Letter to President: Operation rescue Nigeria

DEAR SIR,
I want to express my appreciation for the way you
have been running the  affairs of our nation since
you assumed office as our President, and
Commander-  in-Chief of Nigeria Armed Forces. At
the same time, I want to use this opportunity  to
thank God for the successful conduct of the election
that brought you to power.

However, I will advise that you take note of these
areas of our national life:

1.That Nigeria is more divided along tribal, religious,
and regional lines than
when you first led this country.

2.Corruption then was like a child’s play, compared
to what we have today.

3.The rate of crime now is unprecedented in our
nation’s history, because today there are other
crimes such as ritual killings, armed robbery,
terrorism, kidnapping, pipe line vandalism, illegal oil
bunker), etc.

These are as a result of corruption, tribalism,
nepotism and the type of constitution, laws or
system we operate. The law that is so cruel and
wicked to the poor but so compassionate and
lenient to the rich. The law that sends the poor to
five/ ten years jail for stealing a goat or hen but
frees the rich and powerful for stealing billions of
Naira/ dollars on so called technical ground, that
must be stopped if Nigeria must survive.

Mr. President, there is need to make a policy
statement on your mission to save our nation from
total ruin and your vision for Nigeria for years to
come. We love your sacrifice and patriotism when
you and the Vice President gave 50% of  your salary
to your country. But you must go a step further, that
all those who  want to work for this country must do
the same, especially, the National Assembly
members, governors, ministers, commissioners,
judges, head of government agencies,
ambassadors, High commissioners, etc. There must
be a determined effort to bridge the gap between
the rich and the poor.

As the father of the nation, you must “take the bull
by the horn”. I am not saying you should dictate to
the people but there is need to tell our people why
they must show patriotism and be ready to make
sacrifices if we want to see Nigeria of our dream,
beginning with all Nigerians, National Assembly
Members, Labour union Leaders, students,
Judiciary, Medical Workers,  the Armed Forces,
your party, that “a house divided against itself
cannot stand”.

The North through the Emirs, the idea that “this is
our time” should be put aside for the good of the
country. Everybody should see himself/ herself first
as a Nigerian, before place of birth or tribe. We
should do things that will unite not divide us. If we
want to see a united Nigeria, We must amend our
constitution that any child born in any part of the
country is a citizen of that  state, and any law
abiding Nigerian who lives and works for up to ten
years in any part or state in Nigeria should be a
citizen of that state.

Terrorism/investment
Mr. President, Sir, you will agree with me that it is
cheaper to prevent crime than fight it.  We should
not forget the adage which says “if we want peace,
prepare for war”. At the moment, the terrorists are
ahead of our Security Forces/ Agencies when it
comes to information, strategy, surveillance and
possibly weaponry.

Where robbers take over a bank for two to three
hours without hindrance and get away with their
loot is unacceptable and embarrassing. The
Government should have a “Task force of Army,
Navy, Air force, Police, supported  and funded by
federal, State, and Private sectors as was done
under former governor of Lagos State, Raji Fashola
but it can be upgraded. Their duty amongst others
is to monitor, constant surveillance, patrol the
streets, high ways, Airport, seaports, starting from
our borders, offices, etc, fight crime and corruption
which today one not only perceives the odour,
stares one in the face.

If we would attract foreign investors, then there is
need to more work in our human relationships
particularly at the airports. This is every visitor’s
first place of call when they get to the country. So
poor is our human relations that it’s a complete put
off.

N NPC/ Oil:
The first refinery in Nigeria was  built by Shell. So it
is not out of place if the Government should
introduce a policy that all companies given license
to explore oil and gas, and is able to produce up to
one hundred thousand (100,000) barrels per day,
must build a standard refinery. Those who cannot
do so should give way for those who are wiling so
that, if possible, we should be able to refine all our
productions and export to other African countries.

This will help to create jobs and increase our
foreign reserve. The Government must know the
correct  landing cost of imported fuel/ petroleum
products to Nigeria. It would be better if it is duty
free or 5% duty for logistics than for this subsidy to
continue. The subsidy money can be used to build
roads, rails, for electricity, schools, hospitals, etc.

