This write up is just my personal opinion on the present Nigerian policy direction and what needs to be done at this time.
Since the government of President Buhari took over power, we have had to deal with various problems that are both transferred from previous governments and new ones. We have continued the war on terror, started a seemingly new fight against corruption, tried to deal with a drop in oil price which is our main source of income, had a delay in the formation of the Presidents cabinet, a delay in budget passing last year, budget padding issues, new uprising in the South east and South south, plus a lot more.
Where do we stand today on all these issues? We are in an economic recession, the Naira is falling against all major currencies in the world, our oil production has reduced by more than half due to attacks on oil pipelines, terror attack has reduced but has not been extinguished. fight against corruption is not yielding a lot of conviction and we can go on and on .
What is the word on the street and the score card this government should be aware of ? Nigerians find life more difficult now than they did in the last administration. Cost of living has increased tremendously, salaries are either not fully paid or not paid at all. Businesses are closing up thereby leaving a huge army of unemployed people. Any report that is to the contrary is just not true.
As a supporter of the ruling party, I would say that if an election is conducted today, President Buhari will not get as much votes as he got even from the North East.
We need to go back to what we promised the Nigerian people.
The President and his Party promised to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments. This promise is one that was greatly received by lots of people in the country. It is a difficult promise to keep as it seems not to be popular among the political elites who would love to keep the current arrangement of going to Abuja for allocation every month. They lack creativity in wealth creation in their states and believe we should all wait for oil money to flow from Abuja downwards.
The President also promised a judicial reform and strengthening of the Justice system to make it more efficient in administration of duties. I have not noticed this change personally as cases still seem to take years to settle and justice delayed is almost as good as justice denied. We have people waiting in our prison systems waiting to get heard and more evident in this administration, federal government officials disobeying court orders.
On National security, the President promised to urgently address capacity building of law enforcement agents in terms of quality and quantity and to also amend the constitution to enable State and local Government Police. This promise is far from what has been observed in this administration. The quality of the security agencies still remain worrisome. I am not aware of the increase in quantity but law officers are seen everyday breaking the law, extorting money from citizens, making arrests and detaining individuals without proper investigation and other activities that make that promise just feel like a campaign rhetoric. As far as State and community policing, the federal government has not done anything to suggest they will be moving in that direction.
On conflict resolution and national unity, I score this government very low. From the Presidents first speech on the 5% that did not vote for him to the inability of the President to tour the Niger delta post elections. He lost me after taking military actions on the pro biafran movement groups who had different views on how they should be governed. The result has been destruction of various pipelines and oil installments, increase in community clashes, increase religious and tribal conflicts as evident in Kaduna and other parts of the North. This administration needs to do a lot better in this area.
I would love to go through the Presidents promise on the economy and job creation but there is no point as we are in a recession and we can't have 10 percent growth per annum as promised in this state. This is why I suggest that the government go back to the drawing board and even research on countries who pulled themselves out of recession and what they did. The economic team as constituted needs to be overhauled and we should bring in A grade economist and policy planners to quickly bring us out of this economic mess. It is very important to do this because economic failure is a rolling stone that brings with it all kinds of ills that can destroy a nation.
On healthcare, the government promised to increase the number of doctors per citizen from 19 per 1,000 to 50, 1000. It is laughable because we do not even have 19 per 1000. First the medical institutions do not have the capacity to train those amount of doctors and secondly, due to the poor conditions health workers have to deliver service in and the non payment of salaries, a lot of trained doctors are leaving the country for greener pastures. It might sound unpatriotic to a system that trained them but if you see the doctor as human first who just like anyone wants the best for himself and those he caters for, you would understand why he or she might not be willing to stay. We can change this rend by looking at already established federal healthcare institutions and upgrading them to the level seen in the Europe or North America. In this first term in office you can start with four in each geopolitical zone. Which will produce 24 world class hospitals in the country and all the medical schools can do rotations in these facilities. I can go on and on about what we can do in the healthcare field because that is my area of specialty but this is a more rounded discuss. The government is just managing what it inherited. No new innovation, nothing has changed.
Most of the other promises in Agriculture, education, senior citizens, women empowerment and foreign policy are still same as the last administration left it or worse.
I would say again that in a national election, we would not get as much votes as we got in the last race.
We need to start keeping promises or the citizens will lest us know they have had enough.
I would add that you might need to think of changing some people in your cabinet. The sports minister, the labor man, the technology man, split the post given to Babatunde Raji Fashiola, transportation minister has to go, foreign affairs minister needs replacement, your cabinet needs a big reshuffle.
Bring in people that have nation building ideas. If you are not sure who to bring in, I am available to give you a list of considerations or better yet, go into the institutions and pick your ministers as those people have made it their lives work to research and teach the next generation of Nigerians who would run the affairs of the country.
