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Unemployment, a reliable supply of electricity, and poverty are the most important problems that Nigerians want their government to address, with crime/security following in fourth place, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows.

While incoming President Muhammadu Buhari must contend with immediate fuel, cash, and power crises, citizens’ expressed priorities can help inform the administration’s agenda for the next four years.

The Afrobarometer survey, conducted in December 2014-January 2015, shows a continuity of economic concerns and the growing importance of electricity and crime/security on the public agenda.

Key findings

• Unemployment, electricity, poverty, crime/security, and corruption are the problems that citizens cite most often among their top three priorities (Figure 1). 

• Unemployment has been No. 1 among citizens’ concerns in all five rounds of Afrobarometer surveys conducted since 2003, always cited by about half of survey respondents. Poverty and corruption have consistently ranked among the top five problems, while education has declined slightly as a priority (Figure 2).

• Electricity and crime/security have been rising rapidly as citizens’ priorities. Electricity jumped from No. 12 (cited by 11% of citizens) in 2003 to No. 2 since 2008 (cited by 32% of citizens in 2014). Crime/security has moved up from No. 15 (cited by just 5% of citizens) in 2005 to No. 4 (26%) in 2014.