Why young Nigerians care about who will be the President of America

Will

Even in Nigeria, young people are talking about the campaign and the US general elections. It has become one of the trending topics on social media with people offering their opinions on both candidates and their campaign strategy so far.

The distance between Nigeria and the United States of America is 10,642 kilometres. The policies of whoever wins the White House would not have an intimate effect on us here, maybe the foreign policy would to some extent but by and large the American election isn't a grassroots affair.

Yet we are intrigued by what is happening when Donald Trump makes a gaffe and when Wikileaks reveals something about Hillary Clinton's stint as Secretary of State. Why is this?

The United States presidential election is easily the biggest presidential election in the world. America is earth's number one super power and what goes on in God's own country is the world's business. We watch American TV shows, listen to American music and consume American media. It won't be far fetched that we are citizens of America via consumption of its pop culture.

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The presidential election over there is pop culture, easily the biggest event that happens every four years in America. No one in the world can miss it including us.

Also, especially with this election, the US presidential race is entertaining. Donald Trump's antics has made this race more fun than most presidential races. The whole world is tuned in just to see what he will do next or what he will say next. So far it has been entertaining. The uncertainty of who will be the next POTUS ensures that we will be watching this to the last second. That's pure entertainment that we as Nigerians wouldn't want to miss.

Another reason why we are hooked on the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Show is because as Nigerians our presidential race sucks. The race is devoid of good debates, great speeches and sound policies. All we hear are the same old bullet points of free electricity and free education. The speeches are boring and the politicians are not inspiring.

We watch what the Americans do because we do not have that kind of sophistication in our own political system. Young people are turned off by men and women who do not have clear-cut policies for the future.