What is your agenda for President Muhammadu Buhari as he begins his second term in office?

Security of lives and property, boost in the economy and job/wealth creation are key among what is expected from President Muhammadu Buhari. Other expectations are in the areas of renewed fight against corruption, improvement in agricultural production, education, infrastructure, roads, rail system and power. The President still has the chance to stimulate both the successes and failures of his first tenure and provide purposeful leadership that could lead Nigeria out of the present socio-economic stagnations and place it on the path of sustainable development. There should be conscious and consistent inclusion of projects that will bring about better and more rewarding life for the people. Also, there should be developmental policy choices of the administration which must primarily have capacity to eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment and guarantee equality among citizens of the society through provision of diverse support systems critical to their survival. The PMB administration must immediately constitute its cabinet and ensure that ministers are chosen rightly for each portfolios.

Employment for the youth. More programs should be designed to address the unemployment rate in the country, other ongoing programs such as NPower, etc should have a continuous recruitment of Nigerians especially the youths. The President should retain few ministers to ensure uninterrupted implementation of ongoing laudable programs; the railway system, the one road infrastructure in each States of the federation, among many others. On importation, the President should endeavor to make our products more relevant and accessible through a tax friendly initiative.

He should build more refineries, so that there will be an end to importation of fuel, that will eradicate fuel subsidy. The issue of electricity should be among his topmost priority so that investors from other countries will come into Nigeria to invest and also the issue of incessant killing should be put to an end. I am sure if the President can work on these three things in his second tenure, then he is good to go. The President should get a committee that will serve as a think tank and master mind, that will come up with policies and programs agenda for the country that will bring a 360 degree turnaround to our economy and also there should be balance in appointment, that is, equity among our leaders.

President Buhari in his second tenure, should address insecurity in the country which is very alarming as it stands. I think the President in his first term has played lip service to security of people’s lives. The effort of our leaders put together on security is not enough for instance the Fulani herdsmen, Boko haram, kidnapping on highways among others. The security issue is key for the President in this second term because Nigeria have to be safe for investors to come in to be able to do business; fighting of corruption should also be done holistically. I know the President has put in a lot in his first term and this second term should be better. Another area he should look into is the Port reform. The problem we have in Lagos today is an upshot on the system and now there are lots of trucks on the highway causing gridlock. One only hear words from the media but no action is put in place to tackle the problem and because of politics the issue is starring at us in the face.There are other ports like Warri, Onne and other areas which should be made use of. President Buhari should revisit the issue of Apapa port and huge revenue wasting away as a result of the gridlock on the port access road.

I am not expecting so much from Buhari in this second term because he didn’t do much in his first term. There are lots of problems and dislocation in our country. Investors are not coming in and no new factories are coming up, no jobs and the situation of Nigeria seems hopeless. President Buhari does not have any economic team in place, so I cannot understand his policy trust, I have not seen any and so far what he has been and still doing I do not understand. The issue is, no matter how full of wisdom or integrity you are, and people are not finding it easy to put food on their table, then as a President, you have not done anything. A lot of improvement in the country is needed in his second term.

First of all, I will like to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) for his second term in office that will be hopefully free of problems and propagandas from National Assembly. My agendas for him are just few because I know he is not God that can do all things. So therefore, I will like PMB to focus on education first by appointing a very good and competent Minister of Education because the standard of education in Nigeria is depleting daily and you know a nation without quality education will surely continue to have problem in all ramifications. Secondly, is for him to beef up the security of the country by making sure he appoints those that are ready to safe people’s life as the head of any and every security agencies. The President should ensure that governors of each State are active and sensitive about improving security in their states by making them know that the security volts given to them are not for fun. Thirdly, promotion of local production to reasonable extent so as to make us become a producing country and not just a consuming country alone because this is one of the major reason why our national income is not shooting up as expected which invariably means that the economy of the country is not really growing due to deficit balance of payment. Lastly, he should look into power sector because once this problem is solved or tackled, most of the other sectors will be functioning well.

I expect Buhari to continue on his ambitious, bold and expensive infrastructure investment in his second term because direct link exists between growth and investment in infrastructure. There is huge investment in infrastructure which is the key to the real growth of the country and its economy as was the case in every other country that has witnessed real growth. The President should make sure more funds are devoted to power, roads, bridges, railways, airports, hospitals, schools, as it has been the case in the past four years as these drivers of the economy stand to reflate and grow our economy in the not too distant future. Also, President Buhari should continue to set the pace in real investments that can expand and add to the wealth of the nation in his second tenure.

If I am to be candid, I have been displeased with the way the government whose campaign mantra was ‘change’ has been running the show. One can without bias say regrettably that our hopes in the Buhari-led administration have been dealt with a severe blow. What I will like to see in the next four years is a significant improvement in power generation. Let Buhari start by not retaining Fashola as the Minister of Power because it is clear and evident that Fashola belongs to the court room and also the issue of insecurity. It is disheartening to always hear of how people are being massacred in the North senselessly and mercilessly. I urge Buhari to work closely with our service chiefs and bring an end to gruesome and needless murders on the citizens in his second term.

The second term of President Buhari administration should relieve pains and reduce hardship rather than inflict pains and increase hardship on Nigerians. We cannot continue to be fighting corruption, and retrieving stolen money while the people are dying of hunger in the midst of plenty. The President should involve competent professionals in the management of the various sectors of the economy. Involvement of relatively younger and sharper brains should be given prominence while most of the old and less productive people in the current cabinet should be replaced with more vibrant younger professionals who have the technical and intellectual knowhow to drive the economy. President Buhari’s government should be more ruthless on looters of our national treasury. Fighting corruption should however cut across the board without sparing anyone among the leaders also and neither should it be made to look like a witch-hunt against political opponents. Also, President Buhari’s second term in office must concretely do more to secure lives and property; herdsmen’s inhumanity to humans and callous brutality must be curtailed with all the power at government’s command. Killing of innocent people must stop completely during the second term in office.