BLESSED are the nations that have heroes. Nigeria needs its best brains to get us out of this darkness and move forward. I am a Nigerian Canadian who is worried by the direction my birth country is going. I began to consult on how we could change the direction and start us on the path toward the next positive step. Nigeria’s problems are fundamental and for them to change, we have to think outside the box. I therefore embarked on a journey to look and persuade one of our best brains to contest for president in the 2023 election. Professor Charles Soludo as president and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai as vice president are one of Nigerian best brains that I was sure would start us on the right path. My journey began on July 5, 2022, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to St Paul Minneapolis, Minnesota, US to Paris, France and ended on July 6 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria. I stayed two days in Lagos and then took a bus on July 8 to Onitsha and onward to Akwa Anambra State. I was stuck in traffic in Onitsha for almost four hours and I lost my appetite to go forward on my mission. Then two of my co-passengers started a heated argument on who should be Nigeria’s next president. They were speaking in Igbo mainly and I don’t understand Igbo, but I could see the passion in their conversation. Then, I realised that I was not the only Nigerian desiring a better Nigeria. I am from Canada and those guys from Onitsha wanted exactly the same thing.
I got to Akwa around 9 p.m., looked for a hotel and got one called La Cruz Suites in Udoka estate. The next day, I chartered a tricycle to the Governor’s Lodge and approached security at the gate, saying that I wanted to talk to Governor Soludo. I was told I couldn’t without a prior appointment and, besides, the governor was supposed to be in his office by that time. I called one of the police officers present aside and explained my mission. He understood me and said: “Governor’s office is the best place to reach the Governor.” I chartered a tricycle again to the governor’s office and was told by the security at the second gate that the governor had left the complex and I should come back on Monday 11th July to book an appointment to see the governor. I decided to try his residence again and I chartered another tricycle back to the Governor’s Lodge/home. I was told he was not home. By the time I got back to the Governor’s Lodge, the reason for my visit that I shared with one of the police officers had been discussed with other police officers present. One of them now asked me one important question: “Are you from Anambra? Is that the reason why you want Charles Soludo to be president?” I said: “No, I am from Akure, Ondo State.” They were surprised that an Ondo State man wanted an Anambra man to be next to Nigeria’s president. They couldn’t see the logic in it. Later, it struck me that in the western world that I came from, if you couldn’t get access to a public figure directly, you could draw them out via the media.
Below is my manifesto on how to move Nigeria forward: On the electricity/power problem, Nigeria must build power stations in every state. Nigeria’s power problem has to do with generation. Calgary, a city about the size of Ibadan, has two power generating stations that I know of servicing it and the nearby towns. Nigeria’s power generation is like having a generator that can only power a house. Then, you want to use the generator to power 10 houses. We need to build more power generating stations to add to what we have so that every 36 states will have a generating station attached to it. Do this and the power problem will be gone. Build it with states and hand it over to private to managers. State and federal representatives sit on the board and the revenue generated goes back to the state and federal purses. Regarding hospital inadequacy, we should build or upgrade six hospitals in the six geopolitical zones with modern technology and equipment to international standards. They will handle all medical needs of Nigerians without them having to travel abroad. Also, hospitals should have autonomy in each state. Each hospital should take care of its staff salary and allowance locally. This will take away unending strike by all medical staff in the country at the same time
On security, the solution is in two phases. Phase 1 is state police. It is time for the state police. The head of the police in each state should be an elected officer for a five-year term who can only recontest after five years since he/she left office. He/she should report to a committee set up by the house of assembly. He/she can only be removed from office by a two-thirds majority vote of the national assembly. Election to replace him/her should be concluded within six months and the new chief was sworn in immediately. Phase 2 is to allow a Nigerian citizen who has the means(money) and house(to store guns and bullet safety) to buy a gun to protect himself/herself and his or her family. Any potential gun owner should go through two days’ of training every three years on how to use and safely store a gun. The training provider should be owned and operated by ex-military or ex-police personnel who had handled guns in the past.
There should be a federal policy that will take care of the FCT and also step in if any state is having a security/policing issue. They will take care of international affairs cases and also the affairs that cross from one state to the other if both states cannot agree on how to solve the issue. The guns to be sold must be manufactured in the country. This will generate employment and technology transfer. On road maintenance, Nigeria’s road construction and maintenance should be done through direct labour employed by the Ministry of Works. Awarding contracts to contractors who bribe people in government with 20 per cent and never finish or do a good job is not the best. With direct labour, the money will go directly through the Ministry of Works. This will create jobs and the road will constantly be maintained. This should apply to the state too. In education, each tertiary institution should be granted autonomy to manage itself. Funds should be allocated to each of them from the federal budget every year. Then the school-appointed administrator should negotiate with all its staff, teaching staff and non-teaching staff how much he is going to pay as wages, allowances and commissions This will curb staff going on strike in all institutions at once. Unilag staff can go on strike while UI staff are working. The labour union should be localised. Capital projects would still be funded for each school by the federal/state governments.
