As we revel
and bask in the euphoria of a new chapter set to begin on May 29th
2015 where a change of baton from the 16 years PDP led federal government is
set to quit the track for the Change advocate movement and Nigeria new bride,
the APC political party, we should not be carried away with funfares such that
we forget the reason why Jonathan couldn’t get our ballots for the second time.
We really need to observe keenly the electoral promises and resolutions of the President-elect,
General Muhammadu Buhari, (rtd), who on April 29 outlined 10 development
challenges as the mission of his presidency due to begin on May 29. Speaking in
Abuja in an address he delivered at the induction held for the incoming members
of the National Assembly organised by the National Institute or Legislative
Studies, General Muhammadu Buhari listed the challenges as:
1. General insecurity and insurgency
that has caused extreme human hardship and destruction of lives, livelihoods
that may take us over a decade to rebuild across most of North Eastern Nigeria
and some parts of North Western Nigeria;
2. Devastation and environmental
degradation in the Niger Delta area which must be attended to;
3. Decline in revenues due to fall in
oil prices which poses a threat to government’s capacity to deliver on
reconstruction of devastated areas and the new government development agenda;
4. Endemic corruption which has crippled
human and infrastructure development for decades;
5. Unacceptably poor provision of power
supply which has had a crippling effect on development of small businesses and
indeed the wider economy;
6. De-industrialization for the past
three decades leading to closure of many industries and migration of many to
other African countries;
7. Unacceptably high levels of
unemployment and especially youth unemployment reaching over 40%;
8. High cost of governance that has been
crowding out capital and human development;
9. Erosion of public social services such as
infrastructure, health and education; and
10.
Lack of development in the agricultural and
solid mineral sectors.
As a matter
of facts, all hands must be on deck to ensure we get it right at least for the
very first time, at least there is always a first time.
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