Sulaimon Olanrewaju spoke with some Nigerians on their expectations from the government in the New Year.AT the outset of 2011, the concern of most Nigerians was the year's general election and what it portended for the country. But now, that 2011 is history and 2012 is here, the concern has changed; most Nigerians are no longer bothered about elections, they have other things engaging their thinking.A cross section of Nigerians who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune revealed that their primary concern in the New Year is security. Many of them are of the opinion that the first step to progress in the country would be to take care of the security worries of Nigerians.According to Archbishop Joseph Akinfenwa, Bishop of Ibadan Diocese of the Anglican Communion, security should be paramount to the government in the new year.Elucidating further on the need for a safe environment in the country, the cleric said, 'No nation can develop in the midst of confusion. Insecurity creates confusion and the way to go is to ensure that Nigerians live in a safe environment so that they can contribute their best to the development of the country. If we want the best from our compatriots, then we have to remove the atmosphere of fear and insecurity. Let them be assured that their personal security as well as that of their properties is guaranteed. Until we do that, we cannot get the best out of Nigerians.'The Archbishop proffered a solution to the beleaguering insecurity problem in the country, 'The government should involve the traditional rulers in security issues in the country. Traditional institution should be brought into the issue of security; let the government carry the traditional rulers; obas, obis, emirs, baales, mogajis, community leaders along in issues that have to do with security. The traditional rulers know their people. So it will be easy for them to identify any strange face in their midst. Terror attack is a new wave of crime in our society and we have to devise a new way of fighting it. We cannot rely on the old system to fight a new disorder.'Speaking in a similar vein, Mr Tunde Anifowose-Kelani, National Vice Chairman, South-West, Action Alliance, said most Nigerians would not appreciate any stride recorded by the government in any other sector until the government had been able to provide a safe environment in the country.His words: 'Security is key, it is vital, it is the foundation for every other thing. You can only make plans and projections when you have a safe environment. People need a safe environment to channel their creative abilities to productive ventures. Economy can thrive, education can advance when the environment is safe. So, the primary thing that the government owes the people is their security. So, the government should focus more on security in the New Year. If you have every other thing but lack security, you stand the chance of losing everything to insecurity.'He added that it was not enough for the government to budget mind-boggling sum of money to security; it must be seen to be working to provide a safe environment.According to him, 'It is the will behind the money that makes the money work. Money on its own cannot get the job done; the onus is on the government to ensure that it puts the money to a good use for the benefit of the people. The money should be used to provide a safer environment for the people. I can assure you that if the current administration is able to take away the security fears of the people, it will go down in history as one of the most successful administrations in the country. We are aware that the government did not create the problem, but government exists to solve people's problems. So, we are all waiting that in 2012, government will solve the insecurity problem that currently bedevils the country.'However, Dr Festus Epetimehin, Associate Professor of Insurance, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji Arakeji, Osun State, though would want the government to take the matter of security very seriously, feels that job creation should be the focus of the government in the new year.According to him, 'Joblessness feeds insecurity. The bulk of the people that are engaged in activities that create insecurity in the country are those whom the society has failed to gainfully engage. If we would take the issue of job creation seriously, we would be in a position to arrest the growing insecurity problem in the country.'Epetimehin said the government, rather than embarking on what it felt was right for the people should sound them out to find out what they wanted. He added that if a survey was carried out, it would reveal that the paramount thing in the minds of Nigerians at the moment would be job creation.'The government should engage in activities that would create employment opportunities in the country. Then the government should not make life unbearable for the citizenry. As a player in the nation's private sector, I would be the first to agree that deregulation is the way forward for the oil sector of the economy but there is something called timing. The timing is not right. Many Nigerian youths are unemployed; the companies that should employ them are facing a tough time because they are the ones that provide their own infrastructure. So, the cost of doing business in the country is very high and that is why the companies are not employing. The oil subsidy removal would further increase the cost of doing business and that means it would be difficult for young Nigerians to be gainfully employed. So, my concern is that the government should create enabling environment for job creation. That is the most important venture it could engage in at the moment.'Archbishop Akinfenwa also believes that the government should list job creation as one of its priorities for the new year. However, he thinks that the way forward with job creation is in encouraging the people to take farming more seriously.He said, 'Our country is blessed with good land and good weather. We should have no problem with food production but unfortunately, we have not fully utilised our potentialities in this regard. We should give attention to farming. We need to intensify agriculture. We should make agriculture attractive to our teeming youth population. If we give agriculture priority, job opportunities will be created; there will also be raw materials for our industries. But it is the government that will make agriculture attractive to the populace. It is what the government considers important that the people will pay attention to. If the government should come up with programmes that would make farming more attractive, more people would embrace it and more job opportunities would be created.'The view of Archbishop Akinfenwa on agriculture tallies with that of Honourable Adebayo Amusat-Gbenla, Chief Executive of Centre for Disaster and Crisis Management, who said that government should focus more on agriculture in the new year for the twin benefit of job creation and food security. According to him, food insecurity was becoming a danger in the country as the prices of food items were getting beyond the affordable range of the masses.He said, 'Food insecurity is worse than the current insecurity that we face in the country. So, we need to move away from the era of paying lip service to agriculture to the era of putting our hearts in it. If we know what is good for us, we would take farming more seriously. We should move away from subsistence farming into mechanised farming. We should put good money into agriculture so that we can get good result. Many countries are currently facing food shortages.We should not wait till we get to that level before doing something about the matter. The time to start getting our acts right with food production is now.'Amusat-Gbenla, who was a labour leader in Nigeria before relocating to the United Kingdom, added, 'The volume and diversity of demand for food and other agricultural products particularly in the urban cities nowadays underscore the need for more aggressive extension and dissemination of proven technologies to resource-poor urban dwellers who form the majority of the inhabitants of our cities. At the same time we should encourage the rural dwellers not to abandon farming. The more we engage in farming the better we become as a nation.'He added that there were many countries that depended solely on agriculture as the mainstay of their economies, stressing that if the youth were properly motivated they would embrace agriculture.'If we handle agriculture properly, we will be solving two major problems by one means; we will be getting our youths off the streets and getting them employed and we will also be ensuring food security for our nation. Both are very important,' he said.But in the view of Mr Segun Adegbenro, Chief Executive of Abiten Ltd, a cement consulting outfit, the government should pay greater attention to the issue of electricity in the new year.He said, 'Most of the problems we have in the country are traceable to the power problem. The moment we get the electricity problem sorted out, most of the problems we have currently would become history. Unemployment would reduce significantly if we had stable electricity as companies would be able to operate at full capacity and employ more people. Even insecurity would reduce to a great extent if we had stable electricity supply as surveillance equipment could be fully deployed. I think Nigerians should start asking our leaders questions. The president promised an improvement in electricity provision by end of 2011; we should ask what has become of that promise. Has there been an improvement at all' So, the government should tackle that first before going into other things. Electricity is central to the needs of Nigerians.'He also raised the issue of subsidy removal, saying the government would need to apply the brakes on the matter in the interest of the generality of the people.'It is good to allow market forces to determine the prices of commodities; that is the ideal situation. But you can only talk about ideal situation when you have taken care of the fundamentals. The government is taking on too many critical issues at the same time and that gives cause for concern. I think the government should first tackle the problem of electricity and let the people have a sense of succour in that aspect before deciding to withdraw fuel subsidy.
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