Nigerians expectations in 2014

As we experience the beginning of another new year Nigerians analyse
the previous year on the basis of the country’s political and economic
developments.
Chidike ukoh the President of National Youth empowerment Association
(NEYA) Africa was the first on the list of Nigerians who spoke on the
nation’s political and economic State in 2013
“There have been a number of events that have shaped the developments
of the country in 2013. In the area of economic developments, there
are indices to prove that the macro-economic activities are picking
up. Though not exactly on the high pitch, because everybody is not
feeling it now; the downtrodden are not too sure that the economic
indices given out by government agencies are touching their lives.

But that is not to say that nothing is happening, the economic indices has
to have pillars upon which to rest. The perfect way to measure a
growing economy is to analyse the productivity level. We are largely
mono economy because of the oil we have been selling for too long
without adding value to it. Now that the government has said that it
is building certain number of plants through the NIPP project which
was delivered on the first of November this year. The privatisation
sector took place where we have five generating companies and eleven
distribution companies, otherwise known as “discos” and “Jincos”. This
has been handed over to private individuals for commercialization to
be able to produce stabled power for which will be retailed to the
public as its final consumers. But there must be the issue of
sustainability of the power level. When it was under the public
sector, as NEPA we all saw how badly it worked.

The transition to the private sector has certain significant effects.
The 42, 000 staff strength of the former NEPA was disengaged and their
entitlement completely paid, remaining only about three thousand
comprising those with difficulty of documentation.
We are hoping that by the next six months all the disengaged staff
would have been settled. This is quite a big task. A lot of people
even presumed that it will hot work but it did. More so, those who
have the capacity to do well in the sector will be reabsorbed into the
new companies. This is a land mark development because the basic
developments of any Nation should rest on power generation, for big
industries, artisans and small scale business owners.
There may not be that push from the hinterlands to come to the city
when you have access to power to do what you want to do. That is a
major land mark. Some other indices will come from the agricultural
produce and I can tell without doubt that youths are becoming more
involved in Agriculture than they used to be. I am optimistic that in
the coming year a lot more youths will buy into the Agricultural value
chain as a source of employment opportunity”.
Regarding the upcoming election campaign, Ukoh says; “Nigerian
politicians should avoid inciting violence. “As long as there is
peace; politics will thrive. The Minister of information has said that
this democracy is not madness. The people at the helm of Nigerian
politics should bear that in mind. Democracy is based on certain
historical frameworks, which does not in any way relate to Voilence.
Nigerian politicians should not over hit the polity in the effort to
win elections.
They should focus on developmental issues as part of their campaign
strategy, not issues that are likely to trigger violence. Nigerian
politicians must learn to operate within the ambits of the Nigerian
law regulating such practices”.
 For the coming year he therefore wishes that Nigerians consolidate on
the gains of Democracy. “I expect that there will be peace next year
so that government can be adequately measured. In the presence of
peace we will be able to properly analyse what the government is
doing.
Also Nigerian youths should be careful to know who is deceiving them.
They should be able to tell if a politician is trying to lead them
astray or not”.