Another area the Government should beam its
search light on is the cost of running its activities
and deliberate on plans to remove all the
abnormalities in the constitution which is slowing
down the progress of this country, encourages
corruption and crime, and things that bring division
among us instead of unity.

Government should assemble seasoned judicial
Officials and patriotic lawyers to be headed by His
Excellency, the Vice President being a seasoned
lawyer himself, to amend those areas that have
some irregularities and forwarded same to the
National Assembly for consideration and onward
passage into law. Create special Court to try cases
such as corruption, armed robbery, terrorism,
kidnapping, pipeline vandalism, ritual killings, for
speedy dispensation of justice, even in the normal
Court of Law.

The number of Ministers should not be more than
twelve, USA and UK are example, and should be
based on zones not states, that is, two Ministers
from each of the six geo-political zones. The
government should aim at using 40% of its revenue
for recurrent expenditure and 60% for capital
projects for now, and work towards 75% for capital
projects after all the loopholes and leakages had
been taken care of.

I pray that God will give you and your team, the
wisdom of King Solomon to lead our people to the
promise land. Amen.

Mr. Sam Imadonmwiyi, a public affairs analyst,
wrote from Lagos.

Nigerian govt. planning zero-based budgeting for 2016

The Federal Government is
planning to use a zero-based
budgeting format for its 2016
budget planning, Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo has said.

The Vice President said the zero-
based budgeting would be
carefully coordinated to ensure
that it is policy-driven, especially
regarding the proposed social
intervention policy of the Buhari
administration.

Zero-based budgeting is planning
according to needs and costs,
different from the existing
Envelope Budgeting or
traditionally incremental
budgeting whereby the planning is
based on existing income and
expenditure as the deciding factor
in national financial planning
levels, which often incurs waste
and assumes previous costs as
constant.

According to spokesperson Laolu
Akande, Mr. Osinbajo, a professor,
spoke Monday in his office during
a courtesy visit by the National
Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Earlier Tuesday, the Vice President
also met with a delegation from
the Chartered Institute of
Stockbrokers (CIS) and the
Association of Stockbroking
Houses of Nigeria (ASHON).

The Vice President, according to a
statement by Akande, also told the
NESG that the introduction of the
new Treasury Single Account [TSA]
policy and its implementation by
ministries, departments and
agencies was a creative way of
blocking leakages in the system to
make way for a workable budget.

He said with the zero-based
budgeting, the Federal
Government would also focus on a
bottom-up approach to
development.

He disclosed further that the
Federal Government was planning
to set up an infrastructure fund in
order to facilitate easy funding for
critical areas of the economy.

The infrastructure fund, according to the Vice
President, would be planned outside of the
budget, to handle major segments of the
economy such as road and power.

“Government is working out a document that
would guide the administration within the four
years of its life-span”, he disclosed.
During the meeting with the NESG, the
delegation praised the Federal Government for
the introduction of the new TSA policy and
offered to be part of the advocacy as a sound
financial policy.

During his meeting Tuesday with the delegation
of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) and
the Association of Stockbroking Houses of
Nigeria, the Vice President disclosed that the
Federal Government would explore the avenue
of utilizing the capital market as another means
of providing alternative funding options for the
execution of capital projects.

He also observed that allowing retail investors
to come into the nation’s capital market
ultimately would deepen the market with
potentials for multiplier effects on other sectors
of the economy.

The Vice President stated that some of the
problems of the capital market was due to
unethical practices by some market operators.
He said those who caused the crash in the
market in the past were not punished and called
on the two bodies to engage in self-regulation
as a means of protecting investors and the
market.

In his remarks during the visit, the leader of
the delegation and Acting President of CIS,
Oluwaseyi Abe, commended the achievements
of the Buhari administration within 100 days,
especially its impact on security, power and the
anti-corruption crusade, noting its positive
effects on the overall economy.
He therefore remarked that a new Nigeria was
being formed under the present leadership of
President Muhammadu Buhari.