Agenda Before Jonathan’s Administration

The euphoria and fanfare of the Inauguration has come and gone in Abuja and the various thirty six (36) states of the federation. Now Nigerians expect the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to settle down and hit the ground running.

Altruistically, Nigerians expect so much and for a better way to put it, are in a hurry to see what this government would do for them. Especially when you take into cognisance the myriad of problems facing this great country from insecurity, dilapidated and broken down infrastructure, inadequate and epileptic power supply, unemployment, agriculture, poor health care system, the list is endless.

Previous governments in the past started after making so much promises to the nation ended up not fulfilling them especially in the areas of power, roads, transportation, education etc, leaving a bewildered citizenry disappointed and the more frustrated.

However, one expects that three or four years into this Goodluck Jonathan’s administration the Nigerian people should have much to cheer about,. For the main reason that majority of Nigerians from all walks of life overwhelmingly voted him into power as their president. It behooves of Mr. President therefore to hold this trust and mandate sacred and sacrosanct as a rare privilege and responsibility bestowed on him. I dare say he should not betray this trust reposed on him by the generality of Nigerians.

Be that as it may, this administration should set a new agenda for a holistic development and prioritized attainment of the full potentials of this great nation. Indeed, Nigerians of high intellectual acumen and repute abound both in the country and so many great countries of the world who are willing to bring their expertise to bear in governance.

The government should endeavor to be firm and focused by making sure it gets it right particularly from the bedrocks, like in making appointments to key positions. Let competent and qualified hands be appointed, a situation of square pegs in square holes and assembling the best brains Nigeria can offer for every available position.

Interestingly, Nigerians with the right expertise can help our amiable, kind hearted president fix our seeming insurmountable problems. Take the issue of power for example which had defied the last two previous administrations. A lot can be done through the involvement of Nigerian investors in Diaspora through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative as well as in other sectors of the economy.

This writer is of the view that the federal government can legislate that each ‘of the thirty six (36) states of the federation should build and generate at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of power in the next few years. That will bring the aggregate total from the various states to 36,000 megawatts MW or more. Further shoring our total national energy generation pool to close to 45,000 megawatts (MW) which can help bring us near the 2020 vision target. Since with that quantum of generated energy the nation can better support a productive and virile modem industrial economy of the twenty first century.

Added to the above is the issue of insecurity that has caused a lot of fears and apprehension in so many question particularly the bomb explosions and scare, armed robbery, kidnapping and other heinous crimes.

Really, the security operatives need to be empowered and better prepared to be on top of the situation. Which means early detection through constant monitoring, surveillance and combating of crime including suspects. By making sure combined and effective intelligence gathering is well coordinated and strengthened.

Meanwhile, the amnesty/reform programme should be followed to the latter by really re-orientating and reforming the militants to imbibe good societal values and the virtues of hard-work and industry in them. This is with a view to making them semi-skilled or skilled in one area of specialization or the other especially as regards the Nigerian content policy in the petroleum and gas industry.

Tied to this is the issue of unemployment, a situation where Nigerian youths graduate from schools either at the tertiary level, secondary or primary school level and there are no jobs for these teeming young school leavers. The Jonathan administration should urgently take job creation seriously. This it can do by creating a conducive environment for industries especially the manufacturing sector to thrive. Also, the steel industry should be adequately developed and harnessed, that sector alone if fully developed can provide employment for millions of Nigerians. To this end, the Ajaokuta steel plant should be completed in good time.

Likewise the tourism sector, Nigeria can generate employment for Nigerian people through the tapping of her tourism potentials with our geographical and scenic tourists attractions sites. Many monuments and cultural festival, dances and rich local cuisines, all these if properly developed and harnessed could garner foreign exchange for the country and provide jobs.

Another area Nigerians would be expecting much from this administration is in the agricultural sector and food security programme which can help engage a lot of the citizens and put affordable food on the table. Various projects should be established like building of dams for irrigation purposes, construction fertilizer plants and making available necessary inputs for farmers during cultivation and harvests. Also, mechanized farming which is the modern mode of farming all over the world must be encouraged and properly implemented.

Education is another case in point, the incoming government and its agencies have to address the low enrolment into public schools and the mass failure in major exams by post primary students. Even with the Universal Basic Education (UBE), many school age children are not in school. Where they attend, the schools are in poor and dilapidated state. Similarly, the universities, polytechnics etc, are no more places for scientific research and scholarship, instead they suffer from strikes by lecturers, inadequate funding, poor infrastructure etc.

In the health sector, Nigeria is at the rock bottom in the record of incidences of maternal and infant mortality rate which put us behind in the Millennium Development Goals- MDG’s target realization by the UN. Many communicable and non-communicable diseases still ravage our communities at epidemic level and this trend has to change. The health care delivery system should be more preventive than curative.

The state of our roads are of major concern too as most of our roads have turned death traps with pot holes and crates. Some of them completely washed off by erosion and need reconstruction and redesigning especially old trunk A roads like Abuja-Jos-Akwanga, Port Harcourt-Enugu, Lagos Ibadan etc, among to many others.

Moreover, transportation which is a very integral part of socio-economic activities, like the movement of goods and people from one destination to another calls for serious attention. The waterways should be developed for move inland and river ports with landing jetties to help ferry persons and their wares particularly along the River Niger which is been dredged and River Benue too which also need, dredging. This will avail many communities along the banks to have accessibility to smaller ships and crafts.

Consequently, the moribund railway system should be seriously looked into because all over the world the rail is noted for bulk haulage of goods and persons. It will definitely aid manufacturing in reducing cost of goods as a result of cheaper transportation cost and the carting of agricultural products from the hinterland to urban centres. Also other transport modes should be explored to further expand and strengthen the economy. Indeed Nigerians are patiently waiting.

Ayooso, a public affairs analyst, resides in Port Harcourt.

Samson T. Ayooso