Report

Buharimeter 2019 Survey Report

The 2019 Buharimeter National Survey elicits the views of Nigerians on three key areas. These are: reflections on the recently concluded General Elections; policy priorities of Government; and strategies to address lingering challenges facing the country, over the next four years. This research is a crucial part of efforts to deepen citizen engagement and enhance voice and accountability in the democratic government of Nigeria and its policy process. Overall, the research showed that, over the next four years, Nigerians want the president to focus mainly on job creation and improving security, and most importantly, leave a legacy of a strong and stable economy, under good governance and security of lives and property. These findings highlight the issue of unemployment, particularly amongst youth aged 18 to 35 years, and the need to tackle the issue head on. It has widely been acknowledged that youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb in Nigeria, and a key factor triggering youth restiveness, kidnapping, militancy and violent extremism experienced across the country. The analysis involved tabulation of responses into frequency tables and generating frequency charts from the summaries. The open-ended responses were first coded, analysed and summarized into optimal categories before generating frequency tables and charts. In addition, the qualitative component involved key-informant interviews with policy experts, who were asked to weigh in on two specific challenges – economy and security – that were top priorities for Nigerians. The contributions were analysed for recurring or common themes and the themes are reflected in the discussion of the strategic recommendations.