Buhari and the yearnings of Nigerians for change

Dear Mr President-elect,

As you prepare to take office, I would like to join fellow Nigerians in congratulating you on your election. The biggest congratulations, however, must go to Nigerians for their courage in holding the government of the day to account through the ballot box. As a nation we have indeed come of age. We congratulate Attahiru Jega for giving his best and the outgoing president for his magnanimity in defeat and for allowing democracy to flourish. Although the incumbent government fought back with all its armoury, this time around the force for change was too great.

Mr President-elect, your integrity won you the election and the admiration of the majority of Nigerians. Not even the disgraceful partisanship of our so-called independent broadcaster the NTA, nor the propaganda of lies, nor the fear-mongering about your person, nor the shameful partisan conduct of reprehensible elements of our security services, nor the financial inducement of traditional rulers and voters could stop the yearnings of Nigerians for change.

Now it is time to deliver, it is time to lead; it is time to fulfil the yearnings of Nigerians for a better and prosperous country. The poetry of campaigning was lofty, full of possibilities, a world where our power shortages are solved just by saying it; but the prose of governing is more challenging, more so in a difficult terrain like Nigeria where corruption is rampant.

The challenges we face as a nation are diverse and cannot be underestimated. We have universities that are like glorified primary schools; huge infrastructure challenges in the transport sector; a health sector desperately in need of funding; millions unemployed; rampant poverty; ethnic and religious tensions; insurgency and huge security challenges, to name a few. Even before the fall in oil prices, employees of some state governments were reportedly owed many months of unpaid salaries, some in excess of six months. This situation is bound to get worse this year unless there is a dramatic upturn in our revenues.

Mr President-elect, you will have to hit the ground running. Whether you succeed or fail will depend on your wisdom in choosing the right team for the task ahead. You will need around you people of the highest integrity, in a sea full of sharks waiting to pounce on the public purse. They cut across the political divide and you have them at your table, even now. Public office to these individuals is not about giving but about taking; thugs and bandits brandishing themselves as honourable. Your biggest challenge will be how to manage these characters and ensure they do not derail the change Nigerians have voted for. Your wisdom in ‘managing out’ the fingers of these individuals from the till will make or break your government. Mr President-Elect, Nigerians have voted for change. It can no longer be business as usual.

As you alluded in your campaign, our biggest challenge is not the current insurgency, grave as it may be, but corruption. At the root of corruption are very weak public institutions, as President Obama alluded on his visit to Africa. Without strong institutions any attempt to combat corruption will only amount to medicating the symptoms. We need a root-and-branch reform of our public institutions to make them fit for purpose. Top on the list must be the police and the judiciary. We need to build a new police force around new recruits that are better trained, better equipped, and better paid. This would involve a massive culling of bad eggs and controversial characters from the police ranks. Mere tinkering at the edges will not do.

Mr President-elect, we need a strong and independent ICPC and EFCC that are well resourced to carry out their roles. The lack of punishment and the delay in seeing through prosecutions have become a motivation in themselves for crime and corruption. You’ll need to use your party’s majority in the National Assembly to reform our criminal justice system to make it more responsive. In a country where the wheel of justice grinds ever slowly, justice has become a casualty; the little thief is jailed and the big thief celebrated. Our young democracy has been bedevilled by attorneys-general that have protected criminals rather than prosecute them. Getting the right person for this position is absolutely critical to combating crime and corruption in Nigeria.

Mr President-elect, as the leader of the majority party, Nigerians will be looking to you to curb the excesses of the National Assembly. With dwindling oil revenues, it is scandalous that our legislators earn more money than their peers anywhere in the world, including the US, the world’s richest economy. This is in addition to the lavish final salary pensions and benefits ex-governors would have arranged for themselves, including a house in Abuja and medical allowances of up to N100m a year for some governors. This is sheer theft from the people, in a country where 70 percent of the population are on less than $2 a day. Those masses of people that queued for hours in the baking sun to vote for you are looking to you to redress this situation. You cannot afford to sit on the fence on these and similar matters of public interest pertinent to Nigerians. Nigerians demand a reduction of at least 50 percent of the current National Assembly budget of N150bn.

The alleged common practice of some parliamentarians and committee chairs demanding backhanders and other inducements from MDAs for their oversight work or to approve MDA budgets must stop. This thievery compromises the very important budget process that is critical for the development of the country. An example must be made of these individuals for others to take note.

The new administration must find new ways of holding governors and state legislators accountable for the use of public funds. The revenue allocation for the state is not for the governor and his legislators to share as they wish.

Mr President-elect, we do not need 42 ministries and over 600 parastatals. Most duplicate each other’s work and have become avenues for stealing government money. As someone with some experience in this area in Europe, we could save as much as half the entire federal budget by curbing corruption, profligacy, waste, and reducing the size of government. The savings from running a more efficient government would release funds for investment in infrastructure that would help create more sustainable employment for our youths.

Mr President-elect, the main thrust of your campaign was to curb corruption before it kills Nigeria. You have the mandate and blessing of Nigerians to drive this change. You must carry the whole nation with you as your constituency. You will need grit, discernment and fortitude for the task ahead. You must seize the moment and posterity will remember your tenure as the point in history when Nigeria finally turned the corner. We wish you Godspeed as we all pray for our dear country.

Emmanuel Nwachukwu