A former External Affairs Minister, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, has recommended a 25-year development plan for Nigeria to aim to be in High Development category in the Human Development Index within five years.

Using the yardstick in the Human Development Report, he said Nigeria should aim for an annual increase by 10 to 15 positions, away from its current position of 156 out of 186 countries in the 2011 report.

Akinyemi noted that Nigeria has always been ranked in the Low Human Development in the Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and to move up the ladder “will necessitate more funds in the education, power and health sectors.”

The UNDP groups countries into four categories, namely, Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development, but it was only in 2009 that Nigeria moved up to the last position in the Medium Human Development level.

However, Akinyemi, a former Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, said his envisaged development plan would emanate from a National Conference.

“This 25-year plan can only emerge from a National Conference where the elite, from all over the country, driven by the fact that if they don’t hang together, they will hang separately, will bury suspicion and age-old fears and grievances to save themselves and the nation,” he said.

At a one-day national seminar on corruption hosted by the Niger State Government in Minna on Thursday, the Professor of International Relations and Diplomacy laid out his suggestions based on the following:

• Genuine war against corruption, with no bail for those charged with corruption, no appeal to high courts during the trial and life imprisonment with forfeiture of all assets stolen. The onus should be on the accused to prove he or she acquired the assets legitimately.

• There must be a conscious constitutional and public policy effort to grant all Nigerians a feeling of belonging and inclusiveness. Noting that perception is often stronger than reality, he said there is no justification for the Northeast and Southwest zones to have been excluded from the top 12 posts at the federal level, just as there is no justification for the two National Assembly sub-committees coordinating the Constitutional Amendments process to have been headed by two chairmen from the same zone (Southeast) in the country.

• No federal office holder should have an ADC, Press Secretary, Special Assistants or Chief of Staff from his own zone.

• In each State Assembly, 10 per cent of the seats should be reserved for non-indigenes.

• In each state cabinet, at least two posts must be reserved for non-indigenes.

• Federal Ministries should be graded in terms of strategic importance and appointment of Ministers should be such that all zones are represented in each grade.

• There should be a war on poverty such that by the end of that 25-year period, those below the poverty level will be less than one per cent.

• Using the yardstick in the Human Development Report, Nigeria should aim for an annual increase by 10 to 15 positions and aim to be in the High Development category within five years. This will necessitate more funds in the education, power and health sectors.

• There should be adoption of policies designed to generate massive employment.

• There should be a firm commitment to religious tolerance, as nothing will emphasise this more than people of different faiths occupying the posts of Governor and Deputy Governor in states with a multi-religious complex.