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I congratulate President-Elect @MBuhari on his recent election victory. I also commend his request to his supporters not to taunt the losing party. This is a welcome departure from the unfortunate 97%/5% comment the last time. Many other things need to change. Thread...
I will start with how the new government is set up. Before the start of the current tenure in 2015, the APC held a policy dialogue. I was privileged to be the only serving member of the Jonathan government to be invited, on the basis that I focus on non-partisan governance.
The Policy Dialogue analysed a number of issues and proposed ideas and possible solutions. Unfortunately, many of the recommendations did not see the light of day. Also, the Joda Committee Report on the machinery of government was abandoned and never even discussed afterwards.
There is a need to start with a plan and to follow it. I am aware that most plans don’t survive first contact with “the enemy” (reality) but it is better to adjust a plan to suit reality than to attempt to proceed without one, particularly plans prepared by bright technocrats.
Talking about plans, there is also a need to develop a long term plan for Nigeria’s development. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is not that plan. At best, it was a medium term plan to get us out of recession. It is not the plan that will set out a long term vision.
Many Nigerians have lost faith in our planning process, thinking instead that we have good plans and our problem is Implementation. We don’t have good plans and the ones we have are not realistic, making them virtually unimplementable. There is a need to develop credible plans.
There is an urgent need to reduce the cost of governance. Many agencies need to be scrapped or merged with others and we need to stop funding some entirely. We have gone from 541 agencies in 2011 (according to the Oronsanye Report) to budgeting for 1,100 organisations in 2018.
I recognise the fact that most agencies are created by law and that you need NASS approval to scrap or merge agencies. NASS has little or no incentive to do so and would rather create more and more agencies, so that they could be seen as having “attracted development.”
There is therefore a need to take several executive bills to NASS and demonstrate the need to reduce the cost of governance, without increasing unemployment. There are tried and tested technical ways to do this, in a gradual and sensitive way. We simply can no longer afford it.
Although I understand the need to appoint political allies, some positions are too important to base appointments into purely on politics. It is possible to have a few critical positions filled on the basis of merit, while other not-so-critical ones can be filled by politicians.
We need people who can think about how to move goods, services and people in an integrated way, beyond merely commissioning infrastructure projects. We need people who can think about how to harness the energy, creativity and industry of our youth, particularly in ICT.
We need to identify the competitive advantages we have as a country and leverage on that for our development. The Chinese have done it. The Indians are doing it. Jordan has started. Rwanda & Mauritius are on their way. Our large population is both a challenge and an opportunity.
We need to tackle our population growth rate in a culturally and religiously sensitive way. What we can no longer afford to do is to ignore it. If a country’s population growth rate is faster than its economic growth rate, that country will get progressively poorer.
The current focus on Ease of Doing Business needs to be widened & deepened. It is still way to difficult to do business in Nigeria. I recently applied for a Kenyan visa completely on line. I didn’t need to visit any immigration office where people are “not on seat.” We can do it.
There are still too many multiple taxes that businesses pay. It is important to negotiate with states & local govts, through the Joint Tax Board, on streamlining the regime of taxation and permits for businesses. The current system constrains and discourages entrepreneurship.
Everyone recognises the need for adequate and stable electric power, so I will not dwell on it. All I will say, for now, is that there is a need to look again at the agreements with the DISCOS, while respecting the sanctity of contracts. NERC also needs to up it regulatory game.
There is a need to tackle the farmer/pastoralist issue. Although it is a difficult issue, I believe that it is possible to constitute a panel of national and international experts (not only politicians), with experience of other countries, to advice government on the issue.
Every strong society is founded on the Rule of Law. Some laws are inconvenient both to government and to citizens, but they exist for a reason. Where there is a need to depart from existing laws in the overriding national interest, those laws should first be amended accordingly.
No country has developed quickly recently without a strong civil service: from Japan, to Malaysia, to Botswana. We can no longer tread our civil service as an inconvenience. There is a need for a total overhaul, with leadership by, and the clear backing of, the President himself.
Corruption remains a major problem. It is important to balance the focus on corruption by Politically Exposed Persons and senior government officials, past & present, with a focus on tightening systems and processes and using technology to constrain opportunities for corruption.
Bureaucratic corruption remains rife. Despite many efforts, the process of obtaining government documents, like passports, is still mired in corruption. It is pertinent to remember that termites only eat a little at a time but hundreds of them will eventually bring down a tree.
There are certain “big beasts” of state that we urgently need to focus on. We need to reform our Judiciary. We need to reform our military and tackle corruption in the security sector. We need to focus on Health and Education. We need to tackle the opacity of NNPC.
A number of issues that we have are structural in nature. We should either go back to the 2014 National Conference Report or set up a new process to look again at these structural issues. There are many things that we can act upon immediately, without even changing the law.
My intention in this thread is not to cover all the issues. It is merely to highlight a few areas that the new government must pay attention to if this new tenure is to be better than the previous one. There are many Nigerians that are bright enough to think through these issues.
The President should task those bright people to help solve the problems and then relentlessly implement approved recommendations. Those bright people DO NOT need to be in government. It is possible to contribute to your country’s development without seeking a govt. appointment.
The people challenged to find solutions to these difficult problems can also be from a broad political spectrum. Even some people in opposition to the govt can contribute to the country’s development. Nigeria can be better if we really want it to. I want it to. End!
