It’s now authoritative that President Muhammadu Buhari will not initiate or influence, in any way, amendment of Nigeria’s constitution to make way for him to enjoy third term of office as president. Currently, the constitution stipulates two term of office for president and other elected officials.
Putting paid to the rumours making the rounds that the president intends to perpetuate himself in office after 2023, the Presidency, this week, said Buhari does not intend to seek amendment to the country’s constitution to enable him run for a third term as it’s being speculated in some quarters.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, reads in part: “…There are no circumstances – nor set of circumstances – under which President Buhari may seek to amend the Constitution regarding the two-term term limit on holding office as President. President Buhari intends to serve his full second elected term in office, ending 2023 – and then there shall be a general election in which he will not be a candidate.”
The presidency reminded Nigerians of a former president’s attempt to change the constitution to allow him to serve for third term and concluded thus: “That attempt was wrong, unconstitutional – and rightly rebuffed. No such attempt will happen under this President. President Buhari is a democrat. He respects the Constitution. Any activity aimed at altering the two-term limit will not succeed and shall never have his time nor support.”
Well, now that the presidency has spoken, it is hoped that that those pushing the third term agenda would have a rethink.
However, it must be pointed that in as much as the call for third term of office for the president can, in some ways, be rightly described as uncalled for, the agitators can, on the other hand, fairly not be castigated. In fact, if nothing else, they have experiences and history to back their call.
It was 16 years in 2015, since the debut of Fourth Republic and civilian administration at the federal, state and local levels, when the president came to power and many Nigerians, then, looked back and asked how the journey had been.
In 1999, when the current dispensation took off, the hopes and expectations were high. And this is understandable. Long years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule have left the economy battered, the people in despair and the polity in crisis.
People needed change for the better: food on their tables, provision of basic amenities and necessities of life, better security for their lives and property, a real say and way in the way they are governed, good education for their children, employment opportunities etc. And they pinned their hopes for all this on the leaders and governments operating at the three tiers of government in the country.
By 2015, these hopes and expectations were not realised and seemed they would not be. Naturally and understandably, disappointment with the then ruling party and its leaders set in, in many quarters. In a way, it was understandable why the initial expectations have remained unmet.
For one, the damage to the economy has been extensive, the rot was too deep, and rebuilding and repair seemed destined to take time.
For another, the public, it appeared, have a view of democracy as a system with benefits or dividends which are physical and quantifiable that can be dished out or withhold by leaders. For yet another, government, anywhere and anytime, is never one big breakthrough. Things, especially in a democratic dispensation, can move only slowly.
The fact and truth is that, though the administrations, here and there, made little impacts, the performance levels of the PDP-led governments were generally below expectations.
The governments, in 16 years, were unable to properly gauge the sizes of the country’s problems and devise appropriate responses to them. They have also not shown enough imagination or ability to improvise wisely when meeting the challenges that faced the nation
In fact, for most part of the 16 years of the PDP rule, attention and energies were distracted from serious national issues.
The country and its people needed change and Buhari offered to present the change the people yearned for.
Still, fear exist in many quarters that after Buhari who has brought change and made Nigerians aware of what the government can do for them, things can go back to the way they used to be before he came. That perhaps explains the agitations for the third term for the president.
But it is heartwarming that the president is not interested in this melodrama. He is focusing on protecting his integrity and ensuring probity, accountability and judicious use of the country’s resources for the benefit of all.
The ruling APC and the president, apart from decisively and quickly ending rumours of third term, must get together and devise good and workable programme for the transformation of the country and improvement of the living standards of the people.
It is good that the president has now formed the economic advisory council. The president and the council must pay more attention to the problem of poverty in the country. What is needed is change of focus and approach. Poverty in the country is a thing to be eradicated completely and not just alleviated.
And this can be done, given the country’s enormous resources, calibre of the president and his administration’s desire to lift millions of people out of poverty. Essentially, the president should, through his actions and statements, deepen and widen democracy in the country to last long and be beneficial for Nigerians after he’s gone in 2023.
Meeting revenue targets
Until the warning issued to them, heads of revenue generating agencies in the country were, to a large extent, seen as demi-gods who, instead of turning in their proceeds to government coffers, cornered large chunk of the revenue they used to generate.
That practice has now ended. President Muhammadu Buhari has warned of “severe consequences” should any of the revenue-generating agencies fail to meet set targets.
“Our revenue-generating and reporting agencies will come under much greater scrutiny, going forward, as the new performance management framework will reward exceptional revenue performance,” he said, “while severe consequences will attend failures to achieve agreed revenue targets.”
Although he was not specific about any agency or official, the warning came weeks after the presidency queried the chief executive of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Mr Babatunde Fowler over worsening tax collection since 2015.
This warning, in all seriousness, could not have come at a better time than now when the government appears set to transform the country through building of infrastructure and creation of jobs opportunities, especially the teeming youth.
Other than that, all governments must have effective revenue collection strategies in place to ensure sufficient cash is available to pay operational costs.
Government revenue is one of the major components of public finance. It refers to the income or receipts of the government. The government collects revenue from various sources because it has to spend on various sectors of the economy to stimulate the economic development.
It is in this light, therefore, that Nigerians should work closely with the government to ensure that corruption, especially in the area of revenues collection and wherever it rears its head, is fought for the overall development of the country.
