ON Thursday, 26th October 2023, the Nigerian Supreme Court upheld the victory of Mr. Bola Tinubu, GCFR, in the general election held on Saturday, 25th February 2023, giving him the firm mandate to lead the nation for the next four years, effective 29th May 2023. I have a dream that Mr. President will be assiduous in the execution of his administrative responsibilities in order to place Nigeria amongst the top ten developed nations of the world within the next decade. The president whom we are told is an economist, must now do his best to justify the confidence reposed in him by Nigerians as the man to deliver them from poverty, acute suffering and very bad governance and leadership. The country has been suffering the frustration and indignity of underdevelopment since the military left their barracks for politics on the 16th of January 1966 due to the discovery of large quantities of oil wells particularly in the current Delta and Rivers states. The best President Nigeria would have had was Alhaji Shehu Shagari (1st October 1979 to 31st December 1983) but he was overthrown in a military coup led by General Muhammadu Buhari.
I have a dream that given the right leadership and governance, Nigeria will be a highly developed nation soonest since the citizens are regarded all over the world as very smart people as evidenced by their unique positions and performances in the developed countries of the world. Today, 10 per cent of all those resident in the United Kingdom are Nigerians. By the special grace of God, President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, will not disappoint Nigerians and should consequently religiously implement the following for the benefit of posterity: 1 .Put an end to corruption now: Nigeria is amongst the 3rd most corrupt countries of the world and the main actors are our politicians who have a very serious and pathetic entitlement mentality syndrome. The President must end this corruption by first reducing the salaries of all political office holders in the country by 50 per cent. A professor in Nigeria earns 3 per cent of the salary of the Senate President who was trained by him. When Angela Merkel, the first female Chancellor (President) of Germany was asked why she was paying University teachers more than the German politicians, her response was: I could never have been the Chancellor of Germany if not for the training received from my University teachers and I am very proud of them”.
The recent purchase of 2022 Toyota land cruisers (Prado Jeeps) for all Nigerian Senators at the cost of #160 M each, resulting in the expenditure of #11.3 trillion of the Country’s hard earned money is clearly a daylight robbery of the nation’s wealth and a very corrupt and insensitive action that must be reversed for posterity. Spending this huge amount of money when Nigerians are really suffering and committing suicide due to frustration and terrible hardship is not only very wicked but absolutely reckless, particularly when it is borne in mind that the reason adduced for their action is because of the very bad roads in the Country under their watch. This is a shame and a very strong evidence of incompetence by the politicians advising Mr. President. The roads are supposed to be put in excellent condition by the Federal and State governments and certainly not by looting the Country’s treasury to enrich the politicians and their dependants. The President should put all the newly purchased 2022 Toyota Land Cruisers for sale to wealthy Nigerians and retrieve those purchased during Buhari’s administration for use by the current Senators since the vehicles belong to Nigerians and certainly not private property.
We need philanthropists, the likes of Mr. Femi Otedola, and not political thieves that drain our economy shamelessly. I felt so happy and delighted to call myself a Nigerian when Mr. Femi Otedola, Chairman of the Geregu power plant recently donated #750 Million to all the 750 students of Augustine University, Lagos and #1billion to the university as its new Chancellor. God Almighty will bless Mr. Otedola richly for his foresight on the education of our youths in this Country. Our senators and other politicians should emulate this unique philanthropist and retrace their steps as a matter of urgency. 2. Establish social security benefit outfits: The President should as a matter of urgency establish Social Security benefit outfits in all states of the Federation to take care of all our unemployed youths above the age of 20 years. They should be paid reasonable amount of money to keep life and soul together until they are gainfully employed. This will no doubt arrest all the current vices being experienced in the Country, including armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killings, internet scamming, 419, etc. 3. Rehabilitate the four major petroleum refineries in the country now: The two refineries in Port Harcourt, and the two in Warri and Kaduna respectively must be given urgent attention to ensure 100 per cent productivity. Once the four refineries are in excellent condition, the importation of refined petroleum products, including petrol and diesel will be put to an end and consequently, the demonic subsidy removal that has brought untold hardship and pain to all Nigerians will be dead and buried forever. Nigerians will now be in a position to buy a litre of petrol for N150 or even less. This is the will of Almighty God who provided the nation with sufficient petrol free of charge to make her the 5th oil producing country in the whole world.
