Why Oyo Should Ask Makinde and Adekanmbi the Reagan Question: Are We Better Off Than We Were Before? || Timilehin Kolade
In the heat of political contests, electorates are often inundated with grand promises, impressive slogans and carefully curated narratives. Governments advertise achievements while challengers market possibilities. Yet, amid the noise and excitement of politics, there remains one timeless question that separates performance from propaganda and governance from public relations.
In 1980, American presidential candidate Ronald Reagan asked a simple but devastatingly effective question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” That single question transformed an election because it compelled voters to look beyond speeches and sentiments and instead examine their own realities.
More than four decades later, the people of Oyo State should ask Governor Seyi Makinde and Abimbola Adekanmbi that same question.
Are we better off than we were before?
The question is neither partisan nor hostile. It is democratic. It is fair. More importantly, it is necessary.
Governor Makinde’s administration has undoubtedly altered the physical landscape of Oyo State. Roads have been constructed and rehabilitated, infrastructure projects have become more visible and the administration has projected an image of purposeful governance. Many residents acknowledge that the state’s infrastructural profile today differs considerably from what existed in 2019.
However, governance cannot be assessed by infrastructure alone.
Development is ultimately about people rather than projects. Roads are important, but roads are not ends in themselves; they are instruments for economic growth and improved quality of life. The true test of governance is whether citizens are experiencing greater prosperity, improved security and expanded opportunities.
Can the average civil servant in Oyo say that his purchasing power is stronger today than it was seven years ago?
Can traders in Bodija, Oje, Sango and Orita Challenge confidently say that business conditions have improved?
Can young graduates across Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Iseyin and Ibarapa honestly testify that opportunities have expanded under the current administration?
Can farmers point to improved security, easier access to markets and better returns on their investments?
These are the questions that matter.
Politics in Nigeria often rewards optics over outcomes. Governments are frequently judged by visibility rather than impact, by communication efficiency rather than policy effectiveness. Yet citizens do not live in government press statements or social media campaigns; they live in markets, schools, hospitals and communities.
The Reagan question redirects attention to those realities.
Has poverty reduced?
Has unemployment declined?
Has economic growth translated into increased household prosperity?
Has governance become more institutional and less personality-driven?
Has development spread beyond metropolitan Ibadan to other parts of the state?
The answers to these questions should determine political choices far more than slogans and endorsements.
At the same time, the Reagan question cannot stop with Makinde.
It must also be directed at Abimbola Adekanmbi and every individual seeking to lead Oyo after the current administration.
If Governor Makinde is required to defend his stewardship, Adekanmbi must equally defend his vision.
How exactly does he intend to improve on the current administration’s record?
What is his strategy for industrialisation and job creation?
How does he plan to tackle youth unemployment and underemployment?
What practical solutions does he propose for improving education, healthcare and agricultural productivity?
How does he intend to expand internally generated revenue without placing excessive burdens on citizens and businesses?
What philosophy of governance does he represent?
These are legitimate democratic questions.
For too long, Nigerian politics has revolved around personalities rather than policies and loyalties rather than ideas. Political conversations often descend into camps and factions while the substantive issues of governance receive inadequate attention.
Democracy deserves better.
The people of Oyo should not merely ask who is popular, influential or politically connected. They should ask who possesses the ideas, competence and capacity to improve their lives.
The teacher should ask whether her salary has greater value today.
The artisan should ask whether public policies have improved productivity.
The farmer should ask whether governance has made agriculture more profitable.
The business owner should ask whether operating conditions have become easier.
Parents should ask whether educating their children has become less burdensome.
Young people should ask whether they are more hopeful about their future than they were years ago.
These are the metrics that matter.
As succession politics gradually gathers momentum in Oyo State, citizens must resist the temptation to substitute emotions for evidence and personalities for performance.
Before endorsements must come evaluation.
Before loyalty must come accountability.
Before succession must come scrutiny.
The Reagan question offers perhaps the fairest standard available because it judges governments by outcomes rather than intentions and politicians by results rather than rhetoric.
Are our communities safer?
Are our institutions stronger?
Are our young people more optimistic?
Are our businesses more productive?
Are our families more prosperous?
If the answer is yes, then continuity may deserve consideration.
If the answer is no, then change becomes a legitimate democratic demand.
That is the essence of democracy.
As Oyo moves closer to another defining political moment, perhaps the most important campaign question has already been written decades ago and thousands of miles away.
The people of Oyo should simply ask Governor Seyi Makinde and Abimbola Adekanmbi:
Are we better off than we were before?