The International Electoral College is an election project from The Takeaway, in collaboration with Global Voices Online’s Voices without Votes, that highlights bloggers around the world talking about the U.S. elections.

This post comes from Adeola Aderounmu (with additional contributions from Abayomi Morrison Omoruyi). Aderounmu blogs from Nigeria at Thy Glory O Nigeria..!

No doubts Nigerians are very interested in the outcome of the forthcoming presidential elections in the United States. A majority of Nigerians are keen to see Barack Obama in the White House after the elections slated for November 4, 2008.

Here are some of the reasons Nigerians want Obama to be the next president of the United States of America. First, Obama is an African-American and this appears to be the single most powerful factor why he would be preferred in the White House. Nigerians see Obama as one of their own. Secondly, Nigerians believe that the emergence of Barack Obama will bring remarkable and dramatic changes in America both socially and economically.

The present difficulty that Nigerians are expressing in procuring American visas, which will allow them to visit and do business in America, is definitely a good reason why Obama is preferred. Nigerians have always had problems with traveling to the United States and the situation got worse after 9/11. Still it became aggravated when the United States suspected that there are terror groups in Nigeria who are receiving backing from outside Nigeria. On September 11, 2007, the American Embassy in Nigeria was massively barricaded.

Generally, Nigerians think that the U.S. policy on visa application and procurement are too strict and highly discriminatory. Quite naturally Nigerians are widely travelled people and they do not appreciate the hindrances that they have to overcome at several embassies in Nigeria in order to transact legitimate business abroad. However this does not rule out the fact that there are quite a number of dubious applicants who do not have genuine reasons to visit the United States.

Several Nigerians are genuinely investing a lot in businesses and academic pursuits. In this light, most Nigerians, including the business class and the student groups, would welcome a Barack Obama presidency because they are quite convinced that a democratic government in the United States headed by an African American will ease up on immigration laws.

Nigerians are very enthusiastic about an Obama presidency because they see the possibility for development and growth not only in Nigerian alone but also in the whole of Africa. They believe that the emergence of Obama will bring implementations to all the promises and hopes that the Western world had expressed about Africa in the past. If Obama becomes the next president of the United States, Africa may emerge from the shackles poverty and move into the realm of current global information age.

Nigerians believe that the democrats in America are more opened minded and honest. Eight years of George Bush gave them a perception that the Republicans cannot be trusted. From issues ranging to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to the internal natural disasters in New Orleans and other places to the recent economic recession in the United States, Nigerians have come to see a lot of deceit and dishonesty in the government headed by the Republicans. Just as Obama continues to emphasize in his campaign slogan, Nigerians are yearning for a change in the United States as well.

It is amazing how Nigerians follow not only international sports, especially football, but also politics, and these two items usually dominate discussions in public places and on the streets. As far as the war in Iraq is concerned, an average informed Nigerian believes that the United States is fighting a war that will not end. In the words of one Nigerian man, the war in Iraq is the kind of war you cannot win because it lies in the heart of many. By this he means that there is no amount of war or weapons of war that can change the views of a terrorist or a die-hard Iraqi about his notion on America. America to him is the enemy.

A Nigerian man on the street will like to see the United States leave Iraq as soon as possible and this is one more area where the policy or position of Obama appeals to many Nigerians. It is possible that the terrorist incursion into Nigeria is a repercussion of the war going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iraqi insurgents, for example, are not ready to give up, so they will continue to look for willing hands and volunteers, and indeed they will find a pool of these in Nigeria where more than 90 million people are living on less than one dollar a day. A simple equation: The earlier the United States leaves Iraq and Afghanistan, the sooner the urge to recruit terrorists will subside. No individual or organization was recruiting or training in Nigeria before the United States invaded these countries. It’s simple logic.

Here are a few ways that ordinary Nigerians are looking at the upcoming presidential votes in America. It is difficult to know what the federal government in Nigeria would prefer. In Nigeria, governance has never been concentrated on the institutions or people but on a few selected persons who are selected or nominated into power by a secret cabal. For example, the last elections in Nigeria, in 2007, were complete shambles and a hoax. One would have expected a complete worldwide condemnation of the entire process. On the contrary the various countries making up the international community, and headed by the United States, were only interested in what the illegal regime has to offer them in terms of oil deals and economic benefits. Once that was settled, a new illegal regime settled down to rule in Nigeria.

Hence the outcome of elections in the United States may not really matter to the Nigerian government because the form of democracy in Nigeria is crude and shameful. It’s a winner-takes-all concept, and only the politicians benefit from the dividends of democracy in Nigeria. This is why most Nigerians are still poor despite the oil wealth of the country. Nigeria is endowed, but the majority of the people are poor, and young people continue to seek greener pastures abroad. Perhaps an Obama presidency may have a positive impact on governance in Nigeria. Everything in life is a function of time, and it will tell.