THE SOLUTION TO NIGERIA’S PROBLEMS...

Like I said in my last piece titled ‘If not Omisore, then not Buhari’, history truly matters. I was delighted when Adeyinka Grandson shared this last piece in its entirety on his Facebook wall, for one, I felt someone was beginning to appreciate the nature of my work and its strategic importance to the orientation and enlightenment of the voting populace. However, I was dazed and awe-stricken when I began reading the comments that immediately followed. My attention was particularly called to one Julius Oyeyemi who accused me of not proffering any solution to Nigeria’s problems. He said I was only criticising and offering no way forward. To him therefore, the one who requested that I proffer solutions to the nation’s problems that this piece is dedicated!

To set the records straight and to correct the twisted sensibilities of certain elements who might consider me a noisemaker, my initial piece was not written to talk about the Nigerian situation. It is a sad situation that Nigerian youths are fond of treating malaria when struck with typhoid, and that explains why they often die of ignorance. My piece which ran a sharp comparison between the ‘misconceived Omisore’ and the ‘misrepresented Buhari’ was written to set the records straight about the present saintly personality that has been accorded GMB in recent times. I wrote that piece to call the kettle its true name and the pot what it truly appears like. It was hitting the nail on the head and telling all that wished to learn from history, that Buhari is far from being the leader Nigeria needs at this moment in her history. Now, this piece is going to directly provide answers to the questions raised by the likes of Julius Oyeyemi.

Presently, Nigeria has three major problems facing her. These problems are the continuing reign of terror in the North-Eastern part of the country, the increasing vulnerability of the Nigerian economy in the face of falling crude prices, and the political instability currently characterizing the national landscape. Are you surprised? You expected me to mention youth unemployment but I did not? I refused to mention the cluelessness of GEJ right? I refused to fulfil your fantasies because these other things you name as problems are not part of our problems. They are indeed media jargons made up in the name of political scheming.

On a critical observation of the Boko Haram situation, I find that there is only one solution to the problem. Boko Haram was birthed by the greed of the Northern elites for power, their obsession with Aso Rock and a desperate bid to make GEJ appear clueless to majority of Nigerians. As promised by GMB in 2011, the northern elites decided to sponsor certain disgruntled elements to terrorize the nation just so they can ‘make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan’. I ask myself, what would Obasanjo or Yakubu Gowon have done? For these two former Generals and civil war veterans, the simple solution would have been to declare total war on the terrorists and ransack every corner that they may be found to be hiding. I totally subscribe to this kind of solution because it would have totally solved the problem once and for all....but Jonathan hesitated! Did I hear you say clueless? He is far from clueless.

I played out a simple scenario in my head. The igbos/ijaws/itsekiris/ibibios have been continually relegated to the background in the National scheme of things. The Hausas detests them because they once attempted seceding from the Nation during the Biafra war. They detest the Hausas because they feel they are the ones exploiting the natural advantages in their region for personal enrichment. If Jonathan were to order the complete blow-up of towns and villages hosting the insurgents in the North-East, will people like GMB not say he declared war on the North? Has Buhari not made the same statement in the past years when Jonathan blacklisted Boko Haram and named them as terrorists? I understand that his hands are tied and whatever military action he declares on the Northern region will be given political interpretations and as such has to play it safe. Obasanjo will be safe to declare such military action because he is from a side of the country that has continually been neutral in the course of political rivalries and bitterness. Jonathan does not enjoy that kind of luxury.

However, as truth must be told, the lasting solution to the Boko Haram problem is total military action and treatment of the situation as a civil war! The Federal Government through the Nigerian Armed Forces need to declare total war on these negative elements because they have declared war on the country beforehand. Until the situation is treated as the US-Afghanistan situation, there will continue to be crisis in the North-East because the motivation is unsettlement of government under Jonathan and as long as he remains President, the terrorism will continue. Thus, GEJ must prosecute a complete war and end this insurgency once and for all. After the polls anyway...before Uncle GMB begins to make media noise about victimization of the North!

On the increased vulnerability of the Nation’s economy due to the downward trend in crude oil prices, the solution is very simple and staring at us all in the eyes. Nigeria must immediately begin to shift its economic base from crude to other non-oil products which abound in the country. I immediately remember the Israeli economic model which relies on integrated agriculture and tourism. These are innate economic potentials which their nation had and they have exploited to maximum capacities. Nigeria needs to develop such non-oil potentials, strengthen its agricultural policies (which of course have refused massive attention under the watch of GEJ via the GES and Fadama III programmes), immediately develop its tourism potentials to world-class standards and develop its mineral resource sector to its highest capacity. If the Agricultural policy of the present administration is re-invigorated and continually pursued, Nigerian will very soon garner huge export revenue from its agricultural sector. When all these are done, Nigeria will easily survive the most horrific dip in crude prices in recent times.

On the issue of political instability, the solution is yet simple. The Federal Government needs to pursue disciplined public relations policies that seek to prosecute politicians and personalities who make statements capable of inciting persons against persons and group against groups. Extant laws have to be put in place that brings to justice any person who acts in a manner that can elicit violence and cause disharmony. We cannot as a nation continue to be timid while some political jobbers continue to incite us against one another, brother against brother and kin against kin. Personally, GMB would be behind bars by now if I were Jonathan...he sure has been the most careless talker in the Nigerian political landscape for the past five years or thereabout.

For the benefit of those that I disappointed hoping that I will mention youth unemployment, I say this is not the fault of GEJ’s government. You see, in saner climes, the economies of Nations are driven by the combined efforts of SMEs and large Corporations who by the principle of Capitalism control economic factors and maintain fiscal stability. Nigerian youths need to stop blaming government for their unemployment for the solutions to this has already been put in place. The FG under GEJ slashed business registration costs by 50% in 2013, made an economic policy that gave a six-month tax break to newly-registered businesses, ejected billions of Naira into the economy for the use of SMEs through the Bank of Industry, made fiscal policies through the CBN that encouraged banks to do better in the area of financing SMEs, started the YOUWIN programme to fund young entrepreneurs with workable business plans and various other SME-focused programmes. If youths fail to tap into any of these opportunities in the Nigerian economy, we will be sill to blame the Federal Government....you can force a horse to the river, but not to drink water!

I may be termed pro-GEJ for taking this stand that I have so boldly taken and defended, but shall I be blamed for standing up for good governance and futuristic policies? I leave the Julius Oyeyemis to decide where their consciousness will be directed!

Namaste!

ODERINU ADEDAYO T.

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