Independence broadcast

This year’s Independence Day broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari is comprehensive. The president’s speech ranges from the informative to the exhortative, designed very close to the beginning of his second and final presidential term, to apprise citizens of his government’s achievements and to acknowledge the challenges and goals before his administration, and by extension, the Nigerian State.

The theme of this year’s broadcast is the need for re-dedication to attaining the goals the president sees in front of the nation: “a united, prosperous and purposeful nation in the face of 21st-century opportunities and challenges.” And major policy issues in the speech include infrastructure, national security, corruption, the economy, and population, all of which call for citizens’ support.

Like all speeches, the main challenge lies in linking words with actions. Of the president’s achievements, his reference to his implementation of preventive measures against corruption, such as his implementation of the Single Treasury Account is likely to resonate with citizens. Similarly, President Buhari’s reference to his policies and programmes towards “N500 billion Special Intervention Programme, the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, and Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families” is bound to warm the hearts of  direct and indirect beneficiaries of these policies birthed during Buhari’s first term in office.

Among the areas that President Buhari himself has suggested to be work-in-progress, those requiring additional and sustainable attention include national security, infrastructure, especially provision of electricity, and population. And these are areas that call for special skills in the linking of words with actions.

The beginning of a final term in office is a good one to make uplifting promises. It is also an appropriate time to ensure that legacy projects are given the attention they deserve. The efforts in the improvement of the energy sector, road and related infrastructure are needed. Buhari’s re-dedication to solving the perennial problem of power should be welcomed by all.

But promising Nigerians “affordable and uninterrupted electricity supply in the not-too-distant future” may not raise the optimism of many citizens because of the vagueness of the government’s timeline to deliver the much-expected good and service. This is one area in which the president needs to be as precise and digital as possible. The darkness in the power sector has lasted too long that any new objectives in this sector should be cast in more measurable terms than “in the not-too-distant future.”

Similarly, the president’s acknowledgment of a seeming population explosion in the country is encouraging, as the galloping population has ripple effects on many other issues: food security, national security, and rising poverty and inequality. Further, Buhari’s commitment to correct the budgeting cycle is particularly important and more doable at a time that he has a special advantage in terms of more amiable or less hostile relationship with the National Assembly.

But basing improvement of the national security on resuscitation of Ministry of Police Affairs and recruitment of 10,000 policemen appears simplistic, given the national anxiety about security problems in the last few months. This is one sector that needs far-reaching reforms.

Knowing that President Buhari is a leader with an eye on legacy, we wish him God’s speed in the next two years that generally precede the onset of lame duck in the second terms of many democratic governments. Like Buhari, we are mindful of the time left for him to concretise his legacy.