The 2015 general elections, though full of tension, has brought the
much-awaited change at last. While some African countries like Algeria, Tunisia , Libya and Egypt were going through their wind of change, some comfortable and visionless Nigerians boasted that such change could never come to the country.
While the wise ones were preparing for the change through the ballot box, so as to avoid violent change, some engaged in blackmail and shenanigans. At the end, like the former French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, who saved France at the hour of great battles, Muhammadu Buhari has won and he will surely lift the nation to the place it ought to be in the comity of nations.
The end eventually came for the 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being in power. The All Progressives Congress ( APC ) must learn from the mistakes of the outgoing president and ruling party, and avoid the pitfalls.
Buhari
Buhari
Buhari was among the Nigerian Army officers who saved the nation from civil war. He gave direction to the people as a military head of state. Discipline and orderliness were restored. Nigerians were respected and honoured. The economic sector was at its zenith. Some Nigerians still commend him for his incorrutibility, patrotism and stern discipline.
Now that the mandate has been given to him, much is expected; he will have to fight corruption and compulsive stealing; the evil-twins that have cancerously eaten up our economy, destroyed the integrity of our so-called leaders and has rendered the political system annihilated. In as much as he will not be expected to waste time probing his predecessor, he will have to work together with the National Asembly to unravel how federal ministries, departments and agencies spent over N16 trillion that were not budgeted for.
A Senate committee reported that 601 MDAs generated and spent money as they pleased without parliamentary approval, in clear violation of the Constitution. He will need to work on how to restore our foreign reserves that fell to $30.87 billion in March 2014 and, in January, 2015, remained $3.4 billion. The Central Bank Governor will need to restrategise and come up with economic plans to reposition our battered economy.
It is said that Buhari is so straight forward. This is a man who was a Minister of Petroleum. He doesn’t have oil bloc; he doesn’t even have a filling station. Buhari doesn’t have plots in Abuja as a former governor. This self-discipline would have to be imbibed by the team that will be working with him. Nigerians are sceptical about leadership in the country; they condemn all politicians as thieves and selfish.
They will be watching him and his lieutenants, and would want to measure his integrity and his ministers with the same measure they measured the ousted regime. He must remember he promised to declare his assets publicly, his ministers must follow his example if the change he promised the nation would not be compromised. Any would-be minister that abuses his office must not just be sent away but must be made to face the law.
Security
Security of lives and property must be sacrosanct. Apart from the war against insurgency in the North, which must be fought and won, internal security nationwide must be improved upon through the use of closed circuit television nationwide. Nigeria can no longer let her security to be porous. Security agents require modern equipment and training. The old hands with bad records must be shown the way out. Military aircraft must be modernised and new ones acquired. The new National Assembly must review and examine the need for state police. The emoluments of security agents must be reviewed as soon as our economy improves.
Judiciary
The judiciary needs urgent attention. The judiciary in many states has been on strike for over six months now; this is dangerous and could compound the insecurity situation in the nation. As the head of the new government, there ought to be a meeting of fertile minds on how to urgently resolve the impasse. No nation cannot afford to close its door to judicial workers in a democratic system. Judges of questionable character must go. The Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) must take judicial measures against erring judicial officers. This will go a long way to sanitise the temple of justice and give the nation the change we need.
Unemployment
Not long ago, the world witnessed the Arab Spring due to youth joblessness. This led to the removal of many heads of government. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has drawn the attention of the nation to the implication of neglecting the army of unemployed youths. The implication is invitation to unimaginable revolution. To avoid this, the new central government must study how Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, governor of the State of Osun, successfully carried out the Osun Youth Employment Scheme (OYES) and implement it nationwide. Where there is vacancy in federal ministries and parastatals, the new government should handle it bureaucratically. We must not allow a repeat of the tragedy caused by the handlers of the Immigration Service.
Workers salaries
The plight of workers nationwide, including federal workers, owed salaries and allowances deserve urgent attention. Whatever has gone wrong must be rectified. Workers must be paid as and when due. The Minster of Finance, Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated they were not owing any state but that the states were being given what they never expected. The implication of this is that there is a short fall in the allocations to states, which made it difficult for them to pay their workers. The workers believed in the mantra “Change”; if their expectations are not met, they may not cooperate with the new government. All the government needs to do will be to block all loopholes corrupt government officials were utilising to siphon funds into private pockets.
The decline in public service must be addressed. The poor planning, inconsistency of policy, lack of participation, poor budgeting, diversion of public funds and poor human resources are some of the anomalies that must be purged from the public sector.
Agriculture
If we are to recover faster from the effect of dwindling funds from oil sales, we must practically be involved in agricultural revolution. The various states must get down to the soil and work. Agricultural equipment must be acquired. Lands and seedlings must be made available to farmers, particularly youths. Old cash crop trees must be replaced and replanted. Rural development is a must if we want people to go back to farming. Loans and fertilizers must be provided to aid farming schemes.
Power
The power sector has remained a leaking pipe for thieves. The new government must address it squarely. Modern development begins and ends with power generation. No nation can survive without stable power supply. Industrialisation can only be meaningful when we get it right with the generation and distribution of power. Similarly, the moribund refineries should be replaced. Enough with oil importation. If there is going to be real change, the change must affect the power sector positively.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/buhari-the-man-of-the-moment/#sthash.b8Em7k2p.dpuf
