It
is not anymore news, in accordance with the words of the late famous
philosopher Socrates, that ‘unexamined life is not worth living’. This is
unarguably the reason everyone is invariably enjoined to embrace the first day
of every year towards revisiting his or her resolution(s) with the aim of
making amends where need be.
As the custom requested, penultimate
week – precisely in the early morning of 1st January 2018, President
Muhammadu Buhari outrightly disclosed his New Year resolutions as the leader of
the country via a nationwide broadcast. The message, which could best be
described as an epistle, comprised over forty paragraphs.
In the second paragraph of the epistle, the
president frowned over the ongoing scarcity of petrol otherwise known as
Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). He said, ‘…some compatriots chose this period to
inflict severe hardship on us all by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity across
the country’. He thus assured Nigerians that such a menace, which he branded a ‘blackmail’,
would not linger after the festive season as the needed measures had been put
in place to end it. Meanwhile, till date, the scarcity still lingers.
It’s noteworthy that sane Nigerians expected
Mr. President to begin with an apology for allowing such uncalled circumstance
to befall them. The popular saying that ‘prevention is better than cure’ wasn’t
mistakenly invented. It’s the responsibility of the government to ensure that
its subjects aren’t faced with untold hardship, especially the ones that are
avoidable.
The fuel scarcity that commenced prior to
the 2017 Christmas period and is still taking place was not inevitable. It suffices to assert that the Muhammadu Buhari –
led administration possessed all the required muscles to ensure that such
crisis did not occur let alone transcending to several weeks.
The Department of Petroleum Resources
(DPR) was not set up to function as a ceremonial body. Hence, I’m still
pondering why it couldn’t reiterate the riot act to the petroleum marketers.
There is no marketer that could afford to see his filling stations being sealed
till further notice, thus it is disheartening that they were allowed to operate
like emperors thereby relegating normalcy to the background. No rational mind
in the country would cease to wonder if these tycoons have grown beyond the
extant laws, that, they can never experience sanctions.
It’s not unusual that in every festive
season in Nigeria likewise most other countries, the quantity demand for goods
and services are expected to increase, hence that of PMS wouldn’t be an
exception. This is usually so because at such period, the human population
increases owing to the fact that most citizens residing abroad use it to once
again visit their respective homes in order to celebrate with their family
members and loved ones.
Down the line, President Buhari also
disclosed his administration’s determination to revive the country’s moribund
railway system as well as resuscitate 25 major highways across the federation.
From the message, most of the proposed capital projects are likely to be
completed by the year 2021. This implies that the implementation of the
projects is expected to continue even after the termination of his tenure come
2019, peradventure he couldn’t make it for a second time.
The above message is an indication that
most of these initiatives might end up being white elephant projects since
successive governments are often fond of the habit of abandoning any ongoing
project they met on board. In view of this, since the projects in question are
already captioned in the 2017 and 2018 budgets, I would advise we aptly channel
all the budgeted funds to these laudable projects with a view to ensure that
they are completed within the remaining phase of the president’s reign. We are
not unaware that government is a continuum but we are equally aware that most
prospective leaders don’t apparently believe in continuity, hence the need for
this administration to take all of its capital projects as priority.
The president further mentioned the
lingering instability of electricity supply. He stated that Nigeria could
presently boast of 7000MW. According to him, as at 8th December
2017, 5155MW was realized. He further disclosed that 240MW would be added in
2018 via Private Investment Partnership.
It’s really appalling that a country that can
boast of over 170 million persons is still anticipation 240MW in addition to
the current 7000MW whilst a nation like Ghana that is not up to five states in
Nigeria as regards both landmass and population could presently boast of over
70,000MW of electricity. This shows that what is required of the Nigeria’s power
sector is total overhaul, and this must begin by getting a better hand to
handle the concerned ministry. It’s therefore needless to state unequivocally
that reshuffling the president’s cabinet is long overdue.
President Buhari equally talked about the
ongoing debate on restructuring. He said, ‘our problems are more to do with
process than structure’. With all due respect, I beg to disabuse his Excellency
of this belief. There are various structural plights faced by Nigeria and
Nigerians that are yearning for urgent attention. For instance, it would be
deceitful for anyone to think that the dual-legislative system practised by the
country is not bureaucracy, hence does not need to be reviewed. It’s also
insensitive for one to say that the country’s geo-political (zonal) structure
is balanced.
Lastly, Mr. President told us that the
APC-led government had ‘since beaten Boko Haram’. It’s only a dummy that
wouldn’t concur with the assertion that the dreaded terrorist sect had been
combated significantly by the present administration. However, it would be
ridiculous to inform Nigerians that the Boko Haram had been defeated
completely. Recently, the Nigeria’s Council of State approved the FG’s proposal
to withdraw a whopping sum of one billion dollars from the country’s Excess
Crude Account (ECA) to tackle terrorism. So, how do we reconcile these?
The Niger-Delta menace alongside
kidnapping was also captioned, but it was saddening that the president failed
to inform us on his administration’s approach towards ending the lingering Fulani
herdsmen conundrum that is ostensibly ravaging the entire country. We can’t claim ignorance of the fact that the
herdsmen quagmire remains the only ubiquitous security challenge in the
country.
Though Mr. President may have given a
well articulated New Year resolution, it’s pertinent to acknowledge that
critical sectors such as, but not limited to, education, health, solid mineral
and power are still lying fallow. Think about it!
Comrade
FDN Nwaozor
Executive Director, Docfred Resource Hub (DRH) - Owerri
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Follow me: @mediambassador
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