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President Muhamammdu Buhari on Wednesday took the oath of office to serve Nigerians another term of four years. The president did not deliver any inauguration speech at the occasion. He would probably give an elaborate speech concerning his agenda on June 12, the new Democracy Day. But, weeks to the inauguration, the president promised Nigerians a new beginning which presumably will be remarkably different from his first four years characterized by many ups and downs. That is indeed the expectations of most Nigerians. Although the president made modest efforts to address the problems he met on the ground, they fell short of expectations of most Nigerians.
Nigerians experienced much economic hardship in the last four years than ever before. More Nigerians were killed by herdsmen during the same period. Nigerians also experienced rise in unemployment as well as increase in poverty. It was so bad that the country was tagged the poverty capital of the world. Millions of Nigerians live below poverty line at $1 per day.
Nigerians witnessed more divisions than ever before along tribe, religious and political lines. The war against insurgency is not yet over. The fight against corruption recorded some achievements, although criticized by some Nigerians for being selective or partisan. The government’s frosty relationship with the National Assembly and the Judiciary was not a plus for our democracy. The electoral process is not yet what it should be. The ‘do or die’ approach to politics is still present while vote buying and other electoral infractions are regarded as the norm.
Now that Nigerians have given President Buhari a second term, there is much hope that things will improve tremendously. Nigerians expect that Buhari’s second coming will be used to heal the wounds in the land and make necessary amends and carry all Nigerians along. Since there is no other term for the president, this is the time to consolidate on his promises. This is the time to leave legacies for posterity.
Buhari’s administration must be scored high on social investment schemes such as N-Power, N-Agric, conditional cash transfer, school feeding programme, and Tradermoni and others. His attempt to improve agriculture was very encouraging, especially the Anchor Borrowers Programme executed through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). His government should be lauded for other economic intervention programmes. However, there is still room for improvement. The economy needs more oxygen for steady growth.
The health and education sectors did not fare well in the past four years. They witnessed more strikes. In the health sector, the primary care system is in comatose. More Nigerian children died of preventable diseases and many mothers died while giving birth to babies. The health sector recorded more brain drain as many health workers migrate to Europe and America where things work well for doctors and nurses.
Our politicians and affluent Nigerians merrily embarked on medical tourism to Europe, America and Asia. Both health and education are poorly funded in the country. None has got up to 26 percent of the national budget as recommend by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The health sector must be revamped. Salaries of health workers should be improved to stem the brain drain in the sector. The state of education from primary to tertiary level is nothing to write home about. Many Nigerian students embarked on education tourism to Europe, America, Asia, and even to some poor African countries.
Although much work was done in the power sector by Mr. Babatunde Fashola, the sector requires more funding to meet the expectations of Nigerians. The sector was in disarray even before the emergence of Buhari administration. The road infrastructure needs more boost. Our roads and bridges are still crying for more attention. President Buhari should use his second term to focus on insecurity, economy, health and education.
The war on insurgency requires a new boost to be more decisive and effective. Let government put measures in place to deal with bandits, kidnappers and armed robbers. They must not be allowed to terrorize Nigerians. The economy deserves urgent revamping before another recession sets in. The small and medium scale industries must be given the opportunity to thrive. Government should give them single digit loans. The industries require a conducive atmosphere to be operational. Government’s local content policy should be put into practice.
Is the government aware that some Asian companies are directly and indirectly subverting the local content policy? Most of them blatantly refuse to engage the services of Nigerian engineers. They don’t even accept Nigerian engineering students for internships. They also discriminate against some Nigerians in their employment (that is if they are employed) and pay them slave wages in our country. In most of these firms dotted in Lagos, Ogun state and other parts of Nigeria, Nigerians work under extreme harsh conditions and discriminatory laws that are inconsistent with Nigerian labour laws. Sadly, some Nigerians have died in some of these companies due to fire and other accidents.
There is need to review the government’s local content policy and make it to work. Asian companies in Nigeria should as a matter of policy employ Nigerian engineers and others they need their services. There should be ‘no-go’ areas for Nigerian workers in these firms as it is being practised at present. Nigerian engineering students should be allowed to do their internships in some of these companies to gain industrial experience.
If this is not done, then the Nigerian/Asian relation is doomed. With this discriminatory practice, it will not enhance the nation’s scientific and technological development. If the brick wall is not broken, things will continue to fall apart for us industrially. It is imperative now for government to review our relationship with all foreign countries, especially China and India in such a way that will be beneficial to all parties. Nigerians are not supposed to be subjected to slavery in their own country by foreigners under any guise. What is good for Asians must be good for Nigerians. Any attempt to colonize Nigerians by Asians must be resisted.
The maltreatment of Nigerians by Asians can explain why some Nigerians are skeptical about China’s one road one belt initiative. The Federal Government must ensure that China’s one road policy works to our utmost advantage in terms of employment and other needs. It will be good if government commits more funds to science and engineering researches. This is the only way Nigeria can achieve technological development.
Buhari should constitute his cabinet and hit the ground running. There is no time to waste. Nigerians expect Buhari to improve on what he did in the past four years. Let him strive to make Nigeria better than he met it.
