By By Dapo Oshiyemi FCMI – I had a conversation with my brother on Christmas day, the normal beer parlour or pub discussion, not much thought or intellectual rigour, just complaining about the Country, as we tried to point score back and forth. We both knew the problems and could recite them backwards, after all, things haven’t changed for decades just gotten worse, nevertheless, our discussion offered very little in imaginative solutions.
So the next day I sat down and thought, for too many of us it’s far too easy to criticise but what would I do if I had the unenviable task of wanting to serve the people of Nigeria as President? What would I do in my first 100 days to lay a solid foundation for the transformation of the country?
My mind rumbled as I researched and analysed, and then my thoughts came together in a thunderous explosion to conclude that there are three critical things I would need fast!! HUMAN TALENT, MONEY considering Nigerian’s Debt Management Office said I would inherit a debt of about N77 trillion ($171 billion) and the support of the PEOPLE because of the opposition my policies will face from those who want to continue to benefit from the status quote, so from that standpoint I knuckled down to write this piece, basing my solutions around Intellectual Talent, Money and the People.
TEAM
First, along with the Vice President whom I would have chosen very carefully mainly for our shared vision, their intellect and character as well as for my political needs, we will put a great team in place quickly, working with the national assembly to get them confirmed with speed. Nigeria is a very sick patient, it cannot afford to wait 6 months for Doctors to start treatment.
I will also make sure my appointments come from the best talent available to me at home and abroad. Nigeria has 219m people at home and an estimated 25m people aboard, there is no excuse to put a Medical Doctor in charge of a multi-billion dollar film industry or load my Cabinet with political beneficiaries with little technical know-how plus I am not just talking about Ministers but heads of key government agencies, including the Governor of the Central Bank. Then I must give them clear measurable goals they have to achieve and I will monitor their performance quarterly to encourage and support them to achieve those goals. The Country, Continent and Black Race desperately need a dream team from Africa’s underperforming Wakanda.
OIL PRODUCTION
Most Nigerians will say Oil has been a burden, a noose tied around the Country’s neck since 1956 and the pain continues. In the short term I will work to secure and increase Oil production with improvements to payment processes, maintenance and for God’s sake I must reduce Oil theft, ah, ah, ki lo de!!! We are producing on average 700- 800 thousand barrels of oil per day when we should be producing 1.8 million barrels per day in a market where demand is high. This is not acceptable, although I must watch my back, sleep with one eye open and prepare for serious opposition from those within the Government, members of the armed forces and the elite who will oppose me at every turn to protect their selfish interests.
DEBT MANAGEMENT
It’s another extremely serious matter when 80.6% of Nigeria’s revenue is going towards crippling debt servicing costs in interest payments alone, to add to this, our credit rating sits at B- which is basally junk status, the Naira is deprecating at an alarming rate and revenues fall well below budget projections every financial year, so there will be precious little money left to spend on security, education, health and so on, consequently, if I don’t deal with this debt burden on day one, my Government will be crushed like an overripe tomato before we even start, some Economist’s say Nigeria’s debt is more like $200bn and this will not be a surprise, things in Nigeria are typically much worst than Government Officials say they are.
For this reason, I must start the agonising process of restructuring the nation’s debt with our creditors and the markets based on workable economic policies to inspire confidence. I must show them in detail we have an economic plan we can deliver short, medium and long term, so together we can map out a way for the Country to pay less interest while having the ability to borrow carefully where required for the implementation of my key economic policies to generate economic growth.
OIL SUBSIDY
Long term petrol subsidies are very expensive, borrowing to fund petrol subsidies is just economic suicide. I will remove Oil subsidies quickly in structured stages while explaining to the people why this must be done and the serious economic pain it will cause in the short term. Also, because the economic pain will be great, I will spend some of the money saved on alleviating the impact on the most vulnerable people in the Country through targeted poverty alleviation measures.
TAXATION
I will need truck-loads of money very quickly, so improving tax collection concentrating on the wealthy and large corporations is a priority, the lesson from Liz Truss’s disastrous tenure is don’t rob the poor to pay the rich but I will reduce Corporation Tax from the unworkable 30% to 20% from day one to encourage compliance. I will campaign hard to carry the people along as it is only right that those who have the deepest pockets must carry the most load but I will be prepared to use the big stick where necessary.
