It s a New Day in Nigeria

We are elated by the good news coming out of Nigeria.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a sitting President has been voted out of power. The significance of this is that this phenomenon is rare in African politics where it is often the norm to have sit tight leaders who perpetuate themselves in power even when the people they lead have roundly rejected them. Through bare fisted dictatorship or brazen manipulation of the electoral process- leaders like Robert Mugabe, Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Paul Biya, De Santos etc dot the African landscape as festering sores to our collective psyche.

It is a new day in Nigeria-
Congratulations to General Buhari for a well deserved victory and to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for being graceful in defeat. History will be kind to this man who despite seeing the handwriting on the wall allowed the votes of Nigerians to count and quickly conceded victory to his opponent. This we all know is rare in African politics. The Jonathan administration may have been mired in corruption especially perpetuated by those very close to the President but he could have chosen to steal the vote against popular opinion. It has been done previously in Nigeria and continues in several African countries through brazen election rigging, ballot box stuffing and manipulation but Jonathan chose to allow electronic card readers to properly record votes cast and his ouster from power.

The task now before the new Buhari administration is to heal the country after a very divisive election and to be inclusive and fair to all parts of the country despite their political leanings. The Nigerian voters have elected Buhari as President of Nigeria of all tribes and tongues and all political leanings not as President of the All Progressive Congress, the new ruling party.

We do need fundamental changes in Nigeria and an exorcism of the cancer of corruption that have crippled the development of Nigeria. Like General Buhari often says-“if Nigeria does not kill corruption, Corruption will kill Nigeria”

We do need a diversification of the Nigerian economy. A situation where 90% of our foreign exchange earnings come from crude oil exports is totally unacceptable. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, need to tap into its other vast potentials in processed agricultural exports, solid minerals, manufactured goods and outsourcing of our huge manpower. If India could be the outsourcing capital of the world, why not Nigeria.

We need to ensure steady electricity supply and rebuild our dilapidated infrastructure so that our cost of manufacturing can compare with other emerging economies around the world so as to spur growth in our manufacturing sector. With the exorbitant cost of diesel and power generation in Nigeria no serious investor will locate a manufacturing plant in Nigeria and expect to compete in the global market.

These are some of the challenges and imperatives for change that the Buhari administration must have to tackle.

Chike Nweke

Publisher

Spring 2015