What If You Were the President for One Year?

I asked a couple of questions on a social networking website recently, and I thought I should share some of the responses I received.

My questions were "if are given a mandate to rule Nigeria for one year only, what will you seek to change? What will be your topmost priority? What will be your 'quick wins'?

Feel free to post your comments.





Uchenna B
electricity 24/7

Olajuwon A

electoral system! That will build a solid foundation into building other things. Good and eligible leaders will be voted in in a free and fair manner.

Oshine O
topmost priority: strengthen the process of true representation via a dependable electoral reform that can even unseat me if am not representing enough, supremacy of the constitution and judicial independent that can see even the president to prison on charges of corruption. Quick win: assets declaration with a sworn affidadit that any illegal ... See Moreproperty and fund at the end of our tenure should be given to the state, Zero tolerance for corruption, no foreign medicals for cabinet member and family including education. my children education and health issue must be in public school and within the state health schem. State police with some caution. no police escort for cabinet member and no foreign trip for cabinet member except on official purposes. I will seek to change our system of government possible re introduction of regional government as against federalism, i ll seek to change our absolute dependence on oil and fight godfatherism in politics and sure, all past leaders ll be made to acount for illega gotten wealth and ?
 
Oraye S

My 1st week will see the judiciary & efcc coordinating a strategic & high powered probe of special interests (parastatals & persons) while that's going on, we'd initiate moves for a sovereign national conference to remake nigeria. In one yr, i'd be happy to send thieves to jail & have true (fiscal) federalism entrenched in Nigeria.

Segun M

@Juwon, i agree. A good electoral system will bring good leaders that will bring all the change we need.

Seyi O

@All.....interesting stuff.
But do u think we can have a genuine electoral reform in one year?

Oraye S

That's why its not my focus

Oshine O

but without it, our direction is bleak!

Oraye S

I think in one yr the focus shld be a leadership that can inspire change. Strong decisions must be made & strong crooks clipped. If we get that then ppl will definitely move on to reform the electoral process, power, education et al.


Oshine, just imagine that for 3yrs now, we'v been running 4rm pillar 2 post on all kinds of reforms. That's why we need an electoral revolution in 2011 to bring in the leadership that can command the change we desperately need.

Oshine O

i agree, the electoral revolution ll fast track the reform. Correct!

Taofik K

Electricity. And every other thing will fall in place automatically

MTH

1st 3Mths all radio and tv stations must play national anthem and pledge at noon and 10pm daily. Churches, Mosques & Offices must say National Anthem and Pledge after closing. I will expand governance to the internet with live weekly video conference 2hrs meetings about Development. Priorities will be: Law Enforcement upgrade, Agricultural Production, Enterpreneurship, Public Health, Literacy, Industrilization, Population Control, Digital Educational Sytem. I will give Power & Energy to VP.

Taofik K

A more radical way is to kill all politicians above age 45 or send them on exile. No apologies

Blessing A
Focus on building our culture of anything works and remove lawlessness by bringing in discipline to evey sector....civil service, police, once you reform the mind by being firm and dealing with corruption squarely, get the right team and set a system that works base on principles, fairness and justice. Everyone equal b4 the law. I tell you once u ... See Moreget the laws to work people will carry their duties with national interest . Everyother thing will follow. People will be afraid to steal money meant for power projects or roads , people will pay their bills etc. Just empower the justice system and people will stand for their rights and demand for better systems
 
Oshine O

@kassim, u mean u go kill me? laughssss

MTH
In addition, I will change some policies and see how the constitution can be redrafted and copies made available to every household. Nigeria has enough capability to power the people but equipments need to be upgraded. However I will make sure Institutions get power during the 3/4 of the day and Residential 3/4 of d evenings until total upgrade can... See More be done. Work from home initiative to reduce commuting and pollution. Official 4 working days and 3 Shift operation in necessary institutions. 24h Sport Centers!
 
Banky O

Jail everyone!

