Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari rides
in a motorcade while inspecting the guard of
honour before his inauguration at Eagle Square in
Abuja, Nigeria on May 29, 2015.
 Madeleine Albright is a former Secretary of State,
and Johnnie Carson is a former assistant
secretary of state for African affairs.
What happens in Nigeria will have a profound
impact on the future of sub-Saharan Africa and
the world
This week, something unprecedented is happening
in Africa’s most populous country, where
groundbreaking political change is underway.
Nigeria’s incumbent president will step down and
a new president from another political party,
Muhammadu Buhari, will be sworn in.
The March election that brought Mr. Buhari to
office was a political triumph for Nigeria and a
positive step for the future of democracy in sub-
Saharan Africa. Few expected that the election
would be peaceful or credible, but the Nigerian
people demanded nothing less.
As one of us witnessed first-hand while serving
on a National Democratic Institute election
observer delegation, people across Nigeria waited
in lines that stretched for hours simply to have
their voices heard through the ballot box.
Thousands were willing to risk the threat of
election violence to volunteer as citizen observers,
and the outcome was seen as legitimate thanks
in large measure to the work of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, which oversaw
the rapid release of election results. A coalition of
400 civic organizations conducted a parallel vote
tabulation that protected the integrity of the
process and promoted confidence in the official
results; other groups conducted a large-scale,
and effective anti-violence campaign.
The election was not perfect, far from it. Although
it confirmed the eventual outcome of the
elections, the parallel vote tabulation exposed
serious vote count manipulation in one of the six
geopolitical zones of the country. Pockets of
serious violence and fraud did occur, especially in
Nigeria’s politically critical, oil-producing
southern states. Yet overall, the 2015 election
was the most successful democratic exercise in
the country’s history, building on the progress
made in 2011 after a series of seriously flawed
elections in the country.
Now President-elect Buhari’s challenge will be to
deliver for his people—because years of
experience have taught us that while successful
elections are necessary, they are not by
themselves sufficient for a country to achieve real
long-term economic and social progress. Put
another way: People like to vote, but they also
like to eat.
After campaigning as the anti-corruption, pro-
security candidate, Buhari now has a big job to do
if he is to capitalize on the new momentum for
change. To succeed, he will need the support of
the international community—which must stay
engaged in helping Nigeria along the path of
progress.
The stakes could not be greater, both for Nigeria
and the world. With a population of roughly 180
million people and an economy expected to reach
$1 trillion by 2030, the country is already a
regional political and economic powerhouse—and
it is increasingly a global one as well. By 2050,
Nigeria’s population is expected to surpass that
of the United States, and its total population is
projected to reach 900 million by the end of this
century. This means that what happens in Nigeria
will have a profound impact on the future of sub-
Saharan Africa and the world.
To put the country on a road to better
governance, increased security, and greater
prosperity, President Buhari will need to bring
Nigeria’s vast resources together to tackle a
series of deep-seated, interconnected challenges—
and he will need the support of the United States
and its partners to do so.
His first order of business should be dealing with
the country’s rampant corruption, a poison in any
democracy. Buhari campaigned on a promise to
address alleged multibillion dollar corruption
scandals, which stem largely from
mismanagement of the country’s oil reserves.
These kinds of scandals weaken Nigeria’s
legitimacy both domestically and abroad. Its oil
reserves are tremendous, but if mismanaged they
threaten to undermine the country’s political
authority. Corruption must be addressed at the
institutional level by strengthening institutions
such as the electoral commission, National
Assembly, political parties and civil society—all of
which have an important role in addressing
corruption. Another priority will be improving the
transparency of government bodies, such as the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation. The
international community should also support the
recovery of stolen assets , which belong in the
hands of the Nigerian people.
A second key challenge is security. The depraved
and vile extremism of Boko Haram continues to
pose a serious danger in northeastern Nigeria and
the region, with thousands killed by its attacks
and scores of young girls remaining kidnapped
and enslaved. Recent efforts to push Boko Haram
back, including through a new regional force, have
made some progress, but far more needs to be
done. Meanwhile, sectarian violence—spurred by
religious and ethnic tensions —is a concern across
the country. In the Niger Delta, violent organized
crime and the threat of renewed militancy are
ever present. President Buhari will need to push
through critical security-sector reforms and focus
on increasing military professionalism and
Nigerians’ access to justice in the courts, but the
administration will also need to address the
deeper socioeconomic roots of these threats.
To do so, President Buhari must tackle a third
challenge by taking measures to get Nigeria’s
slowing economy back on track. Given the falling
price of oil, Nigeria’s economy needs to become
more sustainable and diversified through
investments in infrastructure. The country has
vast unmet energy needs, and lack of power is
one of the most serious impediments to growing
Nigeria’s economy. Nigeria’s agricultural sector
also must be modernized and transformed, so
that the country can reduce its reliance on
imported food, feed its exploding population, and
give its farmers a stake in the future. For stability
and enduring prosperity, it will also be important
to close the development gap between the
country’s northern and southern regions, and
between its urban and rural areas.
Given the chaos and uncertainty of today’s world,
it is important that we take note of Nigeria’s
progress and celebrate it, as Secretary of State
John Kerry will do when he leads the U.S.
delegation to the inauguration. But it is equally
vital that all of us—whether in government, the
private sector, or civil society—do everything
possible to ensure that these democratic gains
are channeled toward the kind of institutional
change that lasts far beyond Election Day.
Through robust engagement with Nigeria’s new
government, including direct talks between
Presidents Barack Obama and Buhari, the
international community can help it meet these
challenges. Investing in Nigeria’s future can make
a huge difference for the country, and set an
example for the world. It is an opportunity we
cannot miss.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is
Chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a
strategic advisory firm, and Chair of the National
Democratic Institute. Johnnie Carson, a former
assistant secretary of state for African affairs,
serves on the board of the NDI and co-chaired its
recent election observer mission in Nigeria. He
also serves as a Senior Advisor at Albright
Stonebridge Group.

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