: 18 out of 100.
“When citizens cannot see how decisions are made, accountability becomes very difficult to sustain,” he said, contrasting Nigeria with South Africa and India.
At the core of Nigeria’s stagnation, Chidoka argued, is “Alibi Culture” — a national habit of justifying failure instead of fixing it. The alternative is “Agency Culture,” which “refuses to let adversity become identity.”
“An Alibi Culture organises its moral energy around justifying its condition,” he said. “An Agency Culture acts.”
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His fix: “Mekaria,” an African philosophy of disciplined improvement blending Omoluabi, Ubuntu, and Uchu. It runs on M²I — Measure, Monitor, Improve.
“Mekaria is not a slogan. It is a discipline,” Chidoka said. Citing his time at the Federal Road Safety Corps, he added: “Data reduces discretion, and discretion reduces corruption.”
He challenged young Nigerians to demand metrics, not excuses. “What is being measured? How is success determined? What are the consequences for failure?”
“A country does not improve because people are angry,” Chidoka said. “It improves when people organise around standards, measurement, and accountability.”
ESUT Vice-Chancellor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, who chaired the event, praised the lecture for bridging theory and practice. Students and faculty pressed Chidoka on governance reform and youth’s role in salvaging Nigeria’s democracy.
The Athena Centre said it will keep pushing evidence-based governance across education, health, gender, and democratic integrity.
For Chidoka, the shift must start now: “From excuse culture to action.”
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