Leadership (Abuja)
James Ume
1 June 2008
Abuja — On May 29, 2007, history was made in the Nigerian political landscape. The peculiarity of that day was not only that it was the first time the country was transiting from one civilian administration to another (democratically elected), it was infact the day many Nigerians remember with nostalgia, the exist of former president Olusegun Obasanjo - whom Nigerians had wanted his total exist from the political firmament at all cost.
The exist of General Olusegun Obasanjo and his negativism from the political circle brought new hope and relieve to majority of Nigerians, according to LEADERSHIP Sunday Survey, owing to the circumstance that the eight years of his reign brought much suffering to Nigerians.
Political pundits are of the view that the eight years administration of Obasanjo was more or less wasted years, where a visionless cabal held sway and mindlessly looted the commonwealth of the Nigerian people, hiked fuel prices at will, refused to get our refineries back on track, so as to continue milking the Nigerian people of their resources in the name of importation of refined petroleum products. Power supply was reduced from about 3,500mw in 1999 to less then 1,200mw in 2007, extra-judicial killings and wanton abuse of power, rule of law and due process, total disregard and intimidation of the legislature, collapse of our industries and commerce, total decadence and neglect of the educational sector, and countless other vices was the order of the day during the Obasanjo administration.
All these and more other ills was inherited by the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's administration, which came in through a flawed election conducted by the former president Obasanjo. So, political analyst have opined that since Yar'Adua is a beneficiary of the Obasnajo ills, it would not be easy to let himself out of the hook of the former president.
By implication, a renounced political scientist, whom LEADERSHIP Sunday spoke with, Dr. Agbai E. Agbai, was of the opinion that the Yar'Adua-led administration would not be in a hurry to reverse most of the economic and social policies of the part administration.
According to him, "The president is taking his time to study most of the policies and economic programmes his administration met in place and the president being a student of analytical chemistry, I believe he is not in a hurry to impress the people so that he will not make the mistates of previous administrations. In fact, it is my opinion that if the president has taken one year to analyse his policy thrust and the mistakes of previous administrations and then use the remaining three year to lay solid foundation of visible projects, I believe Nigerians will be happy for it. Make no mistakes about it, I am not saying that the administration is moving at a snail's speed, no, it is taking deceive decisions on issues that have direct bearing on the people. Look at the issues of increase in pump price of petroleum products and the hike in taxation which his administration inherited from former president Obasanjo. He tackled them head-on without much delay," Dr. Agbai said.
However, majority of Nigerians although dissatisfied with the slow pace of the current administration are still happy that the Obasanjo dynasty, which at a time was threatening the peace of this nation, has ended. They are of the view that the current administration has created an enabling environment for real political activities and that Nigeria can now boast of practicing true democracy.
These ripe political environment, according to LEADERSHIP Sunday findings is what made notable political icons like former Senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim, to seek election into the office of the national chairman of the ruling Peoples Demcoratic Party (PDP). It is now the era of rule of law, due process and transparency in government, which are the languages of democracy. According to Senator Anyim, "it is only in these principles that we can say we are practicing democracy in the 21st century. The present administration has changed from arbitrariness to due process, from personal discretion to rule of law and this is what every nation needs as a foundation to a lasting democracy," the former Ssenate president opined.
Nevertheless, LEADERSHIP Sunday spoke to several authorities in all the sectors of the economy and polity and it was generally sgreed that through the Yar'Adua administration has performed decimally in the first one year, it still has a lot of promise for the Nigerian people and the nation. They agree that although the nation is in dire need of transformation and developmental projects, there is still the need for proper appraisal before such a programme is embarked on.
Manufacturing and commerce: These sectors have remained comatose after many years. Many believed the advent of the Yar'Adua administration would find an immediate and lasting solution to the problems of these sectors, but after one year in office, the sectors are still being neglected. These scenario becomes more saddening according to manufacturers LEADERSHIP Sunday spoke with, giving the circumstance that all the textile industries are yet to be given the necessary incentives that will enable them open shops, after being out of business for close to a decade now. They also lamented the scourge of dependence on importation. It was the view of Engr. James Kama,a manufacturer of furniture and office fillings of international standard based in Abuja that if government was genuine on its policy to ban the importation of furnitures and some textile materials, "They should give incentive to the local producers. Since what we produce here locally can compete with those produced all over the world, we need to be encouraged in forms of tax concession and the government should also be circumspect in their implementation of the import ban on such products. Not when you here on radio and TV that such products have been banned, you still see people bringing even inferior once from Dubai and China. Our locally produced goods are more classical and sophisticated than those ones imported from outside the country, but because those manufacturers enjoy certain incentives in their countries their prices automatically go down. These are the things we need to revitalize in both the textile and furniture industries in the country," Kama said.
Continuing, he praised the Yar'Adua's administration for its forthrightness, noting that the era of impunity in public service was over. He also commended the administration's effort in setting up a consolidated funds in the Nigerian Import and Export Bank (Nexim) for the manufacturing sector. "If the consolidated funds which the Yar'Adua administration has made available for the revitalisation of the manufacturing sector is judiciously distributed and implemented, I tell you that the country will become on export giant in the next four years. The administration's approach to tackling the problems of this sector although slow, I believe will yield result in the nearest future," he concluded.
