By Enyeribe Ejiogu and Daniel Kanu
Nigerians have for the past three decades been traumatised in the political sphere as globally accepted socio-economic indices abundantly show. Do you talk about the pernicious deficits in public power supply? What about insurgency closely associated with the heavily armed foreign militia from various Sahelian nations and their in-country ethnic kith and kin that are ravaging almost every square kilometre of the country? Kidnapping for ransom, killing and maiming, raping and violation of both teenage and adult females by these incarnates of the devil have become the order of the day, resulting in thousands of people sacked from farming communities, forced to relocate to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Benue and other places. 
In the northern parts of the country, poverty sticks like a leech to millions even as the population of out-of-school children has hit a high mark.
In less than seven weeks, the long anticipated 2023 general election, which will usher in a new administration at the federal level will hold.
With the leading presidential candidates continuing their campaigns, Nigerians are already casting votes in their hearts for their preferred candidates, while some openly express their support or disdain for particular candidates through viral TikTok videos on various social media platforms.
For millions of prospective voters that are active on social and the much older “analogue” adults, the 2023 election is akin to the moment when God said that the cry of the Jews in bondage in Egypt had come unto Him.
Nigerians have been praying for deliverance, while thanking the Almighty God for sustaining the nation. Here are what Nigerians are looking up to in the next government.
Tertiary education, justice
The presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of Calvary Kingdom Church International, Lagos, Archbishop Joseph Imariabe Ojo, noted that “but for God’s love, Nigeria would not have remained as a nation till now.”
What are his thoughts and desires for the country as the change of administration is imminent at the national and state levels, Sunday Sun sought to know?
Archbishop Ojo, whose face lights up with memorable recollections of Independence Day, October 1, 1960, went philosophical in his response and hacked back to the sentiments that propelled the founding fathers.
He said: “My prayer and desire for Nigeria is to have a country that is peaceful and united, a country where tribe and tongue may differ, but in brotherhood we stand. A country where moral values are upheld, and people of questionable wealth are not celebrated. I want a country where the clause ‘State of Origin’ is replaced with ‘State of Residence.’ I have lived in Lagos for 34 years and still being asked of my state of origin. I want a Nigeria where people with the fear of God are elected as leaders.”
Alluding to the quotation in the Bible (2 Samuel 23:3), Ojo said: “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear if God,” adding “Justice, that is what has been lacking in our leadership since the supposed independence of this nation. I want a country where justice will reign.”
He also said: “I would love to see the next government to take the university education close to what it used to be, when there was no closure of schools, and the academic year was nine months. Students were not cooking in hostels, but had meal tickets and after graduation jobs were available.
“We need a public university that is close to the private universities if not better, in terms of quality infrastructure, well equipped laboratories, comfortable lecture halls, among other facilities.”
As would be expected, the topical issue of insecurity is in front of his thoughts too. Recently, the highly respected General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) reiterated his previous call that people in communities under frequent attacks by armed militia should acquire arms to defend themselves.
Commenting on this, Ojo said: “I see it as a good counsel, but how many Nigerians have what it takes to buy these modern guns. That is why we need people who are sincere to be in leadership. Anyone who is able to buy any should not hesitate to do so. But when the chips are down, my counsel is that people should do as the occasion demands.”
Like Archbishop Ojo, National President, Association of Private Polytechnic Founders and Rectors in Nigeria, Pastor Bassey James, believes that despite the troubles that have beset the country and hindered it progress, it is still possible for the country to become prosperous under a good leader, who can build a new Nigeria that is above tribalism, ethnicity and religion, which he says will not be divided according to tribe and religion, and a country that upholds the rule of law.
“There is need to rebirth the nation, make it greater. A nation where the people are not fighting and destroying themselves, where the leaders love and cherish citizens. I earnestly desire to see justice and equity exhibited in all aspects of our national life, where any qualified citizen can become the president of the country regardless of his religion or tribe. I want our nation to become a country where leaders are accountable to the people, where the education sector works, there is social security, public infrastructure and functional utilities provided.
“I want the next government to unite the country, give hope, restore the confidence of the citizenry in government, really fight against in clear practical ways, which are devoid of the seeming protection of the very same people that are causing the insecurity across the country. I want the government to implement policy initiatives that will revamp the economy and create jobs. I want to see the inordinate power of money in politics broken. The new government should prioritise social security services through the banks and end wasteful programmes like Tradermoni, NPower and other politically motivated initiatives that have been conduits for corruption as the funds budgeted for them do not get to the people for which the programmes were created, and the problems remain unsolved. Rather, the government should set up a programme to be managed by the banks, where qualified people can get loans at very low interest rates.
“The next government should have a transparent and honest discussion with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to end the disruptions in tertiary education and restore normalcy to the academic calendar, so that Nigerian degrees will be respected by the international community.
“The Education Trust Fund should be extended to private institutions which are also producing manpower. Today, these institutions are facing difficulties in running the schools. The government should have a policy that will enable the institution to access affordable credit facilities to procure necessary infrastructure for learning and research,” he suggested.
