Nigeria Content Online

A report by
Research and Marketing Services (RMS) has revealed that the key
expectations of the electorate in next year’s election are employment
creation, stable electricity, and poverty eradication.

The RMS in the
report, titled, “Pulse of the Nation,” said free qualitative education,
economic development, infrastructural development, free healthcare for
elderly and young children, building industries and empowerment of
citizens are also what electorate expected. The “Pulse of the Nation,”
a quarterly Pan Nigeria opinion poll survey, also showed that
corruption (65 per cent) remains the biggest problem facing the
country, followed by crime (47 per cent) and breakdown of the rule of
law (44 per cent).

The survey revealed
improvement in the performance of the government as it was rated 33 per
cent by respondents. This recorded an increase as against 15 per cent
in the June survey.

Rule of law also improved from 30 per cent as being expected as against 4 per cent in June.

According to the
report, more people plan to participate in the forthcoming voter’s
registration in the country and it is put up to (81 to 89 per cent).

Adeola Tejumola,
Chief Executive Officer of RMS, said the survey is a corporate social
responsibility initiative of the organisation, adding that the essence
of the survey is to gauge the opinion of Nigerians on issues of
national prominence.

Mr Tejumola said
the survey revealed a growing awareness amongst the people that their
votes count. The survey also stated that there was an increase of 14
per cent in respondents who expressed determination to vote in 2011.
According to Mr Tejumola, the survey showed that the overall
performance rating of President Goodluck Jonathan stood at 77 per cent.
“This was the same result obtained during the last survey in June. A
total of 92 per cent of the populace representing an increase of 11 per
cent also gave approval to his desire to contest next year.

Nigerians want the
President to focus on developing amenities such as electricity and
water. These are followed by corruption and education.” Other aspirants
were rated on key attributes: Pat Utomi scored highest on integrity (39
per cent); Abubakar Atiku on Leadership quality (20 per cent); Mohammed
Buhari on accountability (16 per cent).

The RMS in the last
10 months has carried out a survey on issues surrounding the
forthcoming elections and the state of the nation. The survey was
conducted amongst 5,000 adults aged between 18 years and above eligible
Nigerians living in all states of the federation and the Federal
Capital City.

It was a qualitative research technique through face to face personal interview using a fully structured questionnaire.