As Muhammadu Buhari takes office as President today, unemployment, insecurity, epileptic power supply, corruption, among others, are challenges he must tackle with dispatch, writes Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN
Over the years, leadership has been identified as the bane of national development. Policies are unstable and short- term. Although it has often been said that a problem identified and diagnosed is half-solved, the Nigerian leadership challenge has defied this reasoning. The fundamental challenge has been narrowed down to ill-prepared leadership, wrong recruitment process and lack of vision.
Funds appropriated for welfare and security of the people as well as provision of infrastructure are diverted to private accounts. Jobs done are shoddy as the contractors understand the language of the leaders. The education sector remains comatose; hospitals designated centres of excellence have become glorified consulting clinics; power supply continues to haunt big and small businesses; the roads are in poor state and infrastructure for economic progress remains a source of national embarrassment, performing below regional standards. No sector stands out.
To say that Nigeria is at the cross roads is an understatement, especially against the backdrop of the collective experience in almost all spheres of its national life. The task before Muhammadu Buhari, who takes over from Dr Goodluck Jonathan today, is enormous. Top among the tasks that must be done are turning the tides against insecurity, defeating corruption and banishing unemployment, among others.
Insecurity
The current state of insecurity is a manifestation of deep-rooted and structurally entrenched crisis of development that creates the environment for the emergence of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. These, in turn, lead to frustration, alienation, and ultimately, social discontent that spark violence and insecurity. Without the enabling environment, these conditions could not have metamorphosed into serious national security problems threatening to tear the country apart. The Boko Haram insurgency has not only claimed thousands of lives, it has also seen daring terrorists hang their flag in parts of the country, especially in the northeast.
Buhari made security a driving issue in his presidential campaign. He promised to put an end to Boko Haram insurgency if elected. He said the primary responsibility of a responsible government is to protect the lives and properties of every Nigerian wherever they choose to live. There are also problems of kidnappings and robbery attacks which have assumed dangerous dimension.
Relevant to this appalling picture is the issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A report of the Internal Displaced Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council indicate that of 33 million internal refugees across the world, about 3.3 million Nigerians are internally displaced because of the Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. The number of dislodged victims of the six year old violent campaign by the terrorists in the affected areas is not only thought- provoking but also a cause for concern because it suggests that the scale of the problem may not have been fully captured and may indeed be beyond the range of the available figures.
The challenges faced by displaced persons call for serious commitment. The Buhari presidency should help the internally displaced by perfecting relief structures.
A security expert said the president should acknowledge the failure of the security agencies hence there should be a complete overhaul of the security agencies to pre-empt security breaches –– particularly, the failure of the intelligence services to contain the recurring security breaches.
According to him, “Mr President, on assumption of office, has to act decisively to execute his office, and this can be achieved by implementing the anti-terrorism law and punish culprits of such heinous crimes capable of causing instability in the nation. The trends leading to this situation are reversible, if seriously proactive and sustained measures could be adopted by the government and the international community. The implication of this is that policy makers have the duty to arrest the drift through social justice and development. To address security problem in Nigeria is in effect, to address its crisis of development”.
Unemployment
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described the menace of chronic youth unemployment in Nigeria as a time bomb. The interpretation is that when the problem assumes an uncontrollable dimension, it will explode, with deleterious effects on the society. It stands to reason that there is a correlation between the youth unemployment in the land and the reserve army of idle and ignorant hands that a sect like Boko Haram is able to recruit for its heinous crimes. Similarly, the ever increasing wave of armed robberies, kidnappings, mindless assassinations and other crimes perpetrated mostly by youths across the country can be linked to the spectre of mass unemployment.
The magnitude of the unemployment in the country will be better appreciated by making reference to the statement of the former Chairman of the Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P) Dr Christopher Kolade when he noted that 40 million Nigerians, that is 23.9 per cent of the population are unemployed as a result of the inability of the system to absorb the approximately 300,000 graduates churned out of tertiary institutions annually. This figure may not necessarily include the chronically underemployed such as casual workers, or those who are employed seasonally.
The problem of unemployment is mounting daily. The manufacturing sector which used to be the major employer of labour is in a coma. Many manufacturing companies have closed shop in Nigeria and relocated to neighbouring West African countries or South Africa that provide enabling environment for business to thrive. The banks are downsizing at a ridiculous rate while access to loan has become an official publicity stunt. More devastating is the fact that the government has failed to provide stable power supply and security that are central to industrialisation and by extension employment generation and general development of the country.
Recently, an industrialist entered into agreement with a Romanian firm to come and set up an agro-allied industry which will in its first year employ 1,000 workers. The investors came to Nigeria to formalise the agreement and process other requirements for the take-off of the project. The hotel where they lodged was on generator 24 hours daily which raised their suspicion over the state of power supply in the country. The second day of their visit, they were robbed on their way back to the hotel. The following morning they left for the airport and left the country without parting words to their Nigerian business partner. That was the end of the business transaction. The fact is, no genuine foreign investor would come and invest in a country where security of lives and property is lacking and where power supply is not stable.
