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President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday morning gave insights into what Nigerians should expect from his government as well suggested ways the country can advance its journey towards becoming a better country. Buhari made the revelations while ndelivering a speech on the occasion of Nigeria’s 60th Independence Anniversary at Aso Villa, Abuja.
- FUEL PRICE TO FURTHER INCREASE:
While deliberating on fuel price, Buhari noted that there is no sense for Nigeria to sell petroleum products at prices lower than those sold in neighbouring countries.
Buhari said, “Petroleum prices in Nigeria are to be adjusted. We sell now at N161 per litre.
“Chad which is an oil-producing country charges N362 per litre. Niger also an oil-producing country sells oil at N342 per litre. Ghana, an oil-producing country, petroleum pump price is N326 per litre. Egypt charges N211 per litre. Saudi Arabia charges N168 per litre.
“It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.”
2. HISTORY: NIGERIA NEEDS TO REFLECT MORE ON ITS PAST TO BETTER HER JOURNEY
At this stage in our nationhood it is important that we reflect how we got here to enable us work TOGETHER to get to where we aspire to be as a strong indivisible nation, united in hope and equal in opportunity.
Our founding fathers understood the imperative of structuring a National identity using the power of the state and worked towards unification of Nigerians in a politically stable and viable entity.
Sixty years of nationhood provides an opportunity to ask ourselves questions on the extent to which we have sustained the aspirations of our founding fathers.
Where did we do the right things? Are we on course? If not where did we stray and how can we remedy and retrace our steps?
Upon attaining independence, Nigeria’s growth trajectory was anchored on policies and programmes that positively impacted on all sectors of the economy. However, this journey was cut short by the 30-months of civil war.
We came out of the civil war with a focus on reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation that enabled the country to put in place world class development structures and a strengthened public service that well served the government. This positive trajectory continued with a return to democratic government which was truncated by another round of military rule.
For a cumulative 29 of our 60 years existence as a nation, we have been under military rule.
My summary of our journey so far as a nation is necessary to appropriately chart where we need to go and how to get there TOGETHER.
3. ACKNOWLEDGED RISING INSECURITY, DECAY OF NIGERIA’S POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS:
On insecurity, the president acknowledged the rising loss of lives and property the country.
His words: “We still face security challenges in parts of the country, while our society suffers from a high loss of moral rectitude which is driven by unbridled craving for political control.
“An underlying cause of most of the problems we have faced as a nation is our consistent harping on artificially contrived fault-lines that we have harboured and allowed unnecessarily to fester.
In addition, institutions such as civil service, police, the judiciary, the military all suffered from a general decline.
We need to begin a sincere process of national healing and this anniversary presents a genuine opportunity to eliminate old and outworn perceptions that are always put to test in the lie they always are.
4. SUGGESTED WAY FORWARD:
Nigeria is not a country for Mr. President, any ruling or opposition party but a country for all of us and we must play our part, irrespective of challenges we face, to make this country what we desire.
To achieve this, we must focus our minds, TOGETHER as a people, on ways of resolving the identified critical challenges that underlie our present state. These include:
a. Evolving and sustaining a democratic culture that leaves power in the hands of the people;
b. Supporting the enthronement of the rule of law, demanding accountability of elected representatives and contributing to good governance;
c. Increasing our commitment to peaceful co-existence in a peaceful, secure and united Nigeria;
d. Harnessing and Optimizing our tremendous human and natural resources to attain our goal of being in the top twenty economies of the world and in the process;
e. Lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years;
f. Strengthening institutions to make them stronger in protecting National Interests; and
g. Imbibing tolerance in diversity.
I am a firm believer in transparent, free, fair and credible elections as has been demonstrated during my period as a democratically elected President.
The recent build-up and eventual outcome of the Edo State elections should encourage Nigerians that it is my commitment to bequeath to this country processes and procedures that would guarantee that the people’s votes count.
The problems with our electoral process are mainly human induced as desperate desire for power leads to desperate attempts to gain power and office.
Democracy, the world over and as I am pursuing in Nigeria, recognizes the power of the people. However, if some constituencies choose to bargain off their power, they should be prepared for denial of their rights.
This call is made more urgent if we realise that even after a transparent, free, fair and credible election, desperation leads to compromising the judiciary to upturn legitimate decisions of the people.
It is necessary to, therefore support the enthronement of the rule of law by avoiding actions which compromise the judiciary.