AS 2015 begins, people have high expectations. They dream their New Year ambitions. It is an annual ritual that helps brush aside failures of the faded year. The beginning of every year affords deep reflection on the past and the future. Some call these New Year resolutions.

To achieve required changes demand serious planning, concentration, focus and sacrifices. Many want to begin a New Year on a fresh slate. Great support is required from government policies for people’s plan to translate to reality. It is the duty of governments to ensure that right policies and programmes are formulated and implemented. Governments should ensure the enabling environment for the healthy growth of the nation and its inhabitants. These are high hopes.

The New Year is charged. Elections are only weeks away, security challenges persist and governments’ anxiety over collapsed oil prices is palpable. The predictions are dreadful. Last year was not particularly one that helped the realisation of citizens’ potentials as most government policies were lost in the morass of the security challenges. Other policies were at most pendulous.

With national elections in February, state governments are distracted with ensuring their desired transitions. The primaries of the various political parties remain contentious. The matters are in court while some candidates are causing more disruptions by joining new parties. The mollified treatment of thugs involved in the 2011 political violence keeps that line of political business promising. Impunity is
on the rise.

Security would be a critical consideration throughout the year. There would be thousands of spots requiring protection, whether they are campaign grounds or polling booths, not counting others already under regular protection. The fighting in the North East is an on-going operation that has shifted attention from other crimes. Politicians are bickering. It appears that is the only thing they know. Whether at the National Assembly, where they have to learn to tuck in their egos and get some work done or in the parties where discipline has broken down, the quest for power continues, sometimes,
dangerously.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has a momentous role to play too. It must be transparent in its handling of the elections. Concerns persist over its issuing of voters’ cards. Many voters still do not have cards; there are doubts if they would get them before the elections, but Nigerians expect INEC to conduct free, fair and acceptable elections from February 14. Nigeria’s stability and its successes would largely be determined by the outstanding matters of 2014. Possibly the most crucial of them are collapsed oil prices, security and preparations for the elections, really tough issues.

We wish our readers happier and more prosperous New Year.