Making 2016 a better year for Nigerians
Happy New Year folks! My prayer to family, friends and colleagues whenever they are celebrating their birthdays is that ‘may they never experience a better last year’. Indeed, everyone should say that prayer. However, having a fruitful, successful, glorious, blissful and better year should not be a mere wishful thinking. It’s something all and sundry who desire it has to work hard to achieve.
As it has become very obvious, government at all levels alone cannot give the citizen a better year. In Nigeria, the forecast is very scary. There are austerity measures in place with threat of pay cut or outright retrenchment facing government workers. Even some private companies have started right-sizing and downsizing in order to reduce overhead and other running cost. We have already been told to brace up for increase in the price of electricity while the 50k or thereabout official reduction in the pump price of a litre of Premium Motor Spirit pales into insignificance as petrol sells for far higher than official price in many nooks and crannies of the country. Naira as a currency is weak against international currencies like dollar, pounds and euro; with it is the low purchasing power of our legal tender. Unemployment, inflation and poverty are on the increase while dependency ratio is high. There is high cost of living rather than high standard of living, as such wishing for a better new year seems like a mere rhetoric.
Nevertheless, at individual and corporate level, we can still have a better year. How? By imbibing the following tips. As a government and a people, we must embrace the culture of prudence and maintenance. We need to eschew frivolous, lavish and ostentatious spending. The era of throwing away what can be easily repaired should be done with. Our legendary lack of maintenance culture, I dare say, has been our major undoing as a nation. We build gigantic projects but earmark little or no fund for servicing and maintenance of those projects. It is true of our public facilities like roads, hospitals, power transmission lines, public water pipes, elevators of public buildings; recreation centres e.g. National Art Theatre in Lagos, stadia, etcetera. We are a wasteful nation that loves to spoil a ship for a ha’p’orth of tar. At individual and family levels, it’s the same sorry sight. We thrash things that can be useful if we just spend a little to repair them. Drain pipes of many homes, locks, sockets and many electronic and electrical appliances in many apartments are condemned when timely repairs could have salvaged them. Sad, very sad!
To have a better 2016, we must, as a government and people, do away with our exotic tastes and buy ‘Made in Nigeria’ products. Imagine how many jobs will be created, foreign exchange saved and value addition that we would have by patronising our indigenous entrepreneurs. There is no gainsaying that vehicles manufactured or assembled in the country are customised to conform to our tropical climate and as such will last longer than imported foreign cars manufactured in temperate regions. The value chain includes the spare parts manufacturers who will ensure that there is a ready supply of genuine spare parts for these cars. Meanwhile, many foreign cars are difficult to fix when spoilt because of non-availability of genuine spare parts locally. A similar scenario plays out in our agricultural sector. Take for instance our rice industry. Our local rice, be it Ofada or Abakaliki, has been certified by health practitioners to be more nutritious than the foreign polished rice imported into the country. Patronising local rice manufacturers will mean that more farmers will be encouraged to cultivate more hectares of rice plantation. This will reduce unemployment and poverty.
Having a better 2016 also means helping the security agencies in their onerous task of securing our various communities. We need to report suspected terrorists and night marauders in our midst to the law enforcement agencies. This we can do through anonymous petitions if we are afraid of exposing our identities. Failure to assist the security agents will endanger the lives of everyone in our society.
Sanitising our environment of filth and dirt will make us have a better and healthier society. We need to stop this reckless attitude to our environment. Our waste disposal technique should be environment friendly. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so says an adage. We should learn to tidy our environment by sweeping regularly, ensuring that the drainage is not blocked, and bushes are cut before they constitute an environmental hazard. We should also stop building on floodplains and stop dumping refuse in waterways.
Another unwholesome attitude we should do away with in the New Year is the road abuse. Digging across roads and building road bumps without permission from relevant authorities should stop forthwith. We should promptly report burst public water pipes to Water Boards or Water Corporations to enable them carry out quick repairs. Individuals and communities can also effect necessary repairs on decaying public facilities such as schools or health facilities after obtaining the needed permission to do so from relevant government agency. That is a good community development initiative and a noble cause.
For Nigerians to have a better 2016, we must also play our roles as good citizens by paying our tax as at when due. This will aid national development. Public servants should also stop paying lip service to duties. They should shun indolence and truancy and should play their role as patriotic citizen. This will increase national productivity and development. Politicians who play ‘do or die’ politics also need to be more altruistic and selfless by playing by the rules of the game rather than trying to subvert the electoral process. Elected and appointed government officials should work for public good rather than for self-aggrandisement.
Helping the less privileged, supporting noble causes, shunning crimes and criminality, respecting constituted authority, working hard and having unflinching faith in God are all the golden nuggets for a better 2016. It is that time of the year when we make New Year resolutions. Let us all resolve to play our role in making Nigeria a better place for all to live. Let us be the change we want to see in our country, community and families. May God crown all our noble efforts this year with unparalleled success. Cheers!
