Afe Babalola hinges credible elections on job provision

Legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, has said credible elections in Nigeria can only be conducted when, at least, 50 per cent of employable people must be gainfully employed.Chief Babalola made this observation at the weekend, while speaking with newsmen at his office in Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).He said the last election was free and fair and devoid of the usual violence which, in the past, deprived the people of choosing their representatives, adding that if voters were freely offered money at the polling stations to vote for candidates, then they had not voted their conscience.According to the proprietor of ABUAD, a voter would accept such money at the polling station when he was not sure of what to eat after the exercise, adding that such a person would consider such offer as an opportunity to get what to eat for the day.He said since more than 50 per cent Nigerians were not gainfully employed, the vision of having a credible election in Nigeria would remain a mirage, because poor voters would always be tempted to receive money from politicians and do their bidding at the polls.He charged President Goodluck Jonathan to take employment creation seriously, adding that employment could be provided for teeming unemployed Nigerians through the resuscitationof moribund industries.Babalola blamed the sharing formula of the nations resources for its lack of development, saying that it was not this bad when regional governments were having higher percentage of the resources.
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