Chuma Ifedi
6 August 2007
opinion
Lagos — THOSE cynics who recently called our new President Musa Yar'Adua "Mr. Go Slow" would have changed their minds after watching his first steps.
He revoked the sale of Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, ended the three-month strike of the Academic Staff of Nigeria Universities (ASUU), refunded the local government funds of the Lagos State government and suspended the reckless demolition exercise at the federal capital territory. In addition, he embarked on open declaration of his assets, declared that the federal government will always abide by the rule of law and started moves to review the electoral process in the country. These initiatives coming even before the composition of the federal executive council are simply courageous and immensely patriotic.
The new president is already winning and deserves the goodwill and practical support of all Nigerians irrespective of political party affiliation. It is too early in the day to predict the performance of our new president, but as the old maxim says: "The morning shows the day." This writer was once a great admirer of President Olusegun Obasanjo. I was impressed by his "operation feed the nation," 1978 land use act and his frontline activity against the apartheid of South Africa. In fact, his pragmatism as military head of a state between 1976 and 1979 was something to write home about. OBJ declared in May 1999: "I will make Nigeria great again." He however dashed our hopes and confirmed the negative apprehensions of Chief Alex Ekwueme, a former Vice-President and Chief Olu Falae his opponent during the 1999 presidential elections. From all indications, President Musa Yar'Adua has clear advantages over Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar especially in terms of educational qualifications and pedigree. As the first university graduate to lead this country as president, our expectations are high that President Yar'Adua will understand our problems and solve them. He is academically poised to appreciate international relations and project Nigeria's image better. Neither Buhari nor Atiku has the calibre of robust intelligence paraded by Yar'Adua in all its ramifications. Mediocrity does not now have a place in contemporary Nigeria if we must consolidate our prime position as the veritable giant of Africa.
But, President Yar'Adua has a lot of work waiting to be accomplished. OBJ devoted much of his attention to outside matters leaving critical domestic issues on the shelf. He was concentrating attention on settling external debts with the Paris and London clubs and placating the international financial institutions particularly the World Bank and the Monetary International Fund. He cultivated foreign consultants who misled him and virtually turned his attention from pressing domestic problems. Even the orchestrated economic reforms of OBJ were for all intents and purposes conditionalities exacted by the greedy agents of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. How else could one rationalise the massive retrenchments in a third world, impoverished country, suffocated with unprecedented rate of youth unemployment?
The address of the new president to the new ministers on his anti-corruption crusade was patently instructive. He will lead by example as servant-leader. We hope that he will keep his words since we are indeed tired of empty precepts. One of our indefatigable civil rights activists last week counselled President Yar'Adua not to aim at building universities like his predecessors OBJ and Atiku who are said to own private universities in Otta and Yola. Nigeria is indeed a rare country in the world where a salaried political leader can afford to established universities single-handed and run multi-million modern farm.
Nigerians look forward to the purported national emergency on power. President Musa Yar'Adua should listen to the recent suggestions of the union of electrical workers on diversifying the sources of power to include thermal, hydro, nuclear, solar and others. More attention must be focused on the manpower quality in the electricity sector, the nature of the award of contracts and the structure of privatisation. We should take a cue from the British system. The president should look into the national health insurance scheme. For now, the medical programme is in shambles compelling patients to seek for good treatment abroad. Only recently, both Atiku Abubakar and Yar'Adua had to rush overseas for medical treatment of a routine nature. How disgraceful!
President Yar'Adua must prosecute both an industrial and agricultural revolution to propel our national development. He should revisit recent national development and rolling plans as well as Vision 2010. The documents set in lucid terms what we need to achieve a marvellous economic miracle like Japan, Singapore and the Asian Tigers. All it needs is the political will and placing the right persons in charge without bias for partisan political loyalties. We urge the new president to monitor the reconstruction of the railways and give it priority attention. Rail transportation is a veritable catalyst for national transformation. India produces a model for emulation.
The new president must implement the new population policy evolved by the last administration to control the prevailing baby-boom in the country. Birth control and family planning should be promoted at all levels like in Kenya. Both the urban and countryside inhabitants should be involved in population rationalisation. Present economic resources cannot cope with too many mouths chasing the inadequate food supply. Our quality of life deserves remarkable improvement. Similarly, poverty alleviation must be galvanised. Present efforts are rather too cosmetic for comfort. With the wide gap between the rich and the poor, the current poverty alleviation schemes make very little impact. The gap must be closed without further delay. A practical way to boost the welfare of the masses is by settling the domestic debt now calculated as 1.8 trillion naira and devising measures to increase the purchasing power of the common man. The industrial capacity utilisation must be enhanced, bank interest rates drastically reduced and outstanding public service pensions settled immediately. The president must ensure that appropriate steps are taken to increase personal security all over the country and curb the rising wave of armed robbery and assassinations.
President Yar'Adua should stem the escalating brain-drain by making Nigeria more conducive for living. Deplorable policies of the OBJ era such as the myopic privatisation of unity colleges should be expunge. The new president has started well. Unlike OBJ, he should be humble, cultivate good human and public relations and put his ears to ground to appreciate the feelings and wishes of the people who are embattled by the draconian and callous policies of the last civilian administration. He will certainly succeed with our plenitude of prayers and blessings.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
