What I see in Buhari’s SEA agenda

 “As a government, we are committed to actively engaging with the creative energies of our young people. In this regard, we will partner the legislature to develop an enabling environment to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. This will create vast opportunities in fintech, agriculture, business process startups and in the entertainment industry.”

 – President Muhammadu Buhari during his 2021 New Year broadcast

It’s another new year and people are wont to making New Year resolutions. If 2021 were to be a child, what name would you have christened it? I heard that on Boss 95.5 FM on Tuesday morning. That got me thinking. After all, the United Nations celebrates many days in the year with different themes set for those days. Also, many Pentecostal churches prophetically name each year. For instance, a church may say 2021 is the church members’ ‘Year of Laughter’ or ‘Progress’ or ‘Abundance’. Furthermore, federal and state governments now give names to budgets. For example, the Federal Government’s budget for the year is labelled “Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience”, while Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, who perhaps holds a world record for budget naming, labelled the state’s 2021 budget that of ‘Blush and Bliss’. So, once again, what will you name this year?

Away from that, on January 1, 2021, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) broadcast to the nation at 7am. I was one of the first Nigerians to analyse that speech as I was one of the four panellists on ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ on Nigeria Television Authority to discuss the 34-paragraph speech. I have been on no fewer than five radio stations to similarly X-ray the broadcast. They include Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Love 104.5 FM, Hot 98.3 FM, WE 106.3 FM and Kiss 99.9 FM, all in Abuja.

Truth be told, the President’s speech is on point. Very spot on!  He recapped major events in 2020 from our celebration of the 60th independence anniversary and how we have disappointed the naysayers who thought the country would disintegrate in few years after independence. He spoke about Nigerian youths being the country’s greatest and most valuable natural resource both home and abroad. He said their ingenuity, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are evident to all and that many of our young people are excelling in various spheres of life including sports, entertainment, information and communication technology, commerce and are globally recognised as achievers.

This is true! Recall that in August 2020, the Canadian government appointed a 47-year-old Nigerian-born Canadian, Kaycee Madu, as the justice minister and solicitor general of Alberta, a province in Canada. “Madu is the first Black Man to occupy either Provincial or Federal Justice position of the Justice Minister, Attorney General or Solicitor General,” Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said in a tweet. In the 2020 United States of America November 2020 elections three Nigerian-Americans, Esther Agbaje (35), Oye Owolewa (32) and Nnamdi Chukwuocha, won their elections into different US State Congress. In November 2020, President –elect Joe Biden named Nigerian-born Adewale Adeyemo (39) as the new Deputy Treasury Secretary of the United States of America.  Adeyemo is the first Black person to serve in the role.

On January 2, 2021, Biden appointed another Nigerian Osaremen Okolo (26), as COVID Policy Advisor and a member of the COVID-19 Response Team. Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu (42) is another Nigerian in the Diaspora who has done the country proud by being a member of the medical team that discovered COVID-19 vaccine for the US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. We must not forget the yeoman effort of Anthony Olaseni Joshua (31) who is a two-time unified boxing heavyweight champion.

The President made a solemn promise and commitment to actively engage with the creative energies of Nigerian youths. In this regard, he pledged to partner the legislature to develop an enabling environment to turn their passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled across regions. This, he believes, will create vast opportunities in fintech, agriculture, business process startups and in the entertainment industry.

In his speech covering such themes as Security, Economy and Anti-corruption agenda, with the acronym, SEA, Buhari claimed SEA would be his abiding key priority areas in 2021. On security, President Buhari said he would re-energise and reorganise the security apparatus and personnel of the armed forces and the police with a view to enhancing their capacity to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups waging war against our communities in some parts of the country. Bravo! This is long awaited. Does this mean the long-awaited sacking of the ineffectual service chiefs will happen at last? No one knows as the President has persistently and consistently ignored this call and resolution of the Senate. It is however heartwarming that Buhari realised that his regime is fully aware of the responsibility to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians.

My two-penny advice on this is as follows: There is a need for better coordination between and among the various security agencies. There is a need to infuse technology into the fight against insurgency and insecurity namely, use of drones, closed circuit television cameras, automated scanners, forensic laboratories, etc. There is also a need for more boots on the ground which means more security personnel need to be recruited. Moles and fifth columnists in the security forces must be identified and weeded out, likewise corrupt elements. Our porous borders must be effectively manned and policed in order to stop free smuggling of small arms and light weapons and hard drugs into the country. There is a need for better intelligence gathering and sharing of information among the security forces.

On the flip side, hunger, unemployment and poverty which are some of the pull factors into crimes should be combated.

On the economy, the promised a revamp through the national economic diversification agenda that supports the primary goal of national food self-sufficiency. However, insecurity, particularly rural banditry, is making the realisation of food security a mirage as farmers are being abducted with some of them being slaughtered by insurgents and bandits.

The President said his regime is rebuilding our national infrastructure base and, in the process, introducing transformation through the rehabilitation, modernisation, and expansion of the railway system, national roads and bridges both in the rural and urban centres, alongside the airports and seaports. This is true but the completion dates of these projects have been missed due to COVID-19 pandemic and insufficient funding.  The President said the reforms his government had put in place in the power sector would guarantee increased efficiency in the country’s drive to significantly expand the generation and distribution of electricity for use in homes and factories. This is futuristic as Nigerians still experience more darkness than electricity as the power generation, transmission and distribution are still below required national average.

It is heartwarming that the President planned to speed up the anti-corruption war. He said he would be working with the legislature to enact laws that would strengthen this fight, and would also be looking at reviewing some of our laws which would ensure that this fight is more effective. On the part of the executive, he pledged to ensure the diligent and timely prosecution of corruption cases, while appealing to the judiciary to ensure that corruption cases are dispensed with expeditiously. These are highly desirable. One key piece of legislation that needs to be passed by the National Assembly is the Whistle-blower Protection bill. This will instill confidence in the people to help government with the needed information to fight corruption. More infusion of technology in the fight against corruption is also imperative.

The president was spot on that “Insecurity as a challenge has direct repercussions on our national economic stability, growth, and development, setting us back at critical points through the destruction of public and private investments.” Like I said elsewhere last Friday, talk is cheap. The President should walk his talk. The implementation of these cardinal promises and SEA priorities is non-negotiable!