Schools can charge each student school fees and the government should be ready to pay 50 per cent of the charged price
Primary and secondary school fees should be free for all public schools. Aviation-Solution: Nigeria should approach Ghana to float an airline to be called Nigeria Ghana Airline, with equal shares. It should be managed by an appointed administrator. (See the rest on www.tribuneonlineng.com)Also, international travellers should be allowed to check in at the airport a minimum of 10 hours before their flight. This will take away passenger queuing for hours before check-in. The desk is usually not open until four to five hours to a flight. This does cause chaos. The cost for these extended hours can be added to the ticket.
Those of us travelling abroad don’t need to go through immigration when we are travelling out. That is a waste of time and it is not the job of Nigeria’s immigration officer to screen who is going out of the country. The immigration officer’s job is to screen who is coming into the country. The outbound passenger screening should be left to the airline staff alone. If any country wants to have excessive pre-boarding screening done for outbound passengers, they should send their own immigration officer to come and mount the desk at the airport. Nigeria immigration officers should concentrate on arriving passengers. Moreso, multi-screening of passengers at different desks should stop. It should be one desk taking care of arrival and all screening issues, if you need a secondary screen, then they can move passengers to the secondary room. Lastly, lettering should stop and anyone on duty should be wearing a uniform. The only person allowed to loiter around the immigration officer’s desk should be a supervisor and he/she should be on the uniform. Agriculture and food security-Solution: Government should have farms in all states producing yearly foods and employ Nigerians to work on these farms. They should have ranches too to accommodate cattle/cows that move around on the streets. This cow can produce milk for the kids that needed milk for growth. This will take away agitation caused by open grassing. Employment- Solution: Any company workforce should not have more than 1% of its workforce that are foreigners. Any job vacancy should be filled by Nigeria residency. Either citizen or permanent residency. It is the policy of western countries and it should be the policy here. This will encourage employment and technology transfer. Fuel subsidy- Solution-The subsidy can remain until electric vehicles catch up with internal combustion engine automobiles. Nigeria should encourage electric vehicles. This will reduce dependence on fuel. Revenue-Solution- Nigeria needs to solidify its taxation system where every citizen pays his/her taxes. By 2030 when all of Europe and America adopt electric vehicles, revenue generated from oil will be reduced by almost 50%. Nigeria needs to solidify her taxation system now so that she can manage herself later on.
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Transportation in urban city-Solution – The Federal government needs to work with the state government to move Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Kano to rail transit within the city. Lagos case is out of hand, last mile is a ridiculous solution rail transit is the only solution. Natural resources-Solution-State that natural resources are found within its boundary should be the one giving out licenses for exploration and then deciding who should explore the natural resources within their boundary. They should then send the approved applicant to the Federal government for final approval. This will encourage mutual understanding and development between exploration companies and the State where the natural resources are found. Federal should only disapprove if the company approved is not of natural interest. Any company whose application was not approved can apply to the Federal Government. The Federal Government can review its application and if it is merited, should then in turn talk to the state for reconsideration. States still have final approval. Federal can only impose the candidate on the state after much reconsideration and still consider that its application has sound merit. The company that explores in each state should then pay royalties directly to the state, maybe 25 per cent and directly to the federal government, maybe 75 per cent based on what is best for the country. This is the manifesto I would have loved Soludo and El Rufia to implement if they were running for president and vice president. Why Soludo? He thinks outside of the box. His solution for banking industry recapitalisation is still helping Nigerian banks today and tomorrow. Why El Rufai? His restoration of the Abuja master plan proves that he thinks outside the box to get things done in Nigeria. Why not myself? I believe that the South-East should produce the next president and I am not ready to be president, however, I will be ready in four years’ time. How can Soludo still contest? Perhaps they still can come in as candidates by way of substitution. They can replace existing candidates who are willing to step down for the interest of the country. If not, I will support any existing candidate that can implement all the reforms mentioned in the proposed solutions on how to move Nigeria forward. Best regards.
- Adeloye writes in from Canada
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