Agenda 2021

IN his New Year broadcast to the country, President Muhammadu Buhari admitted the untold hardships experienced by Nigerians in the out-gone year. He acknowledged that life became miserable and forlorn for the silent majority due to the actions and inactions of the government, coupled with some unfavourable global occurrences, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the attendant economic lockdowns and the spiraling domino effects. This is apart from the ceaseless savagery unleashed on the populace by terror gangs, bandits and other merchants of death such as armed herders.

The president observed the ubiquitous calmness, resilience and thoughtfulness of the people in the face of the palpable climate of despair, despondency and asphyxiation across the land. Therefore, for the umpteenth time, he promised not to let Nigerians down. He mentioned the quest by the All Progressives Congress-led administration to take the country to the Promised Land. However, the president was quite dodgy on the many inadequacies of his government that resulted in the increasing avalanche of challenges crippling the country. His constant referencing of past administrations as the albatross of his administration has become cacophonous and is utterly unpleasant to the ears of Nigerians given that his social contract with the people was to fix the country in the first place.

Rather than engaging in the excessive platitudes and hallucinations that have become the norm in the corridors of power, the president should have apologised for not hearkening to the voice of the majority on the sore points of his administration. Of particular importance here is the urgency to rejig the top echelon of the country’s security architecture. The promise by the president in the January 1 broadcast to re-energise and reorganise it after obvious escalation of security issues across the country borders on rhetoric and laissez faire mentality. Incalculable damage has been done, and is still being done to the citizenry by criminal elements due to official prevarications on the safety of life and property.  With farmers being denied access to their farmlands in the North, South-East and South-West, there is increasing apprehension about a looming food insecurity in the country. Across the country are multibillion naira projects littering the landscape for decades after contractors had collected mobilisation fees. Most of them have become conduits for siphoning scarce state resources, while a few capital projects such as the Lagos-Ibadan expressway symbolize the high level of indiscretion and absence of will-power by the authorities.

Nigerians are no longer moved by the governments orchestra on diversifying the economy: the economy is still based on crude oil exports. The country is awash with vast and huge economic resources which, if harnessed, could bolster the economy and act as a buffer in trying times, as mentioned by the president. This year, President Buhari has to take the bull by the horns in addressing the frightening rate of unemployment, job losses, rip-offs in the power and banking sectors, youth restiveness, and the comatose manufacturing sector. More pragmatic steps and measures are required to arrest the migration of manufacturing outfits due to a hostile business environment. The existence of a more friendly business environment will act as a catalyst in re-energizing the economy, reducing inflation and boosting the economic power of the citizenry.

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