Barrister Ike Chidi Ikefuama a lawyer representing Nigerians in the
Diaspora, and a member of the Global peace foundation has this to say
about the country in 2013:
“Well we are grateful that we have come this far. But regarding the
economic policies of 2013; I cannot really tell since there has not
been an economic analyst who has appeared on talk shows to talk
credibly on the economic strength of the Nation. Building a viable
economy in Nigeria is indeed a herculean task. The CBN governor said
that the country’s economy is growing on 7.5 per cent exponentially.
This is grossly inadequate especially considering the fact the country
is dependent upon only one source of income for the Nation, which is
oil. What happened to Nigeria’s agricultural heritage what exactly are
we manufacturing in this country and exporting besides oil. Nigerians
must be realistic we must tell ourselves the truth. The published
statistics about agricultural growth and investments have not yet
gained as much effect on the average Nigerian and this is quite
disturbing. If we must move forward as a nation then we must accept
that the present economic Policy has not showed us anything that would
reverse the current trend where over 70 per cent youths remain
unemployed. In the Clintons administration, my group in the US created
over 500 000 summer jobs for youths who were destined to destroy
America. President Clinton at that time engaged us to divert the
activities of those youths from the street war and drug abuse to the
factory where they earned money to support their families. Nigeria
should do likewise. We should forget this oil rush since it will lead
us nowhere. The California Gold Rush for example ran out on America.
The money derived from the Gold rush was used to develop America.
Nigeria’s oil money must be used to develop Nigeria
Also the issue of revenue allocation in Nigeria is preposterous. The
mare thought that Nigerian States and indeed the Federation is leaving
on revenue allocation is unthinkable. It is not practicable any place
else. What should be done is that the governors are asked to borrow
that money on a low interest rate. They would use the borrowed sum for
infrastructural and other developments in such fashion that they would
be able to generate interest upon return. The reason for this is that
if they have gotten the money on the basis of a loan; they would be
committed to investing it properly to generate return with interest.
Also that way the government will be able to grant state aid in cases
of emergencies. These emergencies may include natural disasters like
flood and other unavoidable catastrophes. Also homeless people could
be rescued with the use of this money.
Giving money in such manner to State governors only encourages
corruption. The Governors will yield to the temptation on conceiving
of such funds as their personal wealth, thereby misusing it.
Furthermore, the government should employ other means towards cubing
insurgency in the North through the use of advanced Technology from
Nigerians in the Diaspora like myself who are involved in advanced
technology such as satellite services.
The government should do its best to encourage Nigerians in the
Diaspora to come home and invest the money they have abroad in the
economy. This can be done by creating the enabling environment for
this to happen. They must understand that we in the diaspora have a
stake in this struggle. We are Nigerians too except that we are
committed to doing things right”.
His word for Nigerian Politicians in the coming year goes thus: “The
political terrain in the year 2014 must begin with the terms of
engagement. The National conference will play a significant role in
the coming political year. Nigerians must analyse properly, along the
lines of its centenary history, the plans it has for the almost 300
ethnic groups in the country. Every group must be adequately
represented, in order to find a good pathway through.
Also the voting procedure must involve a concrete voter’s registration
where advanced technology is used to capture people. This in turn must
start from the infant at birth in the hospital. They must have
detailed information of people on a digital level. That is the only
way the country can combat corruption”.
The expectations he has for the coming year are therefor as follows:
“I expect Nigerians to be committed to the growth of the Nation and be
optimistic about what they can do to lift the country from its present
state. We must remember that this country is playing a critical role
in the development of Africa. That way, we can make Nigeria grow to
the point of channelling the growth of the entire continent. I hope
that the country will witness a free and fair election; a formidable
opposition, based on facts. Lastly I must commend the President whom I
do  know on a personal level, despite the fact that I have seen him a
couple of times in the States. This country has never been as good as
it is in its hundred years history.
Thus, the growth in the various sectors of the economy, the media,
power rail lines among others show a significant improvement.
Mr Bony Alams, the publisher of Africa science Tech Digest Magazine
speaks on the problems encountered by Nigeria in the year 2013.
According to him the problems encountered in the past year is as a
result of the porous system of economy which encourages revenue
allocation.
“Those at the grass root level feel disenchanted that they are not a
part of the economy. It should not be like that. What the country
needs is a complete system overhaul where the economy is reformed such
that every Nigerian starts feeling the direct impact of whatever
growth is recorded by the economy. That way the people will start to
see themselves as proud Nigerians.
Therefore my advice to the President is that he should battle
corruption to a standstill. The best way to do this is to reform the
system ensuring that the institutions are working. It is not right to
continue to allocate funds without trying to find out if the
institutions are actually making profitable use of such finds.
The first step towards transformation is to transform the citizenry.
The values must be made to change so that Nigerians start acting like
we did in the early days of our Nationhood. That is the only way to
eliminate corruption”.
He noted that the past year was replete with political deceits saying:
“The same set of Nigerian who led Nigeria towards the part of ruins
are the same ones raising this dust now to confuse and deceive
Nigerians. Therefore Nigerians must be wise and shun corruption. Even
journalist should not be carried away by the brown envelope syndrome.
Nigerians should be courageous enough to ask questions rather than
accepting information without weighing it”.
Personally he expects that Nigeria will win the world cup:
“Personally I expect that the first world cup to come to Africa will
come to Nigeria. With the current trend am optimistic that this
country will win the world cup. I also would like to use this
opportunity to tell the present government to focus on what it is
doing. No one is perfect. The government may have made certain
mistakes here and there but I am optimistic that the government is
working in good faith for the nation.
Life Alegbemi, of Echo Nigeria international has this to say:
“Nigeria’s political and economic terrain has in the past been devoid
of honesty. Nigerians have failed to adhere to the principle of
honesty and reality.
Nigerians need to become sincere notwithstanding the political party
they belong to. In the past the country has seen various cases of
politicians who make promises of fixing certain aspects of the
economy, without successfully doing so; not because they were not able
to do so but because they were not willing to. They treat the Nigerian
people as toddlers”. Siting the example of a carpenter, the activist
explains the typical Nigerian politician “take a carpenter who says he
can fix your furniture for example. After settling to a given sum and
an expected date for the work, he comes back later to tell you that he
had certain problems and so is unable to fix the furniture. In the
same vein, the typical Nigerian politician will promise while
campaigning that he can do so many things only to come up with flimsy
excuses that there are certain cabals preventing their success after
assuming office. A typical analysis of the situation, however, would
reveal that they would have known that these cabals existed and would
be capable of constituting such hindrances before they made the said
promises.
The present political terrain is replete with insincerity. I will
prefer to refer to them as failures, tough they would say that they
have succeeded in getting the money they had in mind.
My expectations therefore are that Nigerian leaders imbibe the
principle of sincerity. This is the bedrock of any significant
development I expect to see that Nigerian leaders become more
patriotic; that they become more willing to identify with their
country. Look at the late Nelson Mandela he was in his country till he
died, but our leaders will fly abroad for treatment at the slightest
provocation. They take their children to school abroad as though the
country does not belong to them. It is as though we are been led by a
swine of foreigners. So we hope that all that will change in the
coming year.
 Also, I hope that in the coming year we will become patriotic, that
development should not be on the basis of godfathers. I hope that in
the coming year, there will also be a level playing ground for all the
people willing to better the lot of this country. There are Nigerians
who want to be able to partner with government and employ a lot of
people without any form of assistance from government. We hope that in
the coming year the polity will be such that the likes of such people
will be encouraged.