Ayo Obe welcomed listeners to the last episode of IDEAs Radio.  She said that over the past four weeks the programme had looked at the IDEAs quotient in Security, the Electoral Process, the Judiciary and the Economy.  The last of the programme would be looking at Politicians, and what was their own Integrity, Ethics and Accountability contribution to our Democracy.  She introduced the guest who would discuss the issue with her: Jide Ojo who is a Development Consultant, Author and Public Affairs Analyst whom many listeners would know from his columns in Punch newspapers or television appearances.

Ayo Obe said that this fourth programme in the One Year After the Vote series would look at the Economy, for which she was happy to welcome back to the programme, Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives who is an economist and a banker and was a member of President Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council.

Ayo Obe said that Elections are a key part of Nigeria’s Democracy.  Although they are not the only part, where there is dissatisfaction with elections and the electoral process, that dissatisfaction spreads throughout the polity.  Ayo said that she was not quite old enough to remember the elections of the 1950s and 1960s and so could not speak for the entirety of Nigeria’s history, but if we consider the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Republics, in her view the 2023 elections were the most divisive our country has held.

Ayo Obe said that it would surprise many that IDEAs was back on air after it was supposed to have ended last July, but noting that “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good”, she explained that the ‘ill wind’ of the collapse in the value of the naira had brought the ‘good’ that allowed IDEAs to do a further five broadcasts.  These would lead up to the anniversary of last year’s National elections, and would cover the Integrity, Democracy, Ethics and Accountability quotient of the government in five critical areas: Security, Elections, the Judiciary, the Economy and the behaviour of our Politicians.