Agriculture stands out as a major solution to Nigerian unemployment if properly developed. The reason why many Nigerians run away from agriculture is because of the use of hoes and other primitive equipment which they consider stressful to them. With introduction of machines into agriculture, Nigerians will embrace it. Improved system of farming and poultry will propel many to pick farming as means of employment. The Buhari administration should organise seminars where citizens will be taught on new improved system of making living from agriculture.
Government should support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to boost employment in the country. Private establishments contribute largely to the growth of manufacturing companies in the country. According to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, SMEs manufacture more than 90 per cent of the products used in Nigeria. Government should provide more funds to SMEs so that they can expand their operations and create more jobs for Nigerians.
Economy
To say that the economy is dire strait is to state the obvious. The impression is that Nigeria is broke. Both federal and state governments are cash strapped that they cannot pay workers’ salaries. In fact, the Jonathan Federal Government had to take loan to pay April salaries. This suggests that the nation is broke. It is a manifestation of economic mismanagement.
To revive the economy, a renowned economist Mr Henry Boyo said there is urgent need for a fundamental restructuring of the country’s monetary framework so that the economy can be rapidly transformed to induce vast expansion in industrial activity with single digit lending rates, increase employment opportunities, lower single digit of inflation and a market determined exchange rate mechanism. He noted that the government’s efforts to achieve these parameters, reduce poverty and enhance the social welfare of the people in the last 30 years have evidently failed woefully.
“Indeed our economy appears trapped in a paradox of deepening poverty with increasing export revenue. It is inexplicable, for example that Nigeria became listed amongst the poorest nation in the world. A careful analysis of the process of infusion of our export earnings into the economy will show that this anomaly was made inevitable by the Central Bank’s practice of capturing export dollar revenue and substituting naira at its unilaterally determined rate of exchange before payment of consolidated naira allocations to the three tiers of government”.
Another economist, Dr Joseph Edebiri, blamed Jonathan for failing to put in place a robust fiscal policy that could align with the monetary policy. He said this would have brought down inflation rate from the present 15 per cent, reduce lending rate to single digit to stimulate the productive sector, open up the mining sector to international investors, promote private local petroleum refining and railways with extra-ordinary incentives, halt the massive borrowing that and has taken the external debt to $60 billion.
He said: “Jonathan failed to prosecute oil subsidy thieves and their official collaborators, to clean up the corrupt Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to reduce his large army of unproductive advisers and assistants and also to reshuffle and reduce his incompetent cabinet. He dismissed the claims of Jonathan economic advisers especially, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that the economy was growing at seven per cent. The statistics being bandied by government officials contrasted with the reality on ground. The economy she claimed was growing has not impacted on the standard of living. The inflation in the country is one of the highest in the world. The manufacturing sector is almost dead as industrialists close shop daily because of high cost of production, he said.
“We don’t know how much we are earning from oil export. The government seemed to have legitimised oil thievery. It also appears that Jonathan has accepted that oil theft is a part of the Nigerian reality because his government has done nothing to bring the culprits to book,” he added.
Corruption
To observers, the anti-corruption war of the Jonathan administration was not just dead; its remains have been interred. It failed to tackle corruption. The high profile corruption cases, including Malabo oil deal, Halliburton contract scam, the $20 billion fraud in the NNPC, the N1 trillion debt owed the NITEL for the use of its facilities by GSM operators at the inception, the purchase of over- priced bullet –proof by former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah. The dust raised by the Pension Fund scam, Otedola-Farouk saga and other related cases are still fresh in the minds of the people.
Jonathan’s posture against the monster called ‘corruption’, which appears to be the root cause of many of the country’s woes, was not impressive. The government did too little in arresting or punishing corrupt officials and individuals. One of the perceived weaknesses that cast the Jonathan administration in bad light is the less than forceful presidential presence and ineffective deployment and application of presidential power in calling people around him to order. His actions suggested that he accommodated mediocre elements within his inner circle and that he lacked the will to show them the door.
The Jonathan administration carried on as though it was unaware that corruption is an impediment that stunts the growth of nations. No nation has ever developed or made any meaningful progress without tackling corruption head-long. Indeed, Jonathan had a poor public image due to his failure to wage a spirited war against corruption, leakages in the oil industry, including pipeline vandalism.
Buhari is not new in fighting corruption. In 1983, when he came to power as military Head of State, he succeeded in halting Nigeria from drifting and restored her glory within a short period. The corrupt politicians that looted the treasury were brought to book and vomited what they illegally swallowed. Nigerians are keeping faith with his promise to stamp out corruption that has given the country a bad name in the comity of nations.