Temitope S
Imagine 80% of the ruling class in jail and the rest 20% shot ehn,heaven.I will empty their bank accounts and fund education,infrastructures and the health services with it.electoral reforms my ass.we need to understand that total democracy cannot work for nigeria,it is prejudiced and too expensive.a little bit of democracy at the grassroots for ... See Morethe future to be built on and total revolution at the top.fantastic formula.remember,the enemies of nigeria are the minority ruling class.they are organised and very ruthless and needs to be removed from circulation before any meaningful progress can be achieved.


Ekundayo A

Interesting discussion....one will be NEPA and the other will be tackling corruption....... those two will be big for me!!

Femi A
In the first hour of the first day, I will instruct all governors and LG chairmen to visit all Police cells and release, with profuse apologies, anyone who has been detained without charge. Then a statement of intent to outline a 4-point government action plan-



1. Setting out an interim list of national priorities- education, primary health care, infrastructure development BUT not defence or football. The definitive list will be outlined after 4. is concluded.


2. Civil concordat- basic rights of the people and primary functions of the government- security, development strategy, facilitating entrepreneurship, impartial arbiter of private economic activity.


3. Tackle corruption- start by a full declaration of my assets (freely disseminated on the web, newspapers,and other media), immediately followed by that of my Ministers (there'll be no Special Assistants).


4. Institute a Sovereign National Conference to address our union, and the structure of the federating units.... See More


Then I will retire to drink some palm wine and give her Excellency the first lady (na joke- i will abolish the ridiculous office!) some serious action before going to sleep.

Ekundayo A

LOL ..Femi, you are really prepared..or are you the plan B for Baba Go-slow?

Balogun O
This is in fact the sort of conversation we need to have as progressives. Since you've asked a three part question, I will try my best to respond accordingly.

My first thing would be to effectively train and equip our Law Enforcement, because we all know that corruption, greed and armed robbery are all huge issues in Nigeria. My first priority will be a total and comprehensive overhaul of the Law enforcement system in Nigeria, including intelligence agencies. I will also ensure that men and women of law enforcement including all civil servants are well remunerated and that they are also paid promptly -- this includes their retirement as well.


My next big initiative would be to finally establish a safety net for Nigerians like we have social security in America, because therein lies the key to an intelligent way of fighting crime while providing access to an array of much needed socio-political and socio-economic development (This is also a very good way to ensure people registered to vote).... See More


My next initiative would power, I will deregulate the power sector as I do not believe the government should be in the business of generation and distribution of electricity -- I’ll leave that to the private sector. I will bring in the latest solar and smart grid technologies because that is the future, and that is the engine that will drive business and help businesses survive and it is a much needed relief for Nigerians.


Another priority would be to provide incentives for students, ensure that getting to College is not as complicated as it is right now, and also ensure that when they get out of college there is gainful employment waiting for them. I will fight for an upward revision of the minimum wage in Nigeria.


I will invest in Health Care and do a lot of infrastructure spending, a very big one being roads and constant maintenance of roads. People do not have to keep dying at the rate at which they do right now on our roads.

I will ensure that Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, Engineers etc have access to the latest technologies in their respective fields of endeavor by mandating they receive constant training. The list is endless...

Akin L
i will with utmost urgency let Nigerians know nation building must be done collectively. I will move to remove government from oil business. Deregulate the power sector totally, I will try as much as possible to restrict government activities to tax collection and provision of welfare services. Before I leave i will reduce government dependency on ... See Morecrude oil to below 20% of revenue. I will do this by encouraging taxes so much that people will see that their money is in government and therefore participate

it can be done. the oil represents less than 30% of GDP. other sectors are contributing nothing to govt expenditure. The money is latent

The root cause of Nigeria's problem is understandable. Government stance is 'We will manage this oil money instead of collecting taxes that will now make the masses demand accountability and free and fair elections. The truth is NO JUPITER CAN REALLY TAKE THE MONEY OF THE MASSES AND GO FREE. remember the Rawlings massacre in GHana. Also the ongoing Sanusi probe in Nigerian banks

Ekundayo A

We definitely have a lot ofm presidents in the making!!! I wonder why we are wasting time with a comatose one