This is the bedrock of my Fiscal Policy so we can generate as much revenue as I can for our economic and social policies. Also, revenue collection processes must be strengthened and improved so the money we generate does not find its way into corrupt people’s pockets.
SECURITY
A home that is not secure cannot prosper! The security situation is dire and will take some time to fix but for starters, I will use funds to recruit, improve intelligence and the welfare of our security forces including Customs- this does not have to be salaries but good quality and cheaper housing, transport, food subsidiaries, health care, pensions and better death compensation for families who lose their love ones in the line of duty.
Having State and Community Police is the way to go but it is a hot political potato and I have no time for debate, instead I will go with decentralisation giving more of the budget and operational power to State Police Commissioners to work with Governors, let them mode policing policy to local needs but still be in line with the overall objectives of the Country’s security policy.
FOOD SECURITY
Food is life for the people and takes a disproportionate amount of most people’s income in the Country, therefore, in the short term, I will focus on reducing food waste, focusing on the transportation, processing, storage and preservation of vital food commodities because according to a United Nations report, food wastage in Nigeria per citizen is the highest in Africa, we waste 40% of our total food production according to the report.
A Nigerian trashes at least 189 kilograms of food every year, amounting to a total of 37.9 million (37,941,470) tonnes of food every 12 months, which is mind-blowing considering the cost of food in the Country, so in the short term, my goal will be to work with stakeholders to cut wastage down to the barest minimum as quickly as possible.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM
No Government can perform without an effective and dedicated Civil service so the restructuring and reform of the Civil service is a priority, alongside improving their welfare because they are my foot soldiers and I must take care of them as best as I can.
COST OF GOVERNMENT
There is so much waste in Government that it will make Superman dizzy, mainly because everyone acts in their selfish interest and not in the interests of the Country, therefore, you don’t need to be a genius to see where the people’s money is being wasted. I must reduce the costs of running the Government quickly and use that money on my key policies. On day one I will start with the presidency to set an example and then work through the whole Government machinery to make sure it becomes a lean mean cost-effective running machine.
EASE OF DOING BUSINESS
The wealth of a nation for the most part is generated from the efforts of its people’s labour through innovation and businesses which lead to taxable income for the Government, consequently, I will drive to make it easier for companies to do business by looking at measures that can be quickly implemented, like removing layers of bureaucracy, this will also make the Country more attractive to the diaspora and international investors.
GOVERNMENT ASSETS
I will start an audit of the Federal Governments Assets with the view to sell off any asset the Government holds that is not performing or should be in the hands of the private sector. My Government has no business being in business, our job is to create the right environment for businesses to succeed not to run any business.
REVIEW EXISTING PROJECTS
There will be projects left over from the last administration and we will evaluate them with the aim of completing them as quickly as possible. We will focus our efforts on those projects that can add significantly to the economic activity of the Country in the short to medium term.
INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE
In my first 100 days, I want to lay the groundwork for the improvement of Nigeria’s internet infrastructure as a priority. The world is now well into the digital age and internet connectivity is a key driver in business, health, education, transport, banking, democratic infrastructure and cost effective running of Government, therefore, one of my key policies will be to get the whole Country connected to the internet, not just in the urban areas but the rural areas, everyone should have reliable and affordable internet access.
DIASPORA POLICY
I will put the full weight of my Government behind the formulation and Implementation of my Diaspora policy which will be a flagship policy of my Government. My key objective will be to generate billions of dollars in the short term and increase remittances from $20bn a year to $40bn a year. Remittances go directly into economic activity and contribute more to GDP than Oil revenue and Foreign Direct Investment combined. I will encourage Nigerians aboard to lend to my government and come home once a year, part-time or permanently with their skills to develop key areas of the economy, to this end I will:
- Set up a dedicated Ministry of the Diaspora to formulate and implement diaspora policy.
- Appoint a Presidential Special Envoy for the Diaspora to work with the embassies and connect directly with Nigerians, Africans and Black people abroad.
- Set up a policy conference for the Diaspora, Black businesses & professionals from all over the world to come to Abuja to exchange ideas, contribute to policy formulation, work on issues and present investment opportunities across industries once a year. We will hold similar conferences in the UK and USA to start with.
- Presidential Road Trip: As President, I will get on the road to visit the Nigerian Diaspora and Black people in the USA, UK and Canada to gather support for the policy and listen to ideas.