For him to succeed in his anti-corruption war, the Buhari administration must consider strengthening the criminal justice system in the country and appoint people of integrity to head the anti-graft agencies. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and its tribunal should be independent of the Presidency in terms of appointments and financing. The focus of the Buhari Presidency should be on prevention, detection and prosecution of corrupt persons which are fundamental to ending corruption.
Power Supply
The quantum of power consumed in a country by the citizens is considered a good indicator of the country’s socio-economic performance. Epileptic power supply is the greatest paradox of life in Nigeria, a country blessed with various sources of energy, including crude oil, natural gas, hydro power, coal and solar energy. The blackout is unprecedented. Business enterprises rely on generator 24 hours daily to power their machines. Those that cannot afford extra budget for diesel have closed shop and lay off their workers.
Energy crisis in Nigeria has become a norm for several decades and is the bane of her economic development. There is an extreme electricity deficiency in Nigeria. The causes of this deficiency are related to financial, socio-political, and structural issues which lead the power sector in Nigeria to be recording high energy losses from power generation and billing which lead to insufficient cash generation as a result of these inefficiencies. Only about 40 per cent of households in Nigeria are connected to the national grid. There is highly-energy loss due to the physical deterioration of the transmission and distribution facilities, an inadequate metering system and an increase in the incidence of power theft through illegal connections.
The crux of the matter includes inadequate generation, inefficient transmission and distribution of power. Nigeria’s installed power generation capacity of 6,000 mega watts is grossly inadequate to cater for the needs of over 140 million people. The country generates less than 3,000 mw.
Government officials have always blamed the problem of power outages to inadequate gas supply to thermal power plants and low level of water in the dams. A lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Frank Okafor said “the fact is a number of power stations are old. Look at Kainji dam built in 1968, if you just change a rotor and say it will give you 2’000 mw it’s a lie. An old machine remains old no matter the amount of rehabilitation or renovation. The old machines can never meet our target.
“If a developing country like Brazil can generate 100,000 mw, why not Nigeria priding itself as giant of Africa? Already South Africa is in Congo to build plant which they intend to transmit through High Voltage Distributive Transmission. Nigeria lacks the capacity for implementing long-term development plans.
“No nation survives without long-term development plans. We are almost at 2020, there is nothing on ground to say there is plan pointing at 2020. They keep telling us that the power generation will hit over 20,000 mw by 2020. As regards Brazil, they have a very high potential for hydro power and they took their time to train their people. They built power plants and export power to neighbouring countries”.
On the way out, Okafor said, it is high time Nigeria considers renewable energy as panacea to incessant power outages. “These renewable energy sources like solar, wind, coal, biomass and small hydro are good even though not cost effective but they should be encouraged. Nevertheless, we still need big generating plants to run our steel plants and manufacturing industries.
Fuel Scarcity
Experience over the years has shown that Nigeria has not been able to find solution to frequent scarcity of petroleum products. The ultimate solution is to build new refineries. It doesn’t make sense for a country that produces crude oil to be importing refined product. Refining crude oil locally will not only make enough products for local consumption available, but will provide employment for the teeming unemployed youths. Refine locally to meet local needs will solve the problem of oil subsidy that runs into billions of naira every year.
A petro-chemical engineer, Funso Adebowale, suggests that Nigeria should build new refineries with local technology instead of spending huge sums of money importing experts to come and maintain the existing refineries that has never met local demand.
Adebowale reasoned that the funds used in paying the experts to come and service our old refineries would have been better channelled into research in our universities or assist to develop what is referred to as illegal refineries that abound in the Niger Delta.
“Evidence abound that crude oil has been locally refined in the Niger Delta by the people we derogatorily referred to as oil thieves. What that means is that local refineries exist in Nigeria. We should improve on them.
“Nigeria has the capacity to refine crude oil but the problem has been lack of political will and vision on the part of our political leaders. The in-coming administration should hearken to the voice of reasoning by encouraging the universities to embark on research to produce home grown refineries within a time frame”.
Unifying the country
The task before Buhari is enormous. His first task will be to heal the wounds of a charged electoral campaign. He is inheriting a country divided along ethnic and religious lines more than any time in the nation’s history. This fact was not lost on him when he declared in his first speech after he was declared winner of the election that: “This was a hard- fought contest. Emotions are high. We must not allow them to get the better of us. This is not the time for confrontation”.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar aptly captured what most Nigerians expect from their new leader in his letter of congratulation. Atiku said: “When you assume our highest office, you must become the president of not just the APC, but all of Nigeria, including the people who did not vote for you. We look up to you to heal the fractures of our country and truly unite this country like never before.”
