Nigerians have asked President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government to prioritise the issue improved economy, rules of law, improved security and stop blame game in the New Year 2020.
Speaking on their expectations from the federal government in the New Year, some Nigerians who responded to a question on Facebook by the Blueprint, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) government should remain focus and stop playing politics with programmes and policies.
A staff of Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Lubem Gena, urged the federal government to come to the rescue of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in 2020.
“I expect the government to come to the rescue of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). They are the engine of growth of the African economy. They employ more than the government and as such deserves every form of support in order to deepen the economic growth of the nation. The model to be used should be Finance Leasing which derisks loans.
For Nasiru Sulaiman, a Sokoto based Journalist, the issue of insecurity should be handle with all seriousness while welfare of the citizens should be prioritised.
“It is imperative to have a good electoral laws and process. The government should kick start the process of reviewing the electorate Acts to capture electronic voting and ensure the card reader is recognised by the law. Blame game should stop and government should be more responsive to the plight of the citizenry and take responsibility for failure and success of all its action and inaction.”
In his own, a Lagos based Information Technology (IT) expert, Owolabi Owotunmibi, the federal government should dive fully into the evolution of disruptive technology changing the status quo of global economy as projected by Jack Ma who visited Nigeria a couple of months ago.
“Federal government needs to launch fully into e-governance, e-entrepreneur, e-eduction and e-infrastructure by getting the digital brains into the system rather than the analog brains taking us one step forward and five steps backward.
“This will dramatically take Nigeria out her authoritarian and monolithic economic system.”
An Abuja based media entrepreneur, Samuel Torlumum, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure judicious implementation of the 2020 budget.
“Strict adherent to capital projects designated in the budget will reposition or uplift good governance. Already, the early signing of the budget is the step in a right direction. Now, its time for the government to take advantage of it. Getting it right in terms of budget implementation will also boost our already weak economy.”
On the issue of alleged nepotism by the current administration, an Abuja based political analyst and Journalist, Bode Gbadebo, said: “Nepotism in federal appointments should stop. Federal character law should be obeyed to the letter in order to foster unity among Nigerians.”
While some other respondents said they were not expecting anything from the current administration for fair of disappointment, an Okeho born social crusader, Hon. Kunle Ogundokun, urged the federal government to stop being selective in her fight against corruption.
Buttressing what Ogundokun said, a Kaduna state based Journalist, Ojo Shola, also called on federal government and all its operators to stop blame games and also forget about that controversial hate speech.
“Federal government should make sure Nigerians can travel from one state to the other on good roads and guaranteed security of lives and property. All the ministries, agencies and parastatals of government should go digital, so many Heads of these MDAs do not have the skills to manipulate their mobile devices to get a lot of work done unless they get to their desktop or laptop. Above all, Mr. President and his cabinet must fear God in their dealings with Nigerians no matter the status.”