- Ensure food sufficiency in the country: Nigeria is the only country in the world that is endowed with 79m hectares of fertile agricultural land and should be far ahead of all nations in the world in food production. The President should make mechanized farming available to Nigerians willing to take up agriculture as serious business in Nigeria. This will encourage the exportation of food items to the developed Countries of the World and bring Billions of dollars to the nation. In the sixties and early seventies, Nigeria was leading the world in the production of cocoa beans, cashew nuts, rubber, palm oil and many other food Items, making the naira a highly rated currency at that time. This writer left his highly equipped Chemical Laboratory in Lensfield Road, Cambridge, U.K. to join the services of the University of Ibadan in her Department of Chemistry in the year 1981 with the sum of four thousand pounds sterling. ($4,000.) At the then Barclays bank (now Union Bank) at Agodi Ibadan, he was given the sum of N3,900 as the exchange for his $4,000. Today in Nigeria, my $4,000 will be exchanged for N4.8 million, demonstrating the extent to which our agricultural inactivity, encouraged by our greedy politicians over the years has destroyed the value of the naira.Almighty God who blessed this nation with oil because of his immerse love for Nigeria never expected this disaster to happen to us.
- Ensure constant power supply in nigeria: The President should stop the importation of generators into the country and provide constant power supply in all parts of Nigeria. This should be accompanied by very good motorable roads to arrest the daily accidents and avoidable deaths witnessed on Nigerianroads.
No nation in the world can experience any technological development without the availability of steady power supply in every nook and corner of the Country. When this nation had fairly stable power supply in the sixties and seventies, we had several booming industries including Dunlop Tyres, (Lagos), Michelin Tyres (lagos), Exide batteries (Ibadan), Wire and Cable (Ibadan), Delta Steel Company, Nigercem, Car assembly Plants (Kaduna), Aba Textile Mills, Imo Rubber Nig. Ltd and Modern Ceramics to name but a few. Today these industries are all extinct due to the epileptic power supply encouraged by our Politicians who are importing generators for ill-gotten wealth. What they do not know is that many Nigerians have died from dangerous gases emanating from the exhaust of these generators. One of the gases is called Carbon (ii) oxide (Carbon Monoxide), a colourless and odourless gas that easily penetrates the human hearts, thus creating a hole that will eventually cause the death of the unsuspecting inhaler. It also replaces the Oxygen atom in oxyhaemoglobin in Humans causing instant death. The Politicians involved know themselves and will be judged by theiractions.
- All universities in nigeria should be accorded 100% autonomy now.
The Nigerian Government should please leave her Universities alone to handle their affairs without outside interference. The Council of any University can work closely with her Senate to produce a First Class University that can be at per with the best Universities in the world. The government must stop establishing Tomato or Mushroom Universities that are mere Secondary Schools and do away completely with the National University Commission (NUC). These are the hallmarks of underdeveloped nations. Universities such as Cambridge (U.K), Oxford (U.K), Harvard (USA), MIT (USA) etc. are not controlled by any government because the politicians in these nations knows that the University Senate has the intellectual capacity to religiously handle all issues related to the academic and administrative development of the University, including charging of appropriate fees to ensure excellent teaching and research environment for her students. The production of high quality graduates by such Universities will no doubt translate to the rapid technological development of the nation.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) established in 1978 for Federal and State Universities has embarked on twenty (20) strikes so far, three in 1988, 1994 and 1996 and seventeen from 1999 to 2021 due to the rapid deterioration of academic standards in the Universities. The souls of many University teachers who died of starvation during the last ASUU strike that lasted for eight months in 2021 will continue to hunt the politicians under Buhari’s administration who caused so much pain and suffering for bereaved families by stealing their salaries to enrich themselves.
Failure of the current administration under Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pay the University teachers their well – deserved eight months salaries now as promised during election campaign in order to win the support of the teachers, will beyond reasonable doubt, attract the wrath of the Almighty God Himself on all politicians’concerned. The President should note an adage of the United States which states that “A dead fish stinks from the head” As the head of the nation Nigeria, all eyes are now on you do the needful.
- Odiaka, FAS, is a Professor of Organometallics and Coordination Chemistry, and the Dean of Applied Sciences at Koladaisi University, Ibadan, Oyo State.
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