By Yinka Aderibigbe
Nigeria has been abuzz since President Bola Tinubu hinted about the imminent cash dole out by his administration.
Now that he has got the nod of both chambers to draw a N500 billion out of the N850 billion earmarked in the supplementary budget for palliative, as well as the go ahead to obtain a $800 million loan from World Bank to cushion same, Nigerians have been upbeat about just how the administration would fix the jigsaw that the subsidy removal has become.
While his predecessor pencilled down N5,000 to be given to 50 million poorest of the poor households contained in the social register, Tinubu proposes to give just 12 million out of this same figure N8,000.
In the same breath, he hope to fix agriculture and give the House of Reps members about N70 billion, just to settle down to the business of law making. Though the leadership of he house has, at the weekend, clarified that the amount is meant for some “certain renovations” it is clear, that it is the first of the several IOUs that the house will most certainly draw from the executive for doing well in, or by supporting its moves.
Nigerians have argued that should the money be meant for both chambers, each law maker will go home with not less than N145 million. For an administration that intends to give a little above N5 billion for the six months spend at N8,000 (about $10) per month, this is simply staggering.
It has also led many Nigerians to implore the Tinubu administration to think outside the box and do something less controversial with this fund, which if wasted on mere recurrent, would take the country several years to repay.
I here argue that the government should fix what I have summarized with five acronym as the EARTH. Let President Tinubu fix the earth and leave a lasting legacy. And I dare say he can do this in the next 50 days and write his name in gold in about 100 days of his administration.
With that money, President Tinubu can fix five sectors badly hemorrhaging in Nigeria. Let him start with Education. The entire gamut from Primary, to Secondary and Tertiary badly needed a state of Emergency. Let us return to that era where quality teachers are recruited at all levels, let us fix our education and stop the ugly influence of corrosive private sector investors who are there to kill, to steal and to destroy. They have waged successful war at the primary and secondary levels, their unrelenting war to lay the tertiary education to waste must be resisted. The cankerworm is everywhere and only a forceful government can reverse the trend and bring the nation’s education back from the brink. Let the government throw the emoluments of teachers and all other workers at these various levels into the mix and we shall begin to see the dividends of deliberate investment in the short to the medium term.
Secondly, let the government fix Agriculture. Everything threatening the lives of farmers must be removed by the government. Let farmers be encouraged and let the youths be attracted to return to the farm. At whatever level no food security is assured if government continue to pay lip service to the security of lives and property. Let the State of Emergency on agriculture just declared by the Federal Government be total and all embracing and let all the components be fully and transparently implemented.
The third leg is to address roads. The federal government alone has over 5,000 trunk A roads most of which are in very deplorable state. Let the Federal Government make all roads in the country its property as it obtains in South Africa and other domains. Let people be able to connect on good motorable roads regardless whether they live in the rural, or in the urban centres. This will promote inclusivity and ensure the buy-in of the average Nigerians. Good roads are needed to connect the urban centres to the food baskets of the country, thereby ensuring the maximization of potentials that are latent in the rural areas to support the food security initiatives of the administration.
The forth that must be addressed as a matter of urgency is transportation. With land transportation still the biggest driver/catalyst in Nigeria, government must continue to tinker with initiatives aimed at reforming the nation’s transportation and this would allow it to grow and contribute more to the GDP. With a population a little over 230 million, the sector contributes a parlous 4 percent to the GDP year on year. This can be addressed by Mr President and the way to go is to deliberately promote public sector driven transportation system which would soak up the present system where tin gods control the parks and garages and becomes willing tools for the use of politicians who can pay them the right sum.
Resetting all gamut of transportation will ensure that the average and the below average Nigerians are saved from the hands of shylock operators who are out to milk them and operate outside the social responsibility wheel under which transportation ought ordinarily to run.
The last but not the least that must be addressed as a matter of urgency is health. If realistic steps are taken today by the administration the residents doctors who have threatened to embark on strike action from July 19, 2023 may have a rethink in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. Like education, the primary, secondary and tertiary levels are in need of urgent attention if this government should not be seen as paying mere lip service to the health of the people.
Though health is a personal responsibility, yet government must be deliberate to benchmark acceptable practices below which private investors in the sector must not go. Let the government drive appreciable reforms in the health sector that would take into account the welfare of all health workers and not medical doctors alone.
When holistically addressed we would stem the tide of brain drain in the sector and ensure that the country is able to retain the number of qualified hands put at maximum of 1:100 (one doctor to 100 patients. The figure today is astronomically unbelievable. Let something more concrete be done to show that we acknowledge the truism of the aphorism which states that health is wealth. For our nation to be truly prosperous we must stem the tide of medical tourism, we must be able to address the challenges of our medical institutions and make them truly world class.
President Tinubu stands today at the cusp of history. Let him be guided that like those before him, history will record his strides too for prosperity. What he does or fail to do will like a sore thumb stick out. For Nigerians to believe that Emilo kan is truly a chant of freedom, let him think out of the box and leave uncommon legacies. As I celebrate his 50th day on the saddle, I hope he is guided right and made to see that he has just 50 more days to leave an impression in the minds of Nigerians how the next 46 months would be.
With his antecedents it is not beyond him to rework Nigeria, may God guide him right to do just that for the country which has benefited him most amazingly and from which he has reaped bountifully. He is just one of the dreams that Nigeria can make possible.
Aderibigbe first published this piece on his Facebook Page.