– President Muhammadu Buhari will be a year old in office come
Sunday, May 29
– The clamour for a government under the mantra of ‘Change’ was
intense early last year
– The proof of the pudding is in the eating as the president
himself is now witnessing
– Nigerians deserve praise as they have been patient enough to a
large extent with the present administration as they want Buhari to succeed
where others failed
– There are at least 10 things which the All Progressive
Congress (APC) led federal government should have tackled headlong since last
year when it came on board. Read more at:
The coming of President Muhammadu Buhari as the 5th
democratically elected president of Nigeria on Friday, May 29, 2015, was
greeted with so much conspicuous joy and beacon of hope for a greater Nigeria.
This was basically because of his antecedent as an anti-corruption crusader and
a man of integrity, by a good number of Nigerians.
Buhari was contesting for the nation’s number one seat against a
familiar opponent at the 2015 presidential election, that is former president,
Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who defeated him at the 2011 presidential poll. The 2015
elections came and went, and Buhari had the last laugh.
Solving some of the issues highlighted below are germane to the
growth and development of Nigeria.
1. Arresting the incessant fuel scarcity It is really
sickening for a nation like Nigeria to suffer in the midst of abundance.
Nigeria’s case is about suffering and smiling, as the late Fela Anikulapo sang
in one of his hit songs.
What’s really wrong with the downstream sector of the petroleum
industry? The current fuel scarcity is now more than three months. Nigeria is
one of the top 10 producers of crude oil in the world. In spite of all these,
Nigerians pass through the furnace to get what is theirs.
2. Providing a practicable solution to epileptic power supply A
country like Ghana has celebrated a whole year of uninterrupted electricity
before. But this is not the case in Nigeria, where almost every household has a
generating set, even if it is the popular ‘I better pass my neighbour’
generator. Pollution is everywhere killing the people and nothing is being done
about this. Babatunde Raji Fashola, minister of powers, works and housing, take
note of this and do something to arrest the ugly situation now.
3. Holistically tackling corruption and corrupt practices The
fear factor in Buhari’s name seems to be fizzling out at a fast rate. When
Buhari was sworn in, many civil servants sat up and were afraid to perpetrate
corrupt practices. However presently, Buhari being the president has not
stopped civil servants from collecting kickbacks and bribes, when someone goes
to the ministries, departments and agencies for something important. Even the
law enforcement agencies like the police, FRSC, still collect tips from
motorists.
4. Ensuring foreign exchange policies favour stability of naira
against the dollar at the parallel market When Buhari was the military Head of
State between December 30, 1983 and August 26, 1985, he ensured the naira and
the dollar were exchanged at almost the same rate. However, the exchange rate
for the dollar at the parallel exchange market now is nothing to write home
about. This has made the prices of almost all goods and commodities hit the
roof. A sachet of pure water, which was N5before is now sold at N10, due to the
increase in prices of all materials used to produce the water.
5. Rescuing the Chibok girls April 14 of this year made it
exactly two years that the Chibok girls were reportedly kidnapped by Boko Haram
sect. Rescuing the innocent girls was one of the things President Buhari
promised Nigerians. It is now more than 11 months that Buhari became president,
yet no sign that the girls will be rescued alive by the present government.
President Buhari said he will not be discouraged to rescue the future of the
children, who are victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria,
despite their huge numbers. He said this necessitated the need for data
collation on the internally displaced children. The future of the rescued
children from the pangs of the terrorists should be well secured.
6. Stemming the tide of kidnapping/abduction Many high profile
abductions have occurred since last year. It was just on Wednesday, May 4 that
Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, a former minister of education was rescued by the
Nigerian police after spending some days in the hands of her abductors. It
should be recalled that the national leader of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) and one time presidential candidate, Chief Olu Falae, was also kidnapped
before he was reportedly to have paid some ransom running into millions of
naira to his abductors. So many people have been kidnapped, with some hostages
losing their life before help came their way. This is one of the things that
made the Senate to pass a law of death sentence on whoever is culpable of
abducting another person.
7. Sending those found to be corrupt to prison and confiscating
their stolen assets So many politicians have been indicted of stealing from the
nation’s coffer, but none has really been made to face the full wrath of the
law. It is so sad to see an allegedly corrupt individual going to places of
worship to give thanks. From Dasukigate to Ekitigate to Panama Paper, and so
many other corruption issues, nothing has really happened to the corrupt individuals
under Buhari’s tenure.
8. Calming the frayed nerves of Biafra agitators Ever since the
director of Radio Biafra, and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),
Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by the federal government for charges bordering on
threat to the nation’s existence, the South-East have been boiling. Although,
no president, who was popularly elected by his citizens, will folds his arms or
stand at akimbo, and let the country disintegrate under his belt. President
Buhari should know that lack of basic infrastructure and poor leadership are
some of the reasons for the agitation for a sovereign state of Biafra.
9. Drawing a clear cut road-map to revive the economy So much
concerns have been raised by experts regarding the economy. It is believed that
the economy is not heading in the right direction. As of February this year,
Nigeria’s economy recorded one of the highest inflation rate of over 11% in
recent years. This does not augur well at all for the common man. The simple
multiplier effect is hike in prices of goods and services.
10. Reducing hunger/employment/poverty Jobs are being created,
but will these jobs assuage the hunger in the land? There should be mass
employment, not just asking millions of the teeming youths to apply for jobs
meant for only 10,000 people.
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