End scourge of residential housing deficit
All too often Nigeria’s political leaders and their cabinet members, as well as individuals in the leadership echelons of the country’s Civil Service, who proffer policy advice and also implement approved policies, travel out and see how developed and rapidly developing nations in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Asia, Israel and parts of the Middle East have put in place organised public housing, and they love it.
But the moment they arrive back in the country, they appear to consign what they saw in the dark archive section of their minds and continue in their business-as-usual manner.
In some real sense, that attitude explains why nothing concrete is being done by the federal and state governments that succeeded the era of Alhaji Lateef Jakande (Lagos), Sam Mbakwe (old Imo) and some other state governors of that period, when mass low cost housing was the rave in the Second Republic, when even the National Party of Nigeria, NPN-led Federal Government was given land by opposition state governments to build housing estates in place far from human settlements as a way of frustrating the laudable intentions. The military that toppled the government on December 31, 1983, eventually converted several of the unoccupied estates into Army or Police barracks.
Lead Partner in Stephen & Ozili Co, a firm of Estate Surveyors & Valuers, Stephen O. C. Ozili, who has been in the profession for about 30 years, is deeply pained by the country’s growing housing deficit. Leaning on his wealth of experience, he eagerly requested the incoming administration to produce a workable policy to achieve the housing needs of the citizenry, stressing that reducing the housing deficits in Nigeria is not too much to ask of the successors to the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
His words: “There are various figures out there used at different times, to evaluate Nigerian housing deficits. These have galloped from 17 million to 22 million and now 28 million housing units deficit, according to UN Rights Project.
The criteria for assessing this is another subject entirely. But in a nutshell, housing deficits in Nigeria are more prevalent in the urban areas than in the rural settings due to rural-urban migration.
Traditionally, many people who live in urban areas would always want to build houses in their villages in order to identify with their people. In which case, these property are mostly either not occupied at all or not fully occupied or seasonally occupied.
“In general, there are so many reasons attributable for housing deficits in the country and some of which are: urbanization, high construction cost, bottlenecks in accessing land for development and documentations, government fiscal and physical policies, lack of implementation of housing policy, high rate of poverty, lack of access to workable mortgage facilities and lack of necessary infrastructure, among others.
“Since Nigeria’s independence, there had been various housing policies in place to curb the issues of housing deficits. These had been done through the establishment of policies like the Land Use Act, Federal Mortgage Institution, Federal Housing Authority, etc. No doubt that they meant to achieve good objectives. Today, the impacts of those policies have not been positively felt because of reasons ranging from poor implementation to policy somersault.
“Now, on the way forward, these are my suggestions on how the rapidly increasing housing deficits in Nigeria should be tackled by the incoming administration. There should be provision of basic social amenities and infrastructure to aid housing development. For example, where there are no good roads to access a land for development, it is expected that it will heavily impact on the construction cost. Now, even in built-up environment, electricity is not regular, let alone undeveloped areas. Others are lack of government approved layout plan for many undeveloped lands, drainages, water, to mention but a few. Once there is a determination by the incoming administration to prioritize and pursue its housing policies in this direction, it will go a long way in curbing backlog of residential housing for the citizenry.
“There should be a clear-cut and workable housing policy to be implemented, bumper-to-bumper (with unrelenting commitment). Every housing policy must involve strict monitoring and continuous review of same policy. There are so many substandard issues in the building sector, ranging from raw materials, quality of developed houses, quackery, etc. In some cases, it is not lack of policies, but lack of strict monitoring. This is important because the criteria for rating house deficit globally include building with basic amenities and infrastructure. You find out that those living in remote areas without electricity, roads, water, may not be included as having shelters of their own. The willpower for policy implementation will raise the standards of housing development in Nigeria.
“The administration should encourage private sector with appropriate fiscal policy by providing tax incentives including building development financing, tax waiver for local manufacturers of raw materials, where inevitable, tax incentives for raw materials importation. Fiscal policy can also be used to encourage the development of more housing units by providing lower exchange rates incentives for imported raw materials and at the same time ensuring that such incentives do not include products that can be sourced locally.
“Orientation and training of the private developers are also very vital. Some do not know or follow government policy while developing houses or estates. Here, the stakeholders will be exposed to use of standardized local raw materials in the building industry. This has become imperative to ensure that government enters into partnership with the private sector to achieve greater results in housing delivery, such as Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects for buildings, roads and other infrastructure.”
Create state police, don’t allow citizens bearing arms
For the National Leader, Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), Comrade Joseph Evah, security is the first most important thing.
He said: “There is an urgent need to secure Nigerians in their country, hence the need to ensure that the country is safe.”
Despite the rising insecurity and menace of armed foreign marauders, Evah does not subscribe to everybody allowed to carry a gun as proposed by Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, but he rather called for the establishment of state police, as well as regional security outfits for adequate security of lives and property, which he emphasised is the essence of governance.
