THREE THINGS I WANT FROM MY PRESIDENT BETWEEN MAY 2015 AND MAY 2019

The election season is here again...but wait, we’ve been having elections off and on in various states ever since Maurice Iwu’s 2007 widely disputed  Iwuruwuru (s)elections and the subsequent tribunal judgements that trailed almost every state election, led to deviations from the regular standard gubernatorial elections calendar. But this time around, in addition to the remaining states’ governorship elections, we have the big one- the presidential elections coming up in February next year. The drama and excitement are steadily building up. Are you excited yet?

Quite interestingly, noise about the elections had been very few and far between, mainly because our incumbent, Oga Jona, wasn’t very keen on declaring his interest early on (or maybe, he just pretended he wasn’t very interested in occupying Aso rock a second time and therefore, will need to consult or be persuaded before taking up the thankless but highly enriching task of leading Nigeria again); and also because the APC guys were still shuffling their feet, trying not to step on each other’s toes, in this very important event that will be make-or-break for the party (I mean, let’s be frank, the main purpose of the formation of APC by the PDP castaways was to grab Nigeria’s central seat of power from their former party).

But in the past one month, Buhari’s announcement of his intention to be president, which seemed to suddenly wake GEJ (and PDP) from slumber and enable him to conclude consultations and finally get “convinced” to contest the coming elections, has led to plenty of the much-anticipated noise and debate about the February presidential elections. Suddenly, news and social media are discussing the elections with more gusto. Suddenly, the coming elections has become the major topic of discussion during lunch break at workplaces, among okada riders at their stands, and among bus commuters sweating in Lagos traffic. Suddenly, it doesn’t seem like GEJ will have a smooth-sailing ride to victory in the elections. Suddenly, APC does look like it will put up a fight in the coming elections. Suddenly Buhari looks like the man to beat- or be beaten again.

It’s quite an exciting time to be a Nigerian, and to be in Nigeria. New parties and candidates springing up everyday, hurriedly pasted campaign posters on the side of every road and on bill boards, campaign clips from various candidates on every TV station at least once in twenty minutes, campaign rallies at strategic public places with politicians rolling out their “master plans” to save Nigeria while various TV cameras cover the show, and all worth not have led to a heightened sense of excitement about the elections. And I do wish every candidate- and potential candidate, a violence-free campaign and very fair election process. Above that, I wish that the people’s votes will count and the candidate /party with the highest number of legit votes emerge winner. But beyond all the noise and manifestos the presidential candidates are spewing, here are the things I want the next Nigerian leader- whoever he will be- to focus on. They are just three but trust me, they are very fundamental to getting Nigeria out of the developing, corruption-laden appellation which we bear now to well respected and advanced-country status:

·         Constant and Stable Electricity in every nook and cranny of Nigeria

Even if only this thing is achieved by the president in the next four years, every previous and future “sins” of the president will be forgiven and forgotten. History has shown that it’s not very difficult to please Nigerians and get them on one’s side, you just have to do some (not even all) of the things you are elected and handsomely paid to do. Unfortunately, our leaders just don’t seem to be able to do that. 

We complain about dearth of new business startups, brain drain, unemployment and so on. But if we can get the simple but complicated matter of our electricity right, it doesn’t matter how costly the electricity tarriffs become, the afore-mentioned problems will be a thing of the past. With constant and stable electricity, there will be less noise and air pollution from generators, more people will be encouraged to implement their brilliant ideas and start up new businesses, more people will be willing to invest their money in businesses in Nigeria, and a lot of Nigerians who have left to seek greener pastures will be encouraged to return home.

But how can we get our electricity problem solved without first tackling the issue of corruption, which happens to be the bane of almost all of our country’s problems? The erstwhile minister of power, Professor Nnaji tried to clean up the power sector but had to hand in his resignation letter after being heavily resisted by the cabals. His replacement, Professor Nebo is working hard at improving the frequency of electricity supply in various parts of the country, while threading ever so cautiously so as not to be booted out by the cabals too. But really, if problems are only window-dressed and not tackled from their roots, it will just be a matter of time before the figurative dam will burst and we’ll start the patch-patch process all over again.

Which leads me to the interesting but rather rhetoric question- who will bell the cat? Who has the guts to tackle the roots of our electricity problems, at the risk of personal and career comfort? Who can fight the seemingly bigger-than-Nigeria cabals, the very wealthy importers of big generator sets and the ones with refineries abroad where the country’s large barrels of crude oil are being refined daily?

