- By Abiodun Ladepo
Let me join the people of goodwill who wish Nigeria well and have congratulated you on your hard-won victory at the polls. May the next four years actualize the renewal of the hope that Nigerians have in you and vindicate your teeming supporters in their reposition of trust in your capacity to excel in governance.
I will start with the most important area in which we need to, as a matter of urgency, regain momentum.
Security
The serious dent we put in the activities of Boko Haram, for-ransom kidnapers, and murderous herders under President Buhari have been turned into huge bulges with the level of insecurity in the southeast. I won’t bore you with the details of some of the goriest atrocities in that part of our country. Your administration must tackle the IPOB/UGM/ESN menace with a carrot and stick approach, the stick taking prominence. You must lay down the marker from May 29, that your administration will not tolerate armed agitation for any cause. The possession of illegal firearms should attract the stiffest of penalties, to include the perpetual confiscation of all properties at which such weapons are found and expedited prosecution of all terrorists.
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You should consider setting up a weapons buy-back programme whereby, within a grace period of not more than 60 days, anyone currently in possession of illegal firearms can voluntarily surrender such weapons without penalties.
I am aware of your promise to decentralize the police force. I hope that means the creation of state police. I am aware that we need to amendment our constitution to make this happen. I trust that you will take advantage of the honeymoon period you will enjoy from Nigerians in general and the legislature in particular, to expend some political capital on this matter. Our democracy is now matured enough to handle this. Whatever fears we have about state police – the tendency by state executives to abuse it and the cost of running it – exist with the federal police system we have now. States will continue to fine-tune and improve as the years go by. But we desperately need: (I) a huge surge in the quality and number of police officers, probably triple the force that we have today in order to improve the police-citizens ratio, and a drastic improvement in their overall general conditions of service; (ii) police officers who will share the same culture with the community they are policing; and, (iii) police officers who will likely plant roots – raise children and plan to build homes in the community they are policing.
Our country does not face an imminent threat of invasion by any of our neighbors or any other country for that matter. But we continue to be threatened by non-state actors from within and from without, whose modus operandi require non-conventional tactics, techniques, and procedures for them to be successful. A conventional force, designed to defend against conventional enemies will only achieve marginal success against such non-state actors. It, therefore, goes without saying that our military must be re-organized to de-emphasize large, lumbering, heavy, lethargic units in favour of small, light (lightning speed), lethal units that will exemplify intelligence-based, full-spectrum performance.
This means heavily fortified bases may have to be moved closer to threat areas in a maximum, show-of-force deterrence posture and for overwhelmingly successful preemptive strikes when necessary.
And just like the police force, we desperately need the following:
1. Increase in the quality and number of our military personnel – the combatants, the combat support elements and the combat service support elements – with a view to drastically improve their general conditions of service
2. Invest in “shock and awe” state-of-the-art weapons systems and support equipment that will simplify their missions, make them safer, put them at an advantage over the enemy and embolden them to initiate contact with the enemy
3. Institute, at a minimum, a weekly televised press briefing led by the Ministry of Defense during which the week’s engagements with terrorists are highlighted
Intelligence
Very rarely do security agencies initiate deadly engagements without prior actionable intelligence. For the military, the police and the other security agencies, a robust intelligence agency, organized based on unique tasks and focuses as we already have, is a must. Admittedly, the outgoing administration has made great strides in improving the services. Your administration needs to do more in the area of offensive covert actions as well as overt counter-subversion actions against fifth columnists and home-grown terrorists. Obviously, we will need to invest more in Human, Cyber, Signal, Geospatial, Imagery, Technical and Open-Source intelligence collection capabilities to get up to speed and provide needed
Electricity
Your job is cut out for you in this area. Whatever improvement you bring to Nigerians in other spheres will not be fully appreciated unless you are able to provide regular (even if expensive) supply of electricity. Nigerians deserve a dependable power supply. Individuals and businesses want to be able to plan their survival on dependable supply of electricity. So many businesses have been lost or stifled; so many bright ideas have been stultified because of the epileptic nature of power supply in our country.
If any president can solve this issue, it is you. Nigerians believe you can pull off magic. Do not disappoint.
Appointments
Please do not take six months to put a respectable cabinet in place. Do not even take one month to have 60% to 65% of your key appointees before the Senate. You asked for this job. You have had decades to prepare for it. You campaigned hard for it. From your antecedent, it is clear you understand that while political partners should be compensated for their support, competence should not be sacrificed at the altar of political patronage.
Look beyond the APC for a combination of brain and brawn. Make deliberate efforts to find talents in other parties (believe it or not, there are good people even in the PDP, maybe even in AAC) and appoint them to, not just inconsequential positions, but key positions that will task their intellect and vigour. Look beyond active politicians for skilled people because many of them want to serve and can serve very well but for myriad reasons, could not participate in politics. Spread your appointments across the nation as fairly as possible. Put the right pegs in the right holes, regardless of what part of the country from which they come. Endeavour to switch some positions that appear “zoned” to certain sections of the country. For instance, find a non-northerner for the FCT. Find a non-southerner for the economy.
Downsizing federal government
The federal government is a behemoth that’s filled with too many employees who do practically nothing, and too many parastatals that do not add value to the system. Many of these parastatals and employees are holdovers from tasks and duties long discontinued; yet, government is paying salaries, pensions and other associated costs to maintain the obsolescence. With expected devolution of powers to states and local governments, you must ensure a commensurate reduction in federal employees and offices. There are just too many people in the FCT who do not need to be there.
Cut down on the number of people traveling out of town and out of country who collect estacodes and allowances for doing practically nothing on such trips. Then invite the Senate Leader and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and ask them to lead their respective legislatures in taking drastic cuts both in salaries and in other emoluments. Nigerians find it unconscionable that a Senator earns more than the President of the United States.
What we have in very short supply in our country is fidelity to our nation as a corporate entity and to each other as distinctive ethnicities. Just because our tongues differ does not mean we cannot unite to make our country better. But slogans alone do not and cannot make one a patriot. Citizens develop love and pride for their nation if the nation gives them hope and dreams and fair opportunities to accomplish those dreams. If you provide reasonable security to Nigerians – an atmosphere where criminals of all classes have reasonable expectations of severe consequences for the crimes they commit – if you provide stable electricity; if you provide opportunities for folks to actualize their dreams; if you make every part of the country feel equal and important; if you embark on a massive mobilization effort to drum up support for the country from the citizens, and you are out there yourself engaging the populace from time to time, Nigerians will breathe a sigh of relief. They will exhale. They will come together to help continue the building up of our country.
Fuel Subsidy Removal
With the commissioning of the Dangote refinery recently, it would appear you are primed to fulfill your promise of removing subsidy without inflicting too much pain on Nigerians. I understand that even if the cost of fuel in Nigeria is increased by 40% today, we would still be paying less than every country in sub-Saharan Africa. But most Nigerians don’t understand this. You must do a better job of engaging Nigerians on this matter and sensitizing them to the reasons for the removal and how the most vulnerable citizens impacted would be compensated.
- Ladepo writes via Oluyole2@yahoo.com