Moreover, Evah wants a better economy that must be fixed by in-coming government after Buhari leaves office, adding that “the country is so divided today, so we need a government that will unify the people, secure them and take care of their welfare through a buoyant productive economy.”
To revive farming, tackle insecurity
For close to 13 years, Nigeria has been in the grip of insurgency, which began after the death of the leader of the Yussifiyya Movement in Borno State, in questionable circumstances in 2009. The movement which espoused its belief that Western education is Boko Haram (forbidden), then adopted the expression as its name. With foreign, well-armed militia and other renegade elements masquerading as herders, marauding across the country, insecurity has been the topmost concern of everybody, as it has untold effect on all aspects of life, particularly in the agricultural sector, resulting in displacement of millions of people from farming communities in states.
Agro-investors have tales of agony, trauma and incalculable loss of funds put into agricultural ventures. Hundreds of thousands have been abducted and killed, maimed, women violated, and unquantifiable millions of naira paid as ransom.
For the few who survived the ordeal like Alhaji Abdulfatah Oladeinde, a former editor of the Sunday Sun and Nigerian Express newspapers, who fortunately escaped after six days in the custody of the gang that abducted him from his farm in Ogun State, the trauma of the incident made him totally give up on his love for farming and investing in agriculture.
Like Oladeinde, the one desire of the Presiding Bishop and General Overseer of Wordbase Assembly, Dr Humphrey Erumaka, is that the next government would steadfastly work to see that security is restored in the farming communities in the country, to avoid famine which is imminent.
Recounting the experience of his wife, whose farming venture became still born, he told Sunday Sun: “My wife got a loan from Access Bank, which she used to set up a poultry business in Ogun State, where she built a farmhouse and poultry farm. Given that I am funding the household and generally responsible for the children, any other money she made was used to pay back the loan. So, I was not surprised when she said she had paid off the loan.
“However, the biggest headache today is that the farm is not running again because of the Fulani kidnappers who pretend to be herdsmen. In the plant section, she planted pineapple and other crops. But the Fulani would come with their cattle and weapons (guns, swords and daggers), chase the workers away, and graze their herd in the farm. The place became unsafe and so we shut it down for now, while hoping that a new administration at the federal level will bring stability back to the agricultural sector. The greatest problem against agriculture is insecurity. A lot of farms are not working.”
Create thousands of jobs through fish-farming, other trades
Blessed with very good and abundant freshwater resources suitable for aquaculture and mass production of fresh fish, Nigeria ought not to be importing frozen fish in the huge, enormous tonnages it does annually and in the process exporting scarce foreign exchange to other countries.
A fish-farming entrepreneur and General Overseer of Olive Mountain of Prayer and Praise Ministry, Dr Prophet Timothy Collins, said that if aquaculture had been properly developed, the country would have significantly boosted local production of white protein from fish, and thereby conserved foreign exchange currently being spent on importing frozen fish.
He proffered suggestions on the way forward: “If the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, really implements its promises with respect to farming business that focuses on production of common foods, I think that will help the country so much, at least it will help to reduce hunger and the price of consumable items in the market.
“As a cleric I got engaged in fish-farming without any capital. It has not been easy, but at the same time I still managed to employ over 10 people in my small-scale fish farm. If CBN can locate a person like me, and support me with an affordable loan, that will greatly help me to expand the business and employ more people. With adequate working capital, I am looking at employing 50 to 100 people, if not more. Fish-farming requires many hands to handle the different aspects of the actual production of the fish, from the hatching to growing the fingerlings and then transferring them to various ponds where they grow to maturity and the harvesting for the market. Each stage requires intricate management by several experienced hands to avoid multiple death of the fishes. Caring for the fishes requires attention and careful monitoring. One has to invest in adequate security, to prevent theft and arson.”
In essence, Dr Collins posited that if you have thousands of small-scale fish farms grouped under cooperatives across the country, there will be enormous positive multiplier effects from just this one aspect of the agriculture value chain.
The teeming mass of the country’s secondary school leavers with no hope of securing admission for tertiary education are further hamstrung by the fact that they lack employable skills, all because successive governments over the last 40 years “killed” the trade schools that imbued their students with basic skills through benign neglect.
That is why workers from Benin Republic and Togo now meet the country’s need for skilled labour in welding, tiling, carpentry, masonry, electrical installations, among other such services.
Rather than be content with just lamenting over the unfortunate situation, Collins has responded to the call to stand in the gap for the nation in this regard, by providing youths opportunity for skills training.
“One of the major problems facing the youths is lack of jobs, and we don’t have skill acquisition places where youths can learn or be trained without paying fees. This is even the more reason I established the fish farm. I have skills acquisition centre where we train youths in construction works, woodwork, iron works and so many other skills.
“There are other people like me, who are doing these things to help our country. That is why the federal and state governments should prevent overzealous local government workers from hiding behind official cover to extort individuals who are essentially using money they struggle to earn from other legitimate business activities like my fish-farm, to do charity works for the good of the general society. Every young person who is empowered with skills and becomes employed will not become a prospective criminal.”