- Air Travel: I will outline policies to make Nigeria an international travel hub supported by a privately run national airline owned by Nigerians to reduce the costs of travelling. On average it costs almost the same to travel from London to Lagos a 6-hour flight as it does to travel from London to Durban, South Africa which is a 12-hour flight, this is ridiculous especially if I want our people aboard to come home regularly to contribute to the country’s economic development.
- Right to Vote: Nigerians aboard have a huge role to play in the success of the Country and I will work tirelessly with the National assembly to get them the right to vote. They should have a say in the Country’s democracy because I need them to contribute a lot very quickly, which they are more than capable of doing.
- Special Re-Settlement Organisation. We will set up this organisation to help Nigerians in the diaspora who want to come back home to settle-in and start contributing to economic development.
ELECTRICITY
To drive economic growth we need stable and consistent electricity or power supply as they say and plenty of it. So far nothing is working and the cost of producing anything in Nigeria is so uncompetitive that it is far easier to import than to produce or manufacture within the Country.
According to the World Bank 85 million Nigerians don’t have access to grid electricity this represents 43% percent of the country’s population and makes Nigeria the country with the largest energy access deficit in the world (Why are we always at the top of every terrible list!) Anyway, the lack of reliable power is a heavy burden on our people and businesses, resulting in economic losses estimated to be $26.2 billion every year.
I believe decentralise is the way to go but I would go even further and involve the people at the very local level because every Nigerian and organisation to a large extent produces their own electricity, so why not organise policies and schemes round them where Government helps them with equipment loans and expertise so they can come together to create their own power supply, if we are successful in the short term we could add between 2%- 4% to our GDP.
MONETARY POLICY
If our monetary and fiscal policies are not working closely together then we don’t stand a chance, therefore, I need to get a Central Bank Governor in place that can effectively work with me, my Vice President and my Finance Minister then we must audit the Country’s accounts quickly and let the people know where we stand financially.
Along with my Vice President, Finance Minister and Economic Advisor, we will attend regular meetings with the Central Bank Governor to make sure we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Our key objectives will be to put in the foundations to get inflation down to 10%, interest rates down to 5% and scrap the multiple exchange rate regime.
BILLION DOLLAR INCOME GENERATING INDUSTRIES.
Nigeria is blessed with talent at all levels and we have a global competitive advantage that comes with our size and resources in key economic sectors like Tourism, Sports, Film, Music, Fashion and technology that can generate billions in dollar revenue and create millions of jobs so what I need to do as President is to create the right policies and business environment working with the key stakeholders to enable these sectors to flourish quickly. I will lay the foundations for this in my first 100 days.
STATE GOVERNMENTS
State Governments are not my opposition or competition they are my partners and I will set the tone for a more productive working relationship with them concentrating on good policies and implementation capacity to improve the economy and the welfare of the people.
JUDICIARY
Our judicial system is broken, we all know that, but without a properly functioning judiciary it will be hard to achieve our social-economic goals. So alongside my Attorney General, we will meet with the Chief Justice and his team and then the Nigerian Bar Association to understand the problems and work out measurable short, medium and long solutions.
LABOUR UNIONS
All the Labour Unions want is a better standard of living for their members and this must also be one of my Governments core objectives, therefore, the question is how do I do this in the short term when we are literally broke? My policy will not just be around increasing wages but making wages consistent with the ability for workers spending power to go further if I can reduce their spending on Housing, Transport and food.
CIVIL SOCIETY
Nigeria’s civil society at home and abroad also known as the ‘Third Sector’ is bustling with talent, ideas, money and policy implementation capacity, I will tap into this sector and get them involved in working with us at all levels of my Government.
COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
I need the people on my side to do the very difficult things I need to do, so I must speak to them regularly to inspire them, keep them informed, be accountable and answer questions, this will apply to me the President, Vice President, all the way down the chain. 2023 is going to be a very tough year according to the IMF and one of my key roles is to speak constantly to the people, after all, they are the ones that employ me.
For my Government, communication must always be effective, honest and straightforward, explaining what we are doing, the likely pain it will cause in the short term but also the huge benefits that will come our way if we keep going and never give up.
In a nutshell, I started out knowing the problems would be colossal but after undertaking this exercise, I concluded that things are far worse than I initially thought. Anyway, this is what I would do and I will need a team of Avengers plus the Nigerian people to stand any chance of getting the results the Nation desperately requires to get 133m people out of desperate poverty.
So what would you do in your first 100 days if you were President? Comments below:
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