2016: New Year, great expectations

After surviving the highly turbulent 2015 election year and the voting out for the first time in Nigerian history of an incumbent president – Dr. Goodluck Jonathan – and his replacement with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians are coming into the new year with high expectations.

No doubt, the 2015 election year came with fears that the country might be engulfed in civil strife if the polls were not well handled.

It was a year that Nigerians were in a frenzy over who to elect to govern them for the next four years. The contest was between the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which symbolised continuity, and the then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which stood for a change from the status quo. The election that subsequently brought the APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, to power was largely adjudged free and fair. It was, indeed, a smooth transition but the country did not have things so smooth on some other fronts.

The violent Boko Haram insurgency, for instance, hugged the headlines for most of 2015, and it is not relenting. Nigerians expect President Buhari’s administration to put an end to the insurgency in 2016. In spite of the government’s promise to end terrorism in the country by December 31, 2015, the insurgents are still holding the North- East region to ransom, with occasional attacks in Abuja and Kogi State.

The war on terror took a great toll on the economy in 2015. The money that should have been spent on developmental projects was channeled to the war effort. Yet, the insurgents are yet to be routed.

As we enter the New Year, the expectations of Nigerians for peace and progress are very high. These expectations are not different from what the APC promised during its presidential campaigns.

We, therefore, enjoin the president and the ruling party to brace up and work harder towards the fulfillment of their campaign promises. To whom much is given, much is also expected.

President Buhari must be aware of the burden of leadership that has been entrusted upon him considering his avowed integrity. He should rule the country with equity and fairness. Let his positive attributes that helped in bringing him to power rub-off on the polity. He should lead by example. It is through such positive conduct that he can impact on the lives of Nigerians.

But, there is no way the government can meet the expectations of Nigerians when the economy is still in the doldrums. There is urgent need to revive the economy. The crash in crude oil price in the international market is a pointer to the urgent need to diversify our economy. The era of overdependence on oil is gone for good. The government should now shift emphasis from oil to solid minerals and agriculture. We should also ex- ploit our gas resources fully and halt wasteful gas flaring that also has adverse effects on the eco-system. The government has some good initiatives in the education, employment and health sectors in the 2016 budget. There are promises to employ 500,000 graduates as teachers, build 10,000 health centres and make science and technology education free at the tertiary level. Let the government deliver on these promises and address other urgent issues in these critical sectors. For example, we need to improve the capacity of our hospitals to handle the treatment of illnesses for which our citizens now troop abroad in search of care at a great cost to our economy.
While we support government’s war against corruption, it should not be selective. No corrupt person should be shielded from prosecution on account of his political affiliation, creed or tribe. There should be no sacred cows if the government is to win the war against corruption in the country. The expectation is that the president will live up to his promise in this regard, which he repeated at his maiden presidential media chat on Wednesday.

We need selfless and morally upright leadership. It is only servant-leadership that can rectify the ills of the country. For discipline to be enthroned in the society, it must flow from the top to the bottom.

While the president works hard to fulfill his electoral promises, we suggest he gives power and infrastructure priority attention. A functional power sector will have a multiplier effect on other sectors of the economy. We also call for a faithful implementation of the 2016 budget.

This is important, taking into consideration the fact that poor implementation has been the bane of our budgets over the years. Government should give more verve to the war on terrorism and squarely address the incessant fuel scarcity. The government must carefully think through the problems in the fuel supply system and be decisive on the fuel subsidy riddle. Let government have a renewed focus on the welfare of the people, which is the essence of governance.