Encomium
Following the declaration of former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President-Elect, his compatriots identified areas he should concentrate on after his inauguration on May 29, 2015.
And here are their demands from the APC government…
‘We need a revolution’ -DELE MOMODU
My humble suggestion is that General Buhari should assemble a star-studded team. Anyone so chosen, should be accomplished in his own right and must have managed people or resources or both. You can’t afford to keep hungry lions in positions of authority because it is certain they will abuse it.
Buhari should also form an all-inclusive government of national unity and not that of a winner takes all.
The new administration should cut the high cost of governance, plug all sources of waste and embark on austerity measures.
The government should also start working on a holistic and realistic power policy which combines all the natural resources that God had deemed fit to bless this country with in abundance.
Buhari has to focus a proper searchlight on our crude oil and gas offshoots has brought us more pain than relief. All the scams attached to all manners of subsidies should be exterminated. We frittered away too many resources through undercut deals as well as brazen theft of our commonwealth.
A country of Nigeria’s population, size and capacities cannot be proud of generating and distributing less than 5,000 megawatts of power. It is disgraceful and the reason we have lagged behind for so long.
Employment is another burning issue that Buhari has to contend with. Defence and security should also be of utmost importance in his check-list.
The Buhari administration also has to address the collapse of education in Nigeria. We equally need a major revolution in the area of aggressive and visionary infrastructure development. I don’t know of any rich nation that looks as miserably comatose as Nigeria.
There are so many other areas requiring immediate attention. They include endemic corruption, the justice system, health care, social welfare, information management, transportation, agriculture, investment opportunities and so on.
‘We want free and fair governance’ – BIODUN RAHIM
Free and fair governance. No tribalism or ethnicity. And Nigeria should still maintain secularism rather than Islamising Nigeria. Boom economic sector, successful education sector. In short, successful government.
‘Buhari needs to sanitize the country’ – MARY ONOSIEM
To sanitize the country and ensure the commonwealth of the people trickle down to make life worth living for all Nigerians. I want the General to begin to probe corrupt officials and get back every kobo stolen, that way justice have been served to those Nigerians who died because hospitals were not equipped because corrupt officials embezzled health sector funds. This goes for every sector in the country.
‘We need a conducive environment’ -TOYIN ALABI
I want the General to unite the country, especially to reach out to the South-South and South-East. This way everyone will feel like a Nigerian. He should also create conducive environment for all religions to thrive and live in harmony with one another.
‘We want a balanced country’ – MICHAEL ACHU
I want change in Nigeria. We Nigerians voted him because we need change. Let him change this country positively as he has promised. We want change in our educational sector most importantly because right now some schools in Nigeria are on strike because lecturers have not been paid. We need the country to be balanced in every sector.
‘We want good jobs’ – MR. AKPAN
Nigeria is our country. We shall all survive. The citizens are happy with what they have done by voting in Buhari. We want good jobs and good security.
‘We want change’ – MRS. ADEOYE
We want change. What we are expecting from him is good education, electricity, road and job opportunity.
‘All we want is change’ – MRS. HANNAH
Yes, we want change everywhere in Nigeria. We are blessed with a lot of things in our country. He should allow the citizens have access to their rights.
‘He should tackle corruption’ – MICHAEL FATUNDE
It’s a welcome development in the history of our democracy to see that power had changed hands at the federal level after about 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule. I was particularly happy because with much I have read and heard of the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, I believe corruption will be a thing of the past. But that doesn’t mean he won’t work on infrastructure and power sector. He must use the mandate to impact the lives of the Nigerian masses that collectively voted for him.
‘We expect adequate supply of electricity’ – MALLAM HARUNA HABBEB
I am very happy now that Buhari is the next President of Nigeria. We all voted for him because of the confidence we have in him. And he must not disappoint. If he does, four years will soon be over. I expect him to give us adequate supply of electricity and make sure all corrupt political office holders go to jail. He should leave no stone unturned. There should be no sacred cow if he really wants to deal with corruption as he has pledged.
‘Buhari’s focus should be on power infrastructure’ – EMEKA OKONKWO
Power generation is a serious issue here. And I think it should be addressed frontally by the incoming administration. Another area is infrastructure development. This has been inimical to our development.
From our roads, railways to the aviation sector, we need real improvement. It is also important to remind the APC government of their campaign promises, especially in the areas of job creation and fixing the economy.
‘Employment generation is key’ – PRECIOUS JOHN
The Buhari administration must create jobs for Nigerians. We are all talking about unemployed youths, but there are also thousands of jobless men and women above 50. He should improve on what he met on ground.
‘Buhari should focus on agriculture’ – LIVINSTON IHEDIERA
This is time to relaunch Operation Feed the Nation. We need to revolutionize the agriculture sector. Naira also has to compete favourable with the US dollar and other foreign currencies.
‘I expect Buhari to deliver’ – CHARLES UZOECHI
I expect Buhari to deliver on his promises during his campaign. I know he cannot fulfill all of them, but he could accomplish most of the important ones. If he does that, then he will prove to be the change we desire, I still remain skeptical about him.
‘I want him to tackle corruption’ – VICTOR AKE
There are a lot of things fundamentally wrong in Nigeria. Many things to do. But I expect our new president to tackle the issues one after the other, starting with fighting the power sector. Some strong men in this country are responsible for our abysmal power situation. They should be brought down.
‘He should stick to change as he promises’- JOHN OZZIDDI
I’m expecting change from all ramifications because APC are preaching change every day, so I want to see the change. I also expect him to fight corruption, build our economy and create job opportunities for the graduate because there are so many young graduates on the street. He should stick to change as he promises and make this country a better place.
