I join millions all over the world to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election for a second term in office. It is indeed a victory well-deserved. We have been vindicated by the poll results. It is however not yet Uhuru for the President-elect. The Nigerian elite who feel the pain of the current corrective regime view the administration as being harsh and lacking a human face. A majority of the Nigerian masses among whom Buhari is more popular, however, appreciates the fact that his is a government keenly committed to laying a solid foundation for an enduring socio-political and economic stability, good enough to be built upon by successive governments after him.
The Nigerian people are optimistic President Buhari will exploit this second opportunity to correct the obvious deficiencies or anomalies associated with his first term in office. The numerous expectations from the masses are, but not limited, as summarised below:
The unforgettable experience during the short tenure of the former Head of State, Gen Murtala Muhammed, should be replicated. While not necessarily compromising ongoing policies of discouraging importation of food items but further encouraging local food production beyond subsistence level, the commencement of Buhari’s second term should usher in a significant relief to the Nigerian people reminiscent of the memorable era of Muhammed.
The policies of the incoming government must be such that should relieve pains and reduce hardship rather than inflict pains and increase hardship on Nigerians. We cannot continue to be fighting corruption, and retrieving stolen money while the people are dying of hunger in the midst of plenty.
The President should involve competent professionals in the management of the various sectors of the economy. Involvement of relatively younger and sharper brains should be given prominence. Most of the old and less productive people in the current cabinet should be replaced with more vibrant younger professionals who have the technical and intellectual knowhow to drive the economy. Good enough, Mr President has promised an all-embracing and participatory government during the second tenure.
President Buhari’s government should be more ruthless on looters of our national treasury. Fighting corruption should however cut across the board without sacred cows. Neither should it be made to look like a witch-hunt against political opponents.
The All Progressives Congress government under Buhari should prove critics wrong by respecting and honouring religious secularity in Nigeria. The rumoured hidden agenda to islamise Nigeria should be killed and buried.
The last four years witnessed more companies going into extinction than before. No thanks to the ailing economy. Economic policies this time round must be geared towards encouraging local producers thus revamping dying companies.
President Buhari’s second term in office must concretely do more to secure lives and property. Herdsmen’s inhumanity to humans and callous brutality must be curtailed with all the vigour at government’s command. Killing of innocent people must stop completely during the second term in office.
Federal appointments should as a matter of fairness and equity recognise the federal character policy of Nigeria. Inasmuch as the votes of other tribes are relevant and contributory to install the President, there should not be discrimination in government appointments. It must cut across all geopolitical divisions.
In line with the inevitable succession plan, the Buhari government should conduct a diligent search to fish out a credible candidate who will take over from him in 2023. By so doing, prominence and succession searchlight should be extended to the new breed presidential materials we recently identified with other political parties.
In conclusion, if the above could be considered and strictly adhered to, Buhari will remain in good history of present and yet unborn Nigerians as someone who has laid solid foundations for sustainable democracy in the country comparable to advanced democracies.
Matthew Adeleye
Ota, Ogun State
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