After bitterly contested presidential election and the colorful and well attended inauguration ceremony of the new president on May 29, the hardest part of the whole exercise has just begun. The metal has just hit the road. Suddenly the burden of a troubled nation with great potential now lies squarely on the shoulder of our new president, Muhammadu Buhari, and his vice president, Yemi Osinbajo. Expection of Nigerians is extremely high which will likely lead to a short honeymoon.
Our new president has basically laid out three things he wants to accomplish namely: Job creation, providing adequate security by rooting out Boko Haram and waging war on corruption. President Buhari said during his election campaign that “corruption will kill Nigeria, if Nigeria does not call corruption. Most Nigerians will say amen to his statement because Nigerians had to put up every day with the devastating effect of corruption. It is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. Insecurity in the land is another issue Nigerians want action on. Nigeria has never confronted a group as evil and ruthless as Boko Haram. There are kidnappings and rampant criminal activities all over the country due to lack of disciple, immoral attitude and insecurity. Corruption has encouraged impunity and mediocrity. Nigerian economy is on its knees primarily due to our excessive reliance on oil as our primary source of foreign earning. The oil prices just collapse due to over-supply of oil in the world market and alternative energy sources. Nigerian economy is not diversified and as such, when a barrel of oil drop by few dollars, the repercussion for Nigeria is usually enormous.
The real issue is how can all this issues be sorted out despite optimistic and rosy campaign promises by the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC). For one, there is no People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to kick around anymore. They are no longer in power which means that their power has been significantly diminished. However, they are now in the sweet spot of politics which is being the opposition party. As opposition party, they now have the luxury of criticizing any issue or policies put forward by APC without the responsibility of putting up an alternative policy. APC did so effectively which contributed to their victory. APC must be very careful because they have their work caught out for them. They could not have come to power at the worst time in Nigeria due to our oil export economy. Former president Jonathan did not do a good job at all when it came to corruption, but they took the fight to Boko Haram towards the end of their administration. I maintained that former president did a good job overall as far as Nigerian economy is concerned. My assertion will become clearer with time. He embarked on privatization of various sectors of the economy with is actually the way forward for the country in the the long run. Centralized social oriented economic policies Nigeria leaders has been practicing since our independence has been a disaster. Government owned utilities companies and industries became cesspool of corruption and are all operating at less than 50 percent capacity. Most have basically shut down. Government owned and operated companies around the world has never done well.
President Buhari will be better off leaving the privatized companies in place and privatized the remaining ones. He should rather embark on wholesale restructure of Nigeria tax system and develop effective enforcement mechanism so most citizens and companies will be compelled to pay taxes. The tax revenue will then be used to fund recurrent and capital expenditures. Again, recentralization of Nigerian economy with the hope of forcing employees to work will never work. President Buhari tried it last time he was in power with little success.
There is no magic wand for job creation unless government decides to embark on massive hiring of prospective employees or embark on massive infrastructural public works projects which will lead to job creation. The only problem with this strategy is that government resources is not infinite especially now that oil prices has taken a nose dive. Nigerian economy would have collapsed without a capable hand like former finance minister, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala. A lot of Nigerians are now blaming her for the upheveal in the economy that was caused by steep fall in oil prices. Nigerians will find out in no distant future that she did the best that could be done under the circumstance. Difficult time lies ahead for Nigeria. Blaming the past administration for the next four years will not cut it. Only effective policy and diversification of Nigerian economy will turn things around.
Rooting out corruption or at least whittle it down to the barest minimum will not be easy. It is a disease that has eaten deep into the moral fabric of the nation. It has become a way of life. It will be a very tricky undertaking compounded by the fact that some members of the president’s party are corrupt as well. Is he going to be willingly to alienate them by prosecuting them and can his coalition survive it. The best way forward for the president is to concentrate on building effective institutions. Economic and Financial crime commission (EFCC) should be moved out of the presidential control. The body should be under the control of a neutral agency such as the National Judiciary commission (NJC). They should be the one to appoint the chairman of the commission and supervise the entire body in-order to avoid conflict of interest and accusation of witch hunt or selective prosecution by any president in power. Moving EFCC out of the agency should be done quickly now that Mr. President has political capital. EFCC should be expanded so they will have offices in the all states and all local government Areas of Nigeria.
Nigerian police force should be totally restructured. States and local governments should be allowed to establish police force with a proviso allowing nationalization of erring state or local government police force. States should allow towns to incorporate and form government if they wish. It will bring government closer to the people. Towns should be allowed to establish police force. It is the only way to provide and maintain adequate security. Local people knows the criminals among them and will be more than willing to cooperate with local police force compared to federal police.
President Buhari should concentrate on his strongest suit which is war against corruption, but it should be done simultaneously with effective economic policies so Nigerian economy can start moving in the right direction. Mr. President will be considered a successful president if at the end of his 4-year term, all government employees will be able to distinguish between private and public fund. Unfortunately in Nigeria today, public fund are seen by presidents, governors, legislatures and government employees as possible private fund if they could get away with it. Some may say that I am overgeneralizing but most Nigerian knows that to be the case. If president Buhari administration could inculcate the distinction between private and public fund in the culture and mentality of Nigerians, it will be a monumental achievement. If that is done, public official who became rich from looting public fund will be shunned instead of being praised and worshipped by various communities. The end must not justify the means.
Unity of Nigeria is essential for Nigeria development. Nigeria cannot move forward without contribution of its constituent parts. The ruling party must move quickly to extend their hand to other sections of the country and form a broad based coalition or at least broad based support if they want to succeed in their mission. Any elected president should be the president of all Nigerians after election. The ruling party (APC) have said that they will jettison zoning in favor of meritocracy. Such statement sounds great in theory but it may not be practical for a country like Nigeria. I have opposed rotational presidency and governors and will continue to do so, but I do not see a problem for any ruling party at the state or federal level to zone major offices to various parts of the country so as to reflect the national character. It is very true that zoning offices to various section of the nation is largely a symbolic gesture, but it does make various parts of the country feel like they have a stake in the government. Having a Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo or an Ijaw man etc. as one of the major office holders will marginally help the ethnic brethren of the office holder, so zoning of offices by government in power is largely a symbolic gesture.
Nigeria remains a country with great potential, but those potential may never be realized if Nigerians refuses to change their attitude and approach to various issues facing the country. On the other hand, over-reliance on government by Nigerians to solve all their problems will come to naughtin no distant future. Concentrate on building democratic structures along with corruption free society Mr. President. Presidents come and go, but what stays after their tenure ends is the institution they left behind, and that is usually how they are remembered. Public declaration and verification of your asset, your vice president’s asset and members your cabinet asset by the Code of Conduct Bureau will be the right step in the right direction. It will set a good example and challenge the governors to follow suit.