- There are more rivers to cross
Today, Nigeria marks her 55th independence anniversary amidst challenges to nationhood. The anniversary this year is particularly significant as it is at a time the country is celebrating the first time power would change hands from one party to another, with an incumbent President peacefully defeated through the ballot box. The development held out so much hope.
The election of President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is even the more significant because his party came up with the promise of fundamental changes to the economic and social structure of the country. President Buhari pledged to fight insecurity that had reduced Nigerians to the sub-human level and corruption that had threatened to sink the economy. The APC is seen as a left of the centre political party, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) it replaced is regarded as a right of centre political party. The APC victory therefore attracted the expectation of greater attention to the welfare of the people.
However, about four months into the Buhari administration, disappointment is beginning to set in. While the government has lived up to the pledge to fiercely fight the insurgents in the North Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, other forms of insecurity have set in. Kidnapping that used to be a problem restricted to the East is now rampant in other parts of the country.
The economy is deep in the woods and Nigerians look up to the Federal Government to come up with articulate measures to arrest the drift. Unemployment is a time bomb ticking every second as educated youth ply the roads idle and hungry. The Buhari campaign team promised to come up with dole for them to check the effect. When and how this would be is still uncertain.
The social fabric of the country must not be torn. Inter-ethnic harmony must be protected by the government that has the duty of providing for the needs of all. The nomads deserve to have ranches and grazing reserves where they could take care of their cattle and protect their livelihood. Farmers, too, should not be exposed to avoidable losses in the hands of the herdsmen. Studies of wars and internecine conflicts have shown that the root causes are mostly economic. About 45 years after the civil war, Nigeria cannot afford another.
The anti-corruption war is believed to have been flagged off with the arraignment of Senate President Bukola Saraki before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. This is not enough. Nigerians are calling for concerted action. They want a system put in place that would check mindless looting of the treasury that has become the norm. We share the concern.
The economy is being greatly harmed by the failure to put in place an economic team more than four months after the change of baton.
While President Buhari has shown that he has the intention of promoting good relations with the country’s neighbours and fully integrating her into the international system, there can be no substitute for a foreign policy that would promote the Nigerian interest.
As Nigerians celebrate 55 years of independence, the Buhari government has a duty to assure all that the electorate acted right in voting it into power. The power sector, agriculture, housing and infrastructure deserve urgent attention.
Many scholars and nationalists have shouted that the country is at the Edge of a precipice; about to fail. The House must not fall. But, to ensure this, all- government workers, the academia, the youth, the public and private sectors must come together to raise Nigeria. Beyond being regarded as a country of great potential, actual growth and development is required. To rouse Nigeria from her slumber, all hands must be on deck. The Nigerian nation, at 60, cannot afford to fail the African continent. It should be a giant indeed.
