Translating manifesto to manifestation

June 6, 2015 : Fisayo Falodi

Joseph Dawha, Alex Badeh and Solomon-Arase

The path to implementing the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress by President Muhammadu Buhari is going to be thorny, no doubt, but experts identify security and the energy sector as where to begin, writes FISAYO FALODI

The last 16 years have been traumatic for Nigerians who bore the pangs of what watchers of political events have described in various fora as near lack of government in the country. Those years witnessed economic collapse, violence with its attendant killings and destruction of property worth several billions of naira by the Niger Delta militants and members of the Boko Haram terror group; rise in unemployment among teeming youths, impunity and corruption in high places, poor handling of critical infrastructure like power and health care by successive governments, persistent queue for petrol at filling stations by motorists and extreme poverty among majority of Nigerians, among others.

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The hope to see these problems addressed for the purpose of engendering a prosperous country rose when the recently defeated Peoples Democratic Party was announced winner of the 1999 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Nigerians, who had welcome the return of the country to democratic rule, expected that the life-threatening challenges would be tackled frontally by the PDP-led Federal Government, but their hope was, instead, dashed by the government’s failure to at least reduce the problems to the barest minimum.

But the responsibility to tackle these challenges recently fell on President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government was inaugurated last week. Though Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress, had said that Nigerians should not expect overnight turnaround of the country from him, Nigerians are demanding immediate overhaul of critical sectors of the economy to ensure effective service delivery. They also asked the President to remain committed to the implementation of his five-point change agenda which he had promised to implement if elected.

To achieve the objectives, some experts, who suggested insecurity, unemployment, poor electricity supply and persistent queue in filling stations for petrol as areas that should attract the attention of the President, singled out insecurity and crisis in the energy sector as the most pressing of the challenges.

While calling for adequate security in all sections of the country, they said that a secure country would naturally facilitate vigorous business activities and attract investors for economic development.

Though Buhari had promised to relocate the command headquarters of the fighting forces of the military to Maiduguri as a major move to end the Boko Haram insurgency, the experts said national security goes beyond rooting out the activities of the violent sect that had displaced many people from their homes and sources of livelihood in the last eight years and tackling of other social vices such as kidnapping, militancy, armed robbery and cattle rustling. They added that it involved empowering the citizens with necessary skills to enable them to compete favourably with their peers in other climes.

The Secretary, Lagos State chapter of the American Society of Industrial Security, Prof. Femi Adegbulu, hailed the President for relocating the command headquarters of the fighting forces of the military to Maiduguri, but suggested more coordinated counter-measures to end the activities of the insurgents.

Adegbulu, while stressing the role security plays in any economy, asked the President to leave no stone unturned by ensuring that the Boko Haram menace was tackled in the early life of his administration to enable him to concentrate on other sectors that equally demanded attention.

He said, “One of the best things is what the President has done by relocating the command structure to Maiduguri, the area where we can call the theatre of the Boko Haram activities. That decision will serve as a proof to the Boko Haram elements that the Federal Government has taken the anti-terrorism war to their doorstep.

“Apart from that, the army will get information concerning the Boko Haram elements and their nefarious activities.”

The security expert said physical relocation of the command structure alone might not yield desired result unless the Federal Government put in place sophisticated gadgets to monitor the activities of the insurgents.

Adegbulu said, “There are electronic devices that the government can use to monitor the borders of Maiduguri and its environs. If effective surveillance system is put in place, the Boko Haram elements can be seen for immediate action while entering the country.

“It is disheartening that nobody sees them when they enter the country; nobody knew how they penetrated the country. One question Buhari should ask is how did the insurgents beat the prying eyes of the nation’s intelligence personnel?

“So, it is not the physical relocation of the command structure that will perform the magic, we are also talking about deployment of effective technology that will see ahead and detect the Boko Haram insurgents before they enter the country.

“There are many counter-measures that the President should take to check and apprehend them from fomenting violence, even if they come into the country. It is necessary that the President thinks of other options beside physical relocation of the command headquarters to Maiduguri.”

Adegbulu also believes that armed robbery and kidnapping that had gained ground in the South-West and South-East equally demanded attention. Like other Nigerians who had previously expressed concern over the issues, the security expert asked Buhari to devise practicable schemes that could assist in tackling the menace.

He said, “The President should make sure that the causes of these criminal activities such as youth unemployment and corruption are addressed. Job creation is fundamental in reducing kidnapping and other criminal activities in the country.

“Orientation within the police, as one of the institutions of government to fight crimes, is also important.”

Besides ensuring adequate security across the country, another task before the President is the perennial crisis in the energy sector and how to make petroleum products available to Nigerians at affordable prices. Stakeholders have, however, differed on how to address this issue. While some have suggested total removal of subsidy and deregulation of the downstream sector, others asked the President to shun such idea. They said if the President must remove the subsidy, which they described as the only thing the majority of the people enjoy from the government, certain fundamentals must be put in place. In their opinion, the concerns expressed by Nigerians that forced the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to rescind its initial deregulation of the sector had yet to be addressed.

The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Lagos zone, Alhaji Tokubo Korodo, asked the President to fully deregulate the energy sector for significant impact on the economy.

Korodo asked the President to make its decision on the energy sector crisis known for marketers to take decision whether or not they want to remain in business.

He said, “The ways thing are going now, the marketers don’t know the kind of policies the current government will adopt. That is why they are sitting on the fence watching. They are waiting for the new government to make announcements on the crisis in the energy sector.”

The NUPENG boss also suggested immediate passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill to encourage interested individuals, especially foreign investors to compete in the energy sector.

He said, “By the time we fully deregulate, foreign investors will come in. Government should fix the refineries that had stopped working 15 years ago.”

The position of the Nigeria Labour Congress is not completely differed from that of Korodo. The Congress canvassed the need by the President to promote the development of private refineries in the country.

Suggesting how the President should go about this, NLC General Secretary, Mr. Peter Ozo-Esan, said, “What the government needs to do is to revive the nation’s refineries and also break the monopoly of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation so that private individuals can build refineries to ease the challenges confronting the energy sector. We can promote this by giving crude even at concessionary rate to the refineries.”

He also urged the President to tackle the corruption in the sector.

“Diesel and aviation fuel have been completely deregulated. Why are we having shortage of the products? The problem is not subsidy, the problem is corruption,” he said.

But it appears that Buhari is prepared for this task. In an interview he granted recently, the President had outlined how he intended to tackle the crisis in the energy sector. As a short term solution, he had intended to sideline marketers from bringing petroleum products into the country and thereby removing the artificial barriers created by the middlemen.

According to him, the government will take crude abroad for refining and pay for the cost of such service before bringing it back for the consumption of the people.

He had said the quantity of the crude taken abroad for refining would be the quantity that would be imported back in terms of diesel, petrol and kerosene.

Nigerians are also looking forward to seeing the President revive the near collapse power sector, which they consider as the root of their survival. For them, the provision of regular, affordable and efficient electricity is crucial for industrialisation and the advancement of the country.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Power Cap, Mr. Biodun Ogunleye, called for a holistic approach to the power problem. He asked the President to first examine why intervention in the power sector by previous governments had failed to produce the desired result before adopting new strategies to address the issue.

He compared the situation with a student who was given an examination to do. According to him, the students can write 20 pages of irrelevant things if he fails to understand the content of the examination’s questions.

Ogunleye therefore said the solution to the power need of Nigerians required holistic and practical approach