Agriculture:
This sector was the main-stay of the nation's economy before the discovery of oil in commercial quantity. But since the discovery of oil, this sector has been allowed to diminish year-in-year-out till the present state of ruins. It is even shameful that Nigeria, a nation that was foremost in exportation of agricultural produce and known as the supplier of food to Sub-Saharan Africa can no longer feed itself. Nigeria, all things being equal, should have no business with food shortage even if there's global food crisis. But the preponderance of pseudo politicians who have remained on the saddle as leaders have plunged the nation to the very state of depending on countries like Thaiwan for the supply of rice. The question now on the lips of most Nigerians is; what has happened to the Abakaliki rice, the Ogoja and Markudi rice, etc?
The near total neglect on the agricultural sector could be best imagined. According to a foremost farmer and former senator of the federal republic, Senator Zego Aziz, "the agricultural sector of this nation is very poor and the federal government is not concentrating in developing that sector. Any nation that cannot feed herself stands the risk of not maintaining its sovereignty. It is when a nation achieves food security that the nation becomes self sufficient, then we can now talk about other developments in the nation. No nation should depend on other countries to feed it. And Nigeria is gradually degenerating to such a stage and this poses a great threat to our dear country. We have all the natural and human resources to attain food sufficiency and indeed sufficiency in other sectors of the economy. There's no one things that the nation needs to manufacture with proper synergy that she cannot, but the government should first make sure that the nation attains food sufficiency so that it can be able to feed itself," Senator Aziz concluded.
Economy:
LEADERSHIP Sunday findings in this area reveals that majority of Nigerians are yet to see any policy outlined by the present administration in making sure that the nation attains the vision 2020 goal. Some economists LEADERSHIP Sunday spoke with were of the view that except for some cases of review of few of the former administration's privatisation polices, nothing more has been done on the economic front. They are of the opinion that after one year in office, the Yar'Adua administration is still battling to constitute an economic team, arguing that the National Council on Planning as presently headed by Senator Sanusi Daggash cannot pass for an economic team. They however gave kudos to former president Obasanjo for assembling one of the world's most reputable economic team.
Power and Energy:
"These sectors are indeed the most pitiable of all sectors. It formed the main trust of the Yar'Adua's campaign promises before he was elected into office, but one year after, the nation is gradually being plunged into total darkness," Chief Obi Aguocha, an international energy expert said during a chart with LEADERSHIP Sunday. "We were of the opinion that the president before his inauguration would organise a team that would look into the problems of that sector so that as soon as he is taking over, he would start from somewhere and tackle the problem head-on.
"But we now have a situation that a year after, the power crisis is still hitting the people hard. Just this Wednesday, the president announced the composition of a transition committee that will privatise PHCN. That committee is headed by the minister of state for energy (Power). This development is very sad and we believe the president will rise up to the challenge", the energy expert said.
Niger-Delta and Security:
These sectors formed a vast aspect of the president's eight point agenda for the transformation of the nation. But one year after, the insecurity in the Niger-Delta and indeed the country has persisted. Stakeholders in these areas are beginning to doubt the sincerity of the present administration in addressing the problems of these sectors. For instance, they argue that one year after assumption of office, the present administration is still considering on convening an international summit on Niger-Delta and security. Their grouse is that the government should have swung into action in making sure that certain cardinal developmental needs of the people of the volatile Niger-Delta area were met. They are also of the opinion that insecurity in the Niger-Delta will continue to hamper on the gains recorded by the present administration.
Education:
Authorities in this sector are happy with the huge budgetary allocation to this sector, but regret the fact that the government of Yar'Adua has yet not deem it fit to recall the sacked 49 lecturers of University of Ilorin. This explains why the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has continued to embark on endless strikes since the inception of this administration.
LEADERSHIP Sunday checks reveal that authorities in this sector are impressed with the way the new administration is currently handling issues as regards to the improvement of the education sector and capacity building, and optimistic that the administration might just be the answer to the lingering crisis in the educational sector.
Health Sector:
Health experts whom LEADERSHIP Sunday spoke with said they are taking promisory note of the present administration under Yar'Adua. According to Dr. Eke, an Abuja based medical expert, with the NHIS, "The president has started well on promisory note. He has talked about funding the primary health care project for all and the MDG funding for pregnant women. If in the next couple of years these promises are implemented, I believe we could say the administration has performed averagely. But for now, nothing has changed - expenditure in the health sector as ascribed in the 2008 budget is not more than 5 per cent. So no major difference has taken place, but we are optimistic that the administration will do more.
However, the president has been quick to tell those who believe he is baba go slow that his administration has a clear cut vision and direction and that with time, the people will understand and appreciate his tactics. According to him. "We are firstly concerned with instilling institutional order. No nation can progress, no investor can invest in a nation where there is no respect for the rule of law, constitutionalism and due process."
Finally, LEADERSHIP Sunday checks reveal that many Nigerians gave tumbs up to the present administration's quest to strict adherence to the cardinal principles of rule of law, due process, constitutionalism and zero tolerance on corruption. They also applaude its stand on reforming the electoral system and believe that given the co-operation of all, Nigeria will become a better democracy in term of both human and physical development.
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