A power minister alone wouldn’t be able to do this on his own. He will need the solid backing and support of his boss- a courageous and incorrupt president.

·         Security

Having constant and stable electricity wouldn’t be very useful if Nigerians, living in every part of Nigeria, can’t be assured of their safety by the government they elect to provide that. Whilst I commend the Nigerian Army and Federal Government for finally having the balls to fight the Boko Haram terrorists head on, a lot of work still has to be done regarding security in the Northern part of Nigeria. Again, just like the electricity challenge, the Boko Haram menace has to be curbed from its root inorder to be successfully dealt with. If not, every forthnight, a new Abubakar Shekau will emerge after the previous one has been reported killed.

Boko Haram has sponsors who assist them to acquire the superior arms and ammunition they use to cause havoc in North Eastern Nigeria. Boko Haram recruits ignorant, hungry and seemingly hopeless young people, feed and clothe them, while brain washing them and giving them a sense of purpose. These two problems are the root cause of the seemingly persistent and conquering trait of the terrorist group, something we refer to as ekwe onwu in my native language. If these two issues are tackled well and solved, Boko Haram will fizzle out faster than my MTN mobile data.

But then again, Boko Haram isn’t the only security challenge in the country. Most states in Nigeria suffer varying degrees of security issues, ranging from rape, armed robbery, car snatching, kidnapping, and so on. Again, the two root causes of this are the unemployment menace which have mostly youths as its victims and the very poor remuneration being given to members of our security outfits.

Man must chop- so goes the popular Nigerian parlance. And if there are not sufficient legit means through which our youths can chop, they will have very little option but to resort to using the illegitimate shortcuts. The present government has tried in providing jobs- not that they provided as much as they claimed, but they tried nevertheless. Never mind that it came at the cost of us now having to pay 97 Naira for a litre of fuel. But the incoming government must do better than try. It will have to do more than just paying unemployed youths 25,000 every month (not sure if this claim is even true, but I’d assume it is). First and foremost, it should continue the laudable YouWIN business grant project which has been kickstarted by the present government. In addition, it should seek out more avenues to create businesses for the unemployed. The agriculture and manufacture will be very viable sectors to consider.

And please, pay our police, soldiers, FRSC officials and other security outfits better! You can’t entrust the safety of Nigerians to these groups and not fund them adequately, that is just so wrong. So how do you expect them to arrest the thief who greases their palms just once with more than twice their annual incomes? Or to not collect bribes when the opportunity presents itself, when they have at least one wife and a child to feed, plus house rent and school fees to pay? Till we get this aspect right, our security problems will be far from over.

·         Improved Health Care and Infrastructure development

In so far as much as our roads keep being death traps, more critically ill patients die than survive in our hospitals, aeroplanes older than Buhari are given clearance to fly commercially in our airspace, we would remain a very lame “giant of Africa,” still very much dependent on the West for almost everything.

But seriously, how much does it cost to build a state-of-the-art hospital in each state of the federation, complete with every medical equipment needed to diagnose and treat the various diseases that snuff life out of Nigerians almost every minute? I’m sure if the total amount of money used in a maximum of four years by each Ward Councillor, LGA chairman, House of Assembly member, State Commissioner, Deputy Governor, Governor, House of Representative member and Senator of each state to visit hospitals abroad were recouped, it will be very sufficient to build at least, one befitting modern hospital in every state. So that the governed and their leaders can enjoy these benefits together.  Can we have a president that can ensure this?

Conversely, if the total amount the same set of people use for holiday trips abroad (including their pilgrimage trips) in four years were recouped, wouldn’t it be more than enough to build good roads in each state, and provide clean water for the areas that have such challenge too?

These things may sound out of this world and impossible in Nigeria. But trust me, they are not very hard to achieve. It takes a courageous, disciplined and incorrupt person to effect these changes. Buhari achieve it during his short stint as Head of State, which is why most of the older generation who are not blinded by religious and ethnic sentiments, attribute his reign as the best so far in Nigeria’s history. That doesn’t mean I think Buhari is the best man for the job now, I'd rather leave that to Nigerians to decide on February 14 next year. But the fact that someone did it in the past, albeit under military style of government, indicates to me that it really can be done again.