LANRE AJIBOYE'S MEDLEY CORNER

Olanrewaju AjiboyeTuesday, November 25, 2014
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Canada

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MISSIVE TO MUHAMMADU BUHARI

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Dear General,

f it is the will of God, you shall be sworn in as the president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces on May 29 2015 after you must have been elected in February 2015.

Please consider this as a memo also to help your presidency because you are most likely to be in a race against time and the assignment is a huge one. Sometimes reconstruction or refurbishment can be more challenging than building from the scratch.

I feel you in your passion against corruption but I will rather suggest you don't dissipate energy chasing those who stole what, instead put a policy in place that will make them voluntarily return ill gotten wealth to the coffers of the government, out of no hiding place to spend the money, out of shame for their failure and by way of penitence. I shall ventilate on the preceding reasons later in the course of this memo.

I will suggest your first official assignment should be to embark on prisons renovation and awarding contract for the construction of many more across all states of the federation and the FCT. This does not have anything to do with wanting to hunt or to railroad innocent people to jail but to just to deter those who will still want to make adventure in corruption after the dawn of a new day.

Having done that, I will want you to embark on a program that will strengthen family and that is from the nuclear to the extended and let them impact on the community. Remember sir, that if we pour water on our head, it travels to other parts of the body, hence the need to strengthen nuclear family for exponential effect on community, the society and eventually the country.

Under the above, mother and children matter most. Whoever fathers a child must be made to be responsible for the upkeep while the government also supports. Widows deserve more in terms of support; therefore government at the center must go extra mile to support them.

Once there is a change of attitude, and once there is no compromise on sanctions for bad conduct then the burden of governance is made lighter.

School kids must be at school and those seeking second chance must be encouraged for the overall health of the country.

Strict adherence to laws must also be helped by culture because the latter provides solutions to problems of living. Culture is in dignity, honesty, integrity and respect. If these are inbuilt in people then it is easier to operate the law.

The democratic government to be headed by you should fashion out programs that will collaborate with state governments though not directly managed by them, in promoting the health and wellness of all citizens. Such health policy should put emphasis on hypertension and diabetes, twosome that not only account for high mortality rate in recent time but also decimate potential workforce.

So many people prone to this health challenges hardly knows because they do not have the privilege of free yearly medicals that can give early warning signs and when they know, they do not have the wherewithal to maintain good health.

Also you need to create jobs and inflation abatement programs that allows for basic comfort for every worker irrespective of their cadre.

Sir, you will also need to declare emergency in power generation and distribution that do not allow for poor people to slave for the rich. Your Excellency, there is no justification for a mandatory monthly fee of five hundred Naira on prepaid meter other than extortion.

You may also want to really free trade and commerce by sanitizing the ports where unwholesome practices thrive among all stake holders. Shipping companies want to milk importers, government port representatives like customs, narcotic, SON, Nafdac and other task forces are adding to the costs and frustrations of importers.

Particular mention must be made about NAFDAC that seems to have derailed from its statutory function to administer and control on food and drugs for public consumption to being an enterprise in pursuit of profit. The outrageous fees they require to register products is totally exploitative, insensitive and a discouragement for business opportunities. The agency's account needs forensic checks to determine the flow and management of income. That apart, the product registration fee should be slashed to be commensurate with what is obtainable in other parts of the world.

General, we also need a massive and aggressive drive to boost local manufacturing that is competitive in terms of quality and pricing as foreign products while we allow market forces to determine sustainability.

Please permit me to echo an opinion against product prohibitions, a penchant quick in the hands of former president Obasanjo. More often than not it is counter productive by way of revenue loss and aiding smuggling. That apart, it promotes complacency and shortchanging of consumers by local manufacturers. Sir, I will be use two imported products as a yardstick to buttress this view. One is noddles and the other a detergent. A particular brand of noddles was being imported some two decades ago, its acceptance in the Nigeria market motivated the foreign manufacturers to come and establish here and today, the outfit is a big player in the Nigeria economy, it also had encouraged others to establish other brands. There was also a particular brand of detergent imported to Nigeria by a vibrant entrepreneur that woke multinational companies from their deep slumber. Prior to the debut of the imported detergent, locally manufactured detergents were not of high quality but the challenge of the imported one compelled competition. Today, the said detergent is being manufactured in Nigeria.

Your Excellency may also find it reasonable to strengthen the law in order to instill confidence in investors as corruption would not be a concern with you as the president. Most investors are currently on red alert to secure their investment due to many challenges ranging from insecurity to corruption, erratic power supply.

Sir, you were a direct victim of official brutality that is usually prevalent during countdown to major elections. The brutality of tear gas once unleashed on your erstwhile vice presidential candidate, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory must still be very fresh in your thoughts. Events of recent, has shown that we have not learned any lessons in embracing politics of tolerance. Would it not be auspicious for you and indeed the country as a whole to change the system that makes the police a pawn in the hands of the executive? Not withstanding that the status quo may be beneficial and alluring to you as a president, no doubt it had also been hostile to you because of its double edged sword. A system that will not expose the police and its head to the whim and caprices of a president is a desideratum.

It is advisable that you to steer away the ship of the state mfrom divisive tendencies and sentiments of religion and ethnicity. A president is the president of all and a leader is supposed to demonstrate maturity even when an occurrence puts him in a disadvantage. You would not sit idly and look away when charlatans desecrate on the constitution you sworn to defend and protect just because it favors your political party and your political aspirations.

You may not go the whole hug of probing corruption but you can make the thieves of the "African Voice" (Kakaki) uncomfortable by not having the space to blow it. If for example, a person is a retired civil servant and he is living a life of opulence that is at disparity with his gross earnings, it is not out of way to invite such for questioning and probing. If such questionable wealth is shared among his siblings they also have a case to answer. You will be able to create jobs through such probes. Valuers would determine the value of a property, investigators would ask questions.

Upon all prosperity for all you should be your utmost focus in your race against time. Remember the multitudes of Nigerian voters believe in you and your ability to turn things around. Many who have become disillusioned are gravitating towards your candidacy as a better alternative.

I am also sure you are not naive to expect that you will be inheriting a big mess, like a beautiful house modeled to hoodwink people as a real house. Zero economy, low morale, fatigued military, disjointed and disoriented police and massive indebtedness should be expected.

General, please brace yourself up, Nigerians will not listen to your excuses, so it may be better for you to start them off on hope based on tangible and intangible matters. Egg heads are not in short supply in Nigeria; all you need to do is to

God Almighty shall guide you to the right path and empower you to succeed.

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