2018: Nigerians set agenda for President Buhari -VoxPop

Ahead of the year 2018, some Nigerians are determined to seek changes in all the economic sectors. Some of them who speak with TOPE SUNDAY set agenda for President Muhammadu Buhari and the state governors on key areas they should focus on in the new year.

New minimum wage should be prioritised
The Nigerian industrial landscape did not fair very well in the preceding year. The year 2017 was overwhelmed with huge industrial actions. In setting agenda for the government in the incoming year, it is my suggestion that much needs to be done to employ the instrumentality of social dialogue to avert unnecessary industrial actions and disruption of production in a struggling economy like ours. Specifically, the issue of reviewing the national minimum wage to reflect the current economy realities of the country and in compliance with extant law should be prioritised. The recently inaugurated 30 man-committee should dispense its task forthwith so that the struggling Nigerian working class would smile again. It is also my candid view that the relevant government agency cum interested stakeholders should approach the Supreme Court to review its judgement in the case of Sky Bank Nigeria Plc V Anaemem Iwu with respect to the finality of the decision of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). Reason being that making the decision of NICN’s appealable would defeat the very jurisprudential and economic reasons for creating the court ab inito. Equally important is the need for state governments in default of salary payment to retrace their steps because we the organised labour have resolved to vote out Governors of those defaulting states.
Barrister Mohammed Bashman – Labour Lawyer and Trade Unionist

Education should be given desired attention
2017 has, no doubt, been a year of massive uncertainty of goal actualization, failure in goal attainment and ill administration in all sectors of the nation, Nigeria. No sector can confidently score 60 percentages in performance. It could also be generally agreed that the Federal Government has not lived up to it billings so far. However, as the new year 2018 draws nearer, it is sacrosanct that the federal government improves on its efforts on all sectors of the nation. As a concerned individual and patriotic citizen of Nigeria, I would like that the educational sector is improved. Education is popularly averred as the bedrock of any nation’s development. However, the epileptic nature of our education in Nigeria, particularly in federal tertiary institutions suggests an absence of any such bedrock. The National Statistics Bureau released a statistics of the employment level in 2017. It is reported that there exists a relatively high level of unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria. This didn’t happen overnight, no doubt. The nature of educational preparation has a big impact on the employment level in a nation. As such, I believe that a very well set up educational sector will positively improve such statistics if proper attention is accorded the education of the citizens. It might seem too late as the budget, in which education suffers greatly, had already been submitted for review. Let us assume it is an error and hope that people’s voices like mine here will cause a u-turn on its implementation to have key sectors such as education prioritized. It is unreasonable for the budget for education to suffer because of the money earmarked for pilgrimage, a mere religious tourism! It is unreasonable for a state government to refuse the payment of students’ scholarship and instead buy vehicles for some lawmakers. It was said of Ghana’s budget for 2018 that education and health are the two leading sectors with massive allocated resources. Will this ever happen in my nation? Nigeria, you are the giant of Africa, prove this!
Olalekan Tunde Adepoju, Doctoral Student, University of Ibadan

Medical tourism abroad should stop
I will like the Federal Government to invest more in the health sector in 2018. Nigeria spent fortune to save the life of President Muhammadu Buhari in London hospital during the year while many Nigerians also travelled abroad for medical reasons.
The medical tourism would stop if the hospitals in Nigeria have capacity to treat any disease.
We are losing a lots of money to health tourism and government must do the needful to end this trend.
Oyelola Oyewale – Journalist

Delay in budget passage should be tackled
There are several issues on the front burner for this government to address and failure to take any step will still lead Nigeria beyond the lagoon where we are at the moment. President Buhari must look into delay passage of the Budget that almost marred his government in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The delay in the passage of the budget is equivalent to running down the economy. The 2018 budget from all the indications and coupled with the Senate’s decision to have some issues with the presidency could also lead to another budget conundrum. He (Buhari) must improve on his anti-corruption war by setting his drag net to both APC members and not just opposition party alone. Nigerians want to see Buhari using insecticide ( Baggon,Mobil and Shell) across all strata. This will erode the perception of the masses that he is one-sided. Nigeria is where we are today not just because of the effect of corruption alone, but because of the leadership decadence and failure to do the right thing at the right time. He has kept his cabinet intact even when it is obvious that he needs to rejig and bring some technocrats. But he is hell bent on holding unto party’s members who contributed to his election. He needs to be flexible and rigid where necessary to avoid policy summersault that has been the bane of his administration. Nigerians are already in pains and agony, they have not seen the change they voted for. Buhari must convince the common people through developmental projects and he should tackle inflation head on.
Alifia Sunday – Public Servant

 

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