Thank you for reading. add your suggestions, questions and criticisms to the comment section below.
Since the government of President Buhari took over power, we have had to deal with various problems that are both transferred from previous governments and new ones. We have continued the war on terror, started a seemingly new fight against corruption, tried to deal with a drop in oil price which is our main source of income, had a delay in the formation of the Presidents cabinet, a delay in budget passing last year, budget padding issues, new uprising in the South east and South south, plus a lot more.
Where do we stand today on all these issues? We are in an economic recession, the Naira is falling against all major currencies in the world, our oil production has reduced by more than half due to attacks on oil pipelines, terror attack has reduced but has not been extinguished. fight against corruption is not yielding a lot of conviction and we can go on and on .
What is the word on the street and the score card this government should be aware of ? Nigerians find life more difficult now than they did in the last administration. Cost of living has increased tremendously, salaries are either not fully paid or not paid at all. Businesses are closing up thereby leaving a huge army of unemployed people. Any report that is to the contrary is just not true.
As a supporter of the ruling party, I would say that if an election is conducted today, President Buhari will not get as much votes as he got even from the North East.
We need to go back to what we promised the Nigerian people.
The President also promised a judicial reform and strengthening of the Justice system to make it more efficient in administration of duties. I have not noticed this change personally as cases still seem to take years to settle and justice delayed is almost as good as justice denied. We have people waiting in our prison systems waiting to get heard and more evident in this administration, federal government officials disobeying court orders.
On National security, the President promised to urgently address capacity building of law enforcement agents in terms of quality and quantity and to also amend the constitution to enable State and local Government Police. This promise is far from what has been observed in this administration. The quality of the security agencies still remain worrisome. I am not aware of the increase in quantity but law officers are seen everyday breaking the law, extorting money from citizens, making arrests and detaining individuals without proper investigation and other activities that make that promise just feel like a campaign rhetoric. As far as State and community policing, the federal government has not done anything to suggest they will be moving in that direction.
On conflict resolution and national unity, I score this government very low. From the Presidents first speech on the 5% that did not vote for him to the inability of the President to tour the Niger delta post elections. He lost me after taking military actions on the pro biafran movement groups who had different views on how they should be governed. The result has been destruction of various pipelines and oil installments, increase in community clashes, increase religious and tribal conflicts as evident in Kaduna and other parts of the North. This administration needs to do a lot better in this area.
On healthcare, the government promised to increase the number of doctors per citizen from 19 per 1,000 to 50, 1000. It is laughable because we do not even have 19 per 1000. First the medical institutions do not have the capacity to train those amount of doctors and secondly, due to the poor conditions health workers have to deliver service in and the non payment of salaries, a lot of trained doctors are leaving the country for greener pastures. It might sound unpatriotic to a system that trained them but if you see the doctor as human first who just like anyone wants the best for himself and those he caters for, you would understand why he or she might not be willing to stay. We can change this rend by looking at already established federal healthcare institutions and upgrading them to the level seen in the Europe or North America. In this first term in office you can start with four in each geopolitical zone. Which will produce 24 world class hospitals in the country and all the medical schools can do rotations in these facilities. I can go on and on about what we can do in the healthcare field because that is my area of specialty but this is a more rounded discuss. The government is just managing what it inherited. No new innovation, nothing has changed.
Most of the other promises in Agriculture, education, senior citizens, women empowerment and foreign policy are still same as the last administration left it or worse.
I would say again that in a national election, we would not get as much votes as we got in the last race.
We need to start keeping promises or the citizens will lest us know they have had enough.
I would add that you might need to think of changing some people in your cabinet. The sports minister, the labor man, the technology man, split the post given to Babatunde Raji Fashiola, transportation minister has to go, foreign affairs minister needs replacement, your cabinet needs a big reshuffle.
Bring in people that have nation building ideas. If you are not sure who to bring in, I am available to give you a list of considerations or better yet, go into the institutions and pick your ministers as those people have made it their lives work to research and teach the next generation of Nigerians who would run the affairs of the country.
Thank you for reading. add your suggestions, questions and criticisms to the comment section below.
I agree with everything you have said sir. However, I don't think this government is one that listens and I'm afraid they only took advantage of the misfortune of Nigerians to ride into power. they never had any real plan for change. I said it then, I will say it now. President Buhari has nothing to offer Nigerians. He needs to go. there should be a referendum and a vote of no confidence in his government; waiting for the end of his tenure would do even more longlasting and catastrophic damage to Nigeria. Peace
ReplyDeleteBased on his performance so far, you are very correct Drilus. I also fell for the whole campaign message. I was looking at the team around him and felt we would have more of technocrats in the cabinet. The Utomi's , Ezekwesili's, of this world. I was totally wrong. But we must keep reminding people of his promises. So that we have empirical evidence to measure performance. Thank you for your input.
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