This week, President Muhammadu Buhari said, like he used to say since after his reelection in February, things will change and work better in his second and final term in office.
Efforts will not be spared to ensure the best for the country and its citizens when he begins a second term of office on May 29, 2019, he promised.
Speaking when he welcomed to his office, the members of the Board of Trustees and Advisory Council of Gidauniyar Jihar Katsina (Katsina State Development Fund) led by Justice Mamman Nasir (rtd), the president, expectedly, thanked those who voted him during the election.
“Thank you for supporting me,” he said. “I assure you that I will do my best during the second term. We will work for Nigeria and her people.”
Thankfully, while speaking, the president said his campaign to the states of the federation opened his eyes to the problems Nigerians are, in some cases unjustifiably, forced to contend with. Of course, these problems are many, ranging from poverty, unemployment and insecurity.
Some, if not all, of the problems are avoidable, considering the human and material resources available to the Nigerian state had the previous and present administrations did, when they were supposed to do, right things to profit the economy.
Essentially, things would have been different and better for the country if only the leaders were patriotic, committed and had shunned corruption and dedicated themselves to service of the people, not themselves.
Agreed, many, if not all, of the problems were not created by or reared their ugly heads during the Buhari-led presidency. Agreed too that the Buhari-led presidency has tried to address some of the problems it inherited from the past administrations, like poverty and unemployment and the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency, and is trying to nip in the bud some other problems.
Truly, it is gratifying to note that the present administration, since it came into office about four years ago, identified the cankerworm of corruption as the greatest undoing of the country and put in serious measures in place to deal with the ugly situation.
In fact, it can be said that, though all previous governments understood corruption to be inimical to the development of the country and its people, but they lacked the political will and zeal to fight it like the present administration is doing.
Of course, a lot remains to be done, especially in the area of insecurity and all that. Kidnapping has now become the order of the day, especially the North-west zone while armed robbery becomes the norm in the North-central and most other parts of the country.
Indeed, it is in the area of security, especially, that Nigerians want the president should put in all efforts to ensure the best for the country and its citizens when he begins a second term in office on May 29, 2019.
Prosperity envisaged by federal government
The focus of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in the next four years would be to address the deficiencies in the quality of human resources caused by poor education and healthcare, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said this week at the University of Lagos where he delivered the Convocation Lecture ahead of the university’s 50th anniversary.
Osinbajo said the government would ensure prosperity and decent living for Nigerians. Notably, Osinbajo said that the kind prosperity envisaged by the government can only be achieved “if we are able to address the issues of extreme poverty, productivity, corruption, rule of law and deficiencies in the quality of human resources caused by poor education and healthcare.”
Tellingly, a strategy that prepares young Nigerians to utilise emerging challenges and opportunities will be adopted, Osinbajo said. Additionally, he points out, “we must have a robust healthcare system that ensures that the average person is in good health and educational system that guarantees education capable of preparing children for the opportunities and challenges of a knowledge economy.”
Though it is heartwarming to hear that the vice president said that in planning the path to prosperity, the government takes “into account the age-old weaknesses of the Nigerian economy and the illusion of prosperity that frequently distorts our understanding of the actual fragility of our economy,” the fact remains that, in simple grammar, life is still difficult for the majority of people.
However, with corruption, which majorly stunts the nation’s development, now put under attack from all fronts, and the personal integrity of the president and the Vice President, it can be said that, despite the difficulties, there appears to be light at end of the tunnel.
Simply put, if the leaders continue doing the right things and the led remain patient, better days lie ahead for the country and its people.
Shoddy constituency projects
For too long and for no justifiable reason, corruption is the reason contracts and, especially, constituency projects undertaking by legislators were haphazardly and poorly executed. But, now, the federal government said it would not pay for any zonal intervention and constituency projects not executed according to specifications.
Revealing the patriotic stand of the government this week was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr Boss Gida Mustapha at the opening of Stakeholders Interactive Forum on the Implementation of Zonal Intervention and Constituency Projects in Abuja.
The SGF said all projects must not only be done, they must meet specifications and acceptable standards. Contractors handling intervention projects would only be paid after monitoring, evaluation and verification.
“Payments for the contracts under the zonal intervention/constituency projects will be made based on satisfactory performance in order to ensure value for money” he said, adding that contractors handling zonal intervention/constituency projects shall only be paid on the authorisation of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
Though he needs not to, yet the SGF did beg contractors and the legislators to carry out this important exercise diligently and effectively, bearing in mind that the need to ensure accountability and transparency because public funds are involved.
Of course, it should be said that until the advent of this administration, constituency projects were nothing but avenue to siphon public resources into private pocket.
Several cases of connivance between legislators and officials at the top echelon of the executive branch abound, all with the aim of embezzling public funds to the detriment of those who the projects were meant to serve.
This corruption in high places must stop in order to develop the country. Thus, it’s on this note that the decision made by the federal government to supervise constituency projects in order ensure that the projects are not abandoned even when members of the National Assembly facilitating them leave office, must be commended.