•Jide is the Executive Director of OJA Development Consult, Abuja. Follow me @jideojong
As it has become very obvious, government at all levels alone cannot give the citizen a better year. In Nigeria, the forecast is very scary. There are austerity measures in place with threat of pay cut or outright retrenchment facing government workers. Even some private companies have started right-sizing and downsizing in order to reduce overhead and other running cost. We have already been told to brace up for increase in the price of electricity while the 50k or thereabout official reduction in the pump price of a litre of Premium Motor Spirit pales into insignificance as petrol sells for far higher than official price in many nooks and crannies of the country. Naira as a currency is weak against international currencies like dollar, pounds and euro; with it is the low purchasing power of our legal tender. Unemployment, inflation and poverty are on the increase while dependency ratio is high. There is high cost of living rather than high standard of living, as such wishing for a better new year seems like a mere rhetoric.
Nevertheless, at individual and corporate level, we can still have a better year. How? By imbibing the following tips. As a government and a people, we must embrace the culture of prudence and maintenance. We need to eschew frivolous, lavish and ostentatious spending. The era of throwing away what can be easily repaired should be done with. Our legendary lack of maintenance culture, I dare say, has been our major undoing as a nation. We build gigantic projects but earmark little or no fund for servicing and maintenance of those projects. It is true of our public facilities like roads, hospitals, power transmission lines, public water pipes, elevators of public buildings; recreation centres e.g. National Art Theatre in Lagos, stadia, etcetera. We are a wasteful nation that loves to spoil a ship for a ha’p’orth of tar. At individual and family levels, it’s the same sorry sight. We thrash things that can be useful if we just spend a little to repair them. Drain pipes of many homes, locks, sockets and many electronic and electrical appliances in many apartments are condemned when timely repairs could have salvaged them. Sad, very sad!
To have a better 2016, we must, as a government and people, do away with our exotic tastes and buy ‘Made in Nigeria’ products. Imagine how many jobs will be created, foreign exchange saved and value addition that we would have by patronising our indigenous entrepreneurs. There is no gainsaying that vehicles manufactured or assembled in the country are customised to conform to our tropical climate and as such will last longer than imported foreign cars manufactured in temperate regions. The value chain includes the spare parts manufacturers who will ensure that there is a ready supply of genuine spare parts for these cars. Meanwhile, many foreign cars are difficult to fix when spoilt because of non-availability of genuine spare parts locally. A similar scenario plays out in our agricultural sector. Take for instance our rice industry. Our local rice, be it Ofada or Abakaliki, has been certified by health practitioners to be more nutritious than the foreign polished rice imported into the country. Patronising local rice manufacturers will mean that more farmers will be encouraged to cultivate more hectares of rice plantation. This will reduce unemployment and poverty.
Having a better 2016 also means helping the security agencies in their onerous task of securing our various communities. We need to report suspected terrorists and night marauders in our midst to the law enforcement agencies. This we can do through anonymous petitions if we are afraid of exposing our identities. Failure to assist the security agents will endanger the lives of everyone in our society.
Sanitising our environment of filth and dirt will make us have a better and healthier society. We need to stop this reckless attitude to our environment. Our waste disposal technique should be environment friendly. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, so says an adage. We should learn to tidy our environment by sweeping regularly, ensuring that the drainage is not blocked, and bushes are cut before they constitute an environmental hazard. We should also stop building on floodplains and stop dumping refuse in waterways.
Another unwholesome attitude we should do away with in the New Year is the road abuse. Digging across roads and building road bumps without permission from relevant authorities should stop forthwith. We should promptly report burst public water pipes to Water Boards or Water Corporations to enable them carry out quick repairs. Individuals and communities can also effect necessary repairs on decaying public facilities such as schools or health facilities after obtaining the needed permission to do so from relevant government agency. That is a good community development initiative and a noble cause.
For Nigerians to have a better 2016, we must also play our roles as good citizens by paying our tax as at when due. This will aid national development. Public servants should also stop paying lip service to duties. They should shun indolence and truancy and should play their role as patriotic citizen. This will increase national productivity and development. Politicians who play ‘do or die’ politics also need to be more altruistic and selfless by playing by the rules of the game rather than trying to subvert the electoral process. Elected and appointed government officials should work for public good rather than for self-aggrandisement.
Helping the less privileged, supporting noble causes, shunning crimes and criminality, respecting constituted authority, working hard and having unflinching faith in God are all the golden nuggets for a better 2016. It is that time of the year when we make New Year resolutions. Let us all resolve to play our role in making Nigeria a better place for all to live. Let us be the change we want to see in our country, community and families. May God crown all our noble efforts this year with unparalleled success. Cheers!
•Jide is the Executive Director of OJA Development Consult, Abuja. Follow me @jideojong
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