CONTEST: IF I WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY (NIGERIA) - BY @anselam.
INTRODUCTION
Hello esteemed members of the STEEM NIGERIA community, as we have all witnessed the things happening here in Nigeria, some of which are Insecurity, bad economy, poor power supply, secession calls and youth restiveness. Many people have blamed the leaders for not handling this situations well, but since these leaders like the president are people like me and you, here are the things I would have done differently if I was the president of Nigeria.
INSECURITY
This is one of the major problems in the country as we keep hearing news of people being abducted or attacked every day. But if I was the president, the very first thing I would have done to tackle insecurity would have been to Decentralized the police system. The country is very diverse but the security system is still being Centralized at the top, if we allow the the local governments to control their own police units, then they will be closer to the people, they will be able to gather informations about any terror group trying to terrorize the area.
Secondly, i will improve intelligence gathering in the country because we have seen how hard it is in the country for the security agencies to gather intelligence reports concerning the security threats we are having. When the security agencies know where, why, and when the gunmen, abductors or terrorist will be attacking, they will know how to prevent it from happening.
BAD ECONOMY
If I was the president of Nigeria, by now the issue of economic recession, or unfavorable economy would have been the thing of the past because I would have created an enabling environment for great economic development.
As the president, I will not take up economic development all by myself, but I would make sure that I put those things that will be favourable for people to thrive in their economic activities in place.
Some of the things that will make the country favourable for small, micro and medium enterprises include reduction in taxes, better power supply, good access roads, security and grants. The taxation in the country is too much and this have greatly discouraged some potential entrepreneurs from putting their great economic ideas into practice because they might not be able to sustain their businesses due to high taxes.
POOR POWER SUPPLY
Nigerians have a lot of agitations when it comes to power supply in the country because we have continually been frustrated by the epileptic power supply all over the country. If I was the president, I will immediately stop the exporting of energy to other countries in Africa. I is a very funny thing to realize that we have been exporting power supply to other neighboring countries when we are yet to generate enough power to be supplied to the country.
Since this will be hard due to the fact that electricity have been privatized in the country, then I would have created another power generating agency that would be controlled by the government so that even if I want to distribute electricity to everybody in the country for free, then it will be possible.
SECESSION CALLS
There is a lot of secession calls here and there, we have seen a lot of them from various groups from different zones of the country like the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), the ODUDUWA Republic and the rest of them.
Firstly, these calls are coming because the people from these areas feel that they have been treated well or equally by the federal government. So if was the president, then tI will call these people to a round table discussion or dialogue so that they can make their requirements to be known. I will ensure that there is a compromise between us so that I can take care of the things they want in order to reverse the secession calls.
I will not only do these for those areas that are coming out in a very vocal manner, but I will also ensure that there is an equal representation in governance so that every body in every part of the country will have a sense of belonging.
YOUTH RESTIVENESS
In the last few months, we have seen a lot of youth restiveness in the country, some of them have come in form of massive protests and related actions. These actions are happening because of the high level of unemployment in the country.
So if I was the president of the country, I would empower the youths to establish themselves in the society, utilize their skills and various knowledge. The government have concentrated on providing jobs for the youths, but that can never be effective in a country with high population like Nigeria.
The best thing I would do is to make sure that empower these youths on how to make money from their various skills instead of waiting for a job from the government.
In addition, some government policies are not favourable for these youths to set up small businesses for themselves or utilize their skills, so I would go on a dialogue with the youth leaders in order to know those things that the youths want to see me doing.
CONCLUSION
If I was the president of the country, I would always listen to the agitations of the people and their suggestions because the power of the people is always superceding that of the government because they are the ones who vote leaders to their offices.
The problems of the country would not prevail if we put away political sentiments and do the necessary and right things properly and at the right time.
I hope my ideas and suggestions were helpful, thanks for your time.