The National President, Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr Bitrus Pogu, shares his thoughts on what Nigerians expect from the government in 2025 with ISAAC SHOBAYO.
The year 2024 was considered by many Nigerians as the toughest since the inception of this democratic dispensation. What do you think the government can do to change the narration of hardship in the country this year?
The government needs to review some of its policies and strengthen those ones that need to be strengthened. The year 2024 was, no doubt, a tough year and this was caused by the removal of petroleum subsidy. But I want to believe that the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) across the country will go a long way to ameliorate the transportation problems in the country occasioned by the removal of petroleum subsidy. At present, there is a competition in the oil sector with the coming onstream of Dangote Refinery and the resuscitation of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries. All these are expected to translate into good things for the country and as well crash the pump price of fuel. It would also push down the cost of energy, and we may be better for it before the year 2025 runs out. Also, we believe that there is greater political will to fight insurgency now than before. Prior to now, quite a lot of agrarian communities in the North had been sacked due to activities of the insurgents. Many farmers have abandoned their farms, thereby making the prices of foodstuffs to shoot up. If the government can give the required backing and support to the security agencies to sustain the onslaught against the bandits this year, there might be food sufficiency, and the cost of living would be better. That is what we are looking up to this year. We are expecting Mr. President to be firm in terms of policies to ensure that the naira is strengthened so that the cost of living would be better. With these and other adjustments, if these adjustments start impacting positively, some of the negative outlook people are having towards the government’s policies might ease off, and Nigeria would be better for it and that is what we are hoping for.
What can the government do to mitigate the hardship…?
(Cuts in) Just as I said, doling out palliatives, like rice, among other foodstuffs, cannot address the hardship. This hardship started with two things. One, the removal of subsidy on petrol, which affected everything. The removal has negatively impacted the well-being of most Nigerians, and these are not issues you can solve with a snap of the finger and then assumed it is solved. So it has to be through policies that would bring succour to the people both in the immediate and long run.
What are your own expectations concerning this year, 2025?
Let the government do the right thing and give the insecurity in the North, especially in the Middle Belt, serious attention. Most of our farmers have been chased out of their farms; some of them are hibernating in IDP camps. They want to go back, but there is no backup security to protect them. In some cases the bandits have taken over their farms and villages. All the same, we want a better Nigeria where everybody would benefit and not a Nigeria where some people would be dictating because they have already skewed the system in their favour.
Today, if there is going to be anything in the National Assembly and there is a gang-up, Kano alone has 44 local governments. They have more members in the House of Representatives than any other state in this country or don’t they? Kano is not more populated than Lagos. And real populations are never the issue in Nigeria. And demographics have never been the true demographics. We are praying that Mr. President would do the right thing as far as this country is concerned and equally do what is beneficial to Nigeria, not just to a section. So one of the major expectations of Nigeria is policies that would address the hardship in the country.
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