The soon-to-become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari sure passes for a man with a lot of inner will and tenacity having contested the highest position in the land four times in a very expensive row!
Now that he has been elected President, a lot of burden appears to have been rested on his shoulders to further uplift the nation above the levels of poverty and under-development. The teeming population of Nigerians who voted him into office are expecting so much from him and except he finds grace to perform exceedingly above the expectations of people like me, he will yet end up as one of the massively supported leaders who would fall out of favour.
I am personally not a fan of Buhari and my disaffection for his candidature is not connected to any grouse with his person, but is connected to the kind of ideologies history have known him to operate by. My grouse with his candidature also includes the backwardness it represents for my generation who are supposed to be edging closer to leadership positions by now. He represents a very old wine in a new bottle...that to me tastes poorer than having a new one in an old bottle! The former holds disappointment while the latter gives solace!
Despite not being a fan, I do not pray he fails because in his failure will my country sink deeper into the abyss of underdevelopment and social pains. We cannot have another four years of this. If he will not fail, there are a few things he must do or not do....these I am writing about in this piece.
First, he must rise above the over-righteous personality he often tends to present himself as. This posture he has always taken pushes him to massively chase after persons he perceives as enemies of himself and his government. In a democracy, such pursuits are signals of government failure as there remains no time for the pursuit of developmental policies.
Second, he must speak the language that Nigerians understand in the pursuit of his policies. I remember vividly the television and radio adverts floated by the Obasanjo administration seeking support from the Nigerian people for the total deregulation of the downstream sector when I was much younger. People paid no attention because most could not come to the full understanding of the complex terms and his (Obasanjo's) government offered no explanation. The same policy Obasanjo was not crucified for was what Goodluck Jonathan pursued as 'Total Removal of Fuel Subsidy' and he almost got nailed to the cross. Though GEJ was hated for it, he at least succeeded in making it clearer to the people what Government was trying to do. We never allowed him not because we did not understand his move, but because we could not cope with the economics attached to the move. Buhari must make governance understandable to the common man!
Third, he must pursue short-term measures as immediate solutions to the problems bedeviling our nation and pursue long-term plans concurrently. In the case of subsidy removal, he must as a matter of urgency and as a quick fix to the corruption in the petroleum sector end the subsidy regime which was started by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo while planning to re-invest the funds thereby available into the resuscitation of the moribund refineries.He must not tell Nigerians that he will not pay subsidy while he is paying; he should not pursue resuscitation of refineries while allowing the corruption in the sector to continue.
Fourth, he must disallow the influence of certain political bigwigs on his policy decisions. The likes of Tinubu, Obasanjo, Akande and their counterparts have a track record of political deceit and insincerity. Allowing such persons influence his policy directions will sabotage the process and further give room to corruption and its allied practices.
Last, he must give the younger generation a chance. If he plans to bring in his old team to do a modern day job, what we will then have is the use of an old economics formula to solve a very modern and extremely complex financial problem. The two will just not work together.
I wish him long life and good health while I sincerely hope he will not disappoint Nigerians. I will keep talking and hoping he does not infringe on our freedom of expression as history records it in his first reign.
Namaste!
Now that he has been elected President, a lot of burden appears to have been rested on his shoulders to further uplift the nation above the levels of poverty and under-development. The teeming population of Nigerians who voted him into office are expecting so much from him and except he finds grace to perform exceedingly above the expectations of people like me, he will yet end up as one of the massively supported leaders who would fall out of favour.
I am personally not a fan of Buhari and my disaffection for his candidature is not connected to any grouse with his person, but is connected to the kind of ideologies history have known him to operate by. My grouse with his candidature also includes the backwardness it represents for my generation who are supposed to be edging closer to leadership positions by now. He represents a very old wine in a new bottle...that to me tastes poorer than having a new one in an old bottle! The former holds disappointment while the latter gives solace!
Despite not being a fan, I do not pray he fails because in his failure will my country sink deeper into the abyss of underdevelopment and social pains. We cannot have another four years of this. If he will not fail, there are a few things he must do or not do....these I am writing about in this piece.
First, he must rise above the over-righteous personality he often tends to present himself as. This posture he has always taken pushes him to massively chase after persons he perceives as enemies of himself and his government. In a democracy, such pursuits are signals of government failure as there remains no time for the pursuit of developmental policies.
Second, he must speak the language that Nigerians understand in the pursuit of his policies. I remember vividly the television and radio adverts floated by the Obasanjo administration seeking support from the Nigerian people for the total deregulation of the downstream sector when I was much younger. People paid no attention because most could not come to the full understanding of the complex terms and his (Obasanjo's) government offered no explanation. The same policy Obasanjo was not crucified for was what Goodluck Jonathan pursued as 'Total Removal of Fuel Subsidy' and he almost got nailed to the cross. Though GEJ was hated for it, he at least succeeded in making it clearer to the people what Government was trying to do. We never allowed him not because we did not understand his move, but because we could not cope with the economics attached to the move. Buhari must make governance understandable to the common man!
Third, he must pursue short-term measures as immediate solutions to the problems bedeviling our nation and pursue long-term plans concurrently. In the case of subsidy removal, he must as a matter of urgency and as a quick fix to the corruption in the petroleum sector end the subsidy regime which was started by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo while planning to re-invest the funds thereby available into the resuscitation of the moribund refineries.He must not tell Nigerians that he will not pay subsidy while he is paying; he should not pursue resuscitation of refineries while allowing the corruption in the sector to continue.
Fourth, he must disallow the influence of certain political bigwigs on his policy decisions. The likes of Tinubu, Obasanjo, Akande and their counterparts have a track record of political deceit and insincerity. Allowing such persons influence his policy directions will sabotage the process and further give room to corruption and its allied practices.
Last, he must give the younger generation a chance. If he plans to bring in his old team to do a modern day job, what we will then have is the use of an old economics formula to solve a very modern and extremely complex financial problem. The two will just not work together.
I wish him long life and good health while I sincerely hope he will not disappoint Nigerians. I will keep talking and hoping he does not infringe on our freedom of expression as history records it in his first reign.
Namaste!
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