President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, urged Nigerians to have confidence in the country and its security institutions.
Specifically, the President called on Nigerians to resist attempts being made by terrorist groups and their sponsors to destabilise the country.
Nigeria has faced multiple challenges posed by various terrorist groups with devastating human costs in terms of lives lost or permanently altered, internally displaced persons and immensely negative consequences for economic and social development.
“There was a deliberate attempt to destroy Nigeria but God did not permit it…,” the President said. “God has helped Nigeria to bounce back.”
Recounting his personal experience in fighting to keep Nigeria one during the Civil War, the President said that those who were part of that experience would never “allow anybody to fiddle with this country again.”
Of course, it is commendable to have heard the President saying that government would continue to protect and enforce the right of every Nigerian child to education, particularly those displaced from their homes by Boko Haram terrorists.
However, while that effort is praiseworthy, the government should establish an empowerment programme that aims at reducing unemployment among young school leavers and university graduates.
This initiative will improve the standards of living and well-being of Nigerian youths. There is a need for government to, also, ensure that the dividends of democracy are enjoyed by all and sundry. This can be achieved, as the President promised, by allowing people to freely and creditably elect their leaders and hold them accountable in office.
It is essential, too, in the few months left for the Buhari-led administration to liquidate some areas of potential conflicts and their sponsors before they degenerate into crisis. Also, the government should ensure the effective use of resources like power, military, finance and external alliances to counter insurgents, and there must be strict enforcement of the law against any act of terrorism and insurgency.
Hopefully, with these measures in place, Nigerians will see the need to back their military and have confidence in the ability of their country to help them realise their potential.
After all, hoping that come May he will end his tenure as president in peace, Buhari said: “We must develop strong confidence in our country. Let us make sure we do not compromise security at all in any form because security and the economy are the most important things. We have gone through so much as a country and I appeal to you to be steadfast and make sure that we will not allow anybody to disorganise us again.”
However, to achieve that objective of never allowing ourselves to be disorganised as a country again, we need to make security issue matter to all and to get that done, Nigerians, as the President has suggested, must have confidence and trust in the security agencies.
Luckily, as Boko Haram threats have degraded in recent years, the federal government has a chance to finally start overcoming the deep-seated distrust and lack of confidence in the security agencies. The government and military need to radically change counterinsurgency practices, bringing them in line with human rights and best practices. They will also need to improve and expand leniency measures and effectively rehabilitate and reintegrate individuals.
Nigeria has a chance to become an exemplar of disarmament, deradicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration processes. The international community should support and encourage the Buhari-led administration in such efforts, including by demanding accountability for reported egregious human rights violations.
What’s in NASENI’s lab equipment export?
In what can be considered a good development, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) said it has received orders from Uganda, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire for the production and supply of laboratory equipment for secondary and tertiary schools.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Professor Mohammad Haruna, made this development known after his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
But that is not all. The NASENI boss said that the agency, still pursuing some local and international bodies to secure contracts to manufacture and supply laboratory equipment, makes money for Nigeria.
“Yes, we are generating revenue. Our Solar manufacturing plant is a limited liability company of the government. That is revenue for the government,” he said. “Other activities are the production of laboratory equipment for secondary schools and tertiary institutions. We received orders from Uganda. They want a supply of laboratory equipment from us. That is a revenue source for the government. Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire are also patronising these products. Payment goes directly into the consolidated revenue account.”
Considering the urgent need to diversify the country’s economy, there is no better time than now to promote the non-oil sectors in the country.l, particularly NASENI.
One vital approach to achieve this would be to revive local industries and encourage existing ones to stay afloat. Agreed, this is not the best of times for local industries in the country. Yet, this is the right time to promote the likes of NASENI as a way of promoting the patronage of locally-made goods and products.
The country’s over-reliance on crude oil as the primary export commodity and foreign exchange earner, no doubt, worsens the situation of production in the country.
Aside from the prospect of providing a solution to the unemployment problem in the country, encouraging the production and consumption of local products could usher our nation into the path of much-desired economic prosperity.
This is the secret behind the rising profiles of the now prosperous Asian tigers. Our ability to achieve a similar feat will depend on our capacity to harness human and material resources towards the promotion of made-in-Nigeria goods that can compete in both local and international markets.
Sustainable development that would guarantee jobs, vary the economy and advance the standard of living as well as the security of lives and properties depends on the existence of a robust economic development agenda that encourages the production and sustenance of local goods and organisations such as the NASENI.
And, of course, completing and equipping the NASENI technology complex is the right step in the right direction. And the production of food processing equipment and provision of laboratory equipment and upgrading of NASENI institutes across the nation is also commendable.
Overall, Nigeria is in a position to play a strong continental and global role because it benefits from a large population of energetic, educated, and entrepreneurial people, as well as from an abundance of natural resources.
For local industries and local goods to enjoy sufficient patronage from local consumers, however, there is a need for the National Assembly to come up with a local patronage bill that would ensure that made-in-Nigeria goods and local producers are protected. It is a thing of serious concern that the production capacity of the local industries can neither suit local consumption nor export.
A situation where Nigerians depend on imported goods for all manners of items is, to say the least, appalling. The idea of patronising made-in-Nigeria goods should not be regarded as a parochial scheme.
Rather, it should be viewed as a call for a nationwide partnership to develop the kind of collective commerce pattern that would have a positive bearing on national development. It has the potential to enhance the utility value of goods as products and consequent services for the specific orientation and cultural needs of the Nigerian people.
There is a need for a holistic overhaul of our importation policy to discourage items that can be locally manufactured, as the leather exhibition has proven.
