The practice of making new year resolutions is not old-fashioned. Many will like to set agenda and goals for themselves at the beginning of the new year. On account of their personal thirst for progress, change and improvement, they try to set achievable targets.
But, what has become outdated is the culture of implementing the resolutions, despite the genuineness of heart and visceral commitment to pursue that course of action at the beginning of a new year.
Last year was very turbulent. It was a year of upsets, Covid and #EndSARS. Therefore, 2021 is a year of greater expectations. The country hopes to bounce back. Nigerians anxiously yearn for a turn-around across the sectors.
To accomplish the collective goal, they must embrace governance as a joint enterprise involving the active participation and cooperation of those in the corridor of power and the citizenry.
A new resolution is required from all and sundry. There should be an appreciation of the simple division of duties and obligations between the government and the governed.
Government must resolve to govern well. Nigerians must also resolve to be good citizens. There should be no shortage of patriotism. This should be the summary of the combined new year resolutions that are meaningful and result-driven. If government and citizens make and abide by these resolutions, all will largely be well with the country in the new year.
Foreign bodies have continued to warn about the prospects of sliding into a failed state. Although the picture being painted underscored their exaggerated notion or view about the most populous African nation, it is not totally gloomy. Nigeria is just on the verge of state fragility. However, if the trend is not stemmed, it can actually serve later as the baseline for state failure.
The challenges have remained the same-worsening economic condition, a heated polity, a disunited heterogeneous country, a hugely corrupt public, weak democratic institutions, insecurity, wobbling health sector, decayed educational system, collapsed infrastructure, soaring unemployment, and unitary system masquerading as federalism.
This year, government at the federal and state levels should demonstrate commitment towards the strategic and effective execution of their budgets, which are vital to the national economic sustainability and recovery from recession. Project execution should generate employment, support the drive for investment and boost public welfare.
The country is being threatened by the global health challenge that has been carried over to the new year. The reality of the second wave of Coronavirus has generated concern. Fears are rife that the country risks grave consequence of the hasty withdrawal from the anti-Covid war when the curve was flattering last year.
What should be thd resolution of Nigerians fretting under the yoke of universal pestilence? Since prevention is better than cure, citizens should resolve to adhere more strictly to the protocols-wearing of face masks, hand washing with soap and the use of hands sanitizer. Prevention is less expensive than treatment and cure. If the precautionary measures are taken, there will be no spike in cases and another restriction or lockdown would be averted.
Next to the challenge of health is security. In fact, many belief it is the first priority. Insurgency in the Northeast, menace of herdsmen and cattle rustling in the Northcentral, banditry in Northwest, and abduction or kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and rituals in the South stare the country in the face.
Enough is enough. Government should resolve to refocus its security architecture. The soldiers on the battlefield should not be despised because of lack of quick results. They should be motivated to fight and win through morale boosting strategies of government and citizens’ support; appropriate war leadership, superior weapons, rekindled fighting spirit, intelligence gathering, and collaborative support by neighbours. Instead of incessant condemnation of government over the failed anti-insurgency battle, patriotic Nigerians should furnish government with more ideas and information on strategies for winning the protracted war. And government should listen to the voices of reason.
The plain truth about the relative efficacy of state police cannot be ignored. Those who are likely to police a given environment more realistically and efficiently are those who have the knowledge of the area; its composition, geography, sociology and peculiarities.
In the new year, SWAT should learn from the fall of SARS. The message has been passed that the mood of the country can no longer accommodate brutality.
There should be a new resolution on the economy. Nigerian economy, according to experts, has prospects, which gives the hope of a brighter future, if the required reforms are embarked upon.
But, the current picture is awful and scary. Poverty is growing in geometric proportions. Many are hungry and angry. Industrialists are in pains over the cost of production. Is the climate of insecurity, the epileptic power supply and the growing perception of Nigeria as a bastion of corruption not discouraging to foreign and domestic investors?
Government has projected some policies and programmes designed to revitalise the economy. They are only meaningful to the extent that they impact positively on the standard of the living. Government needs fresh ideas on how to reposition the economy. Economic recovery should translate into an improved socio-economic wellbeing. When people are made to bear the burden of hike in prices of petrol and electricity by a government that has refused to reduced the cost of governance, the impression is being created that governance is exclusively for those holding the levers of power.
For nine months last year, the university system was on its knees. Public universities were under lock and key, not only due to Covid, but because of the protracted Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The implication is that students who were in part one in 2019 and 2020 will still be struggling with the first year in 2021. The strike has not been totally called off; it was merely suspended. The onus is on government and university teachers to promote effective dialogue that will lead to problem solving. Government cannot resolve the accumulated tertiary problems in a day. But, it should be seen to be seriously making genuine efforts to meet ASUU’s demands. The aggrieved lecturers should also, in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, accept the concessions given by the government, and press for more government attention to the underfunded universities as negotiation continues. The impact of strikes on students, who are the primary focus, should always be considered.
The Federal Government is fighting the infrastructure battle. But, the snail-like implementation of laudable projects in some locations is worrisome. The stride in the rail sector is commendable. Efforts are being made to construct many federal roads nationwide. The commitment should be sustained. There is the need for inter-governmental cooperation between the distant centre and state governments desirous of constructing abandoned federal roads in their domains, with the hope of getting refund later. The states know where the shoe pinches than the Federal Government. Unnecessary rivalry and acrimony between the two tiers of government should be avoided.
The anti-graft war should not be abandoned. It should be reinvigorated. People are losing confidence in the ability of the anti-corruption agencies to rid the country of corruption. On many occasions, corruption was said to have fought back. There is the need for the reform of the agency for better delivery of its mandate. The EFCC, ICPC and the judiciary should demonstrate more seriousness, commitment and patriotism and avoid a situation where trials of suspects will drag on for more than a decade.
The National Assembly should resolve to speed up the constitution amendment in a way that fosters decentraliation or devolution of powers. If the review does not dismantle certain elements of ‘unitarism,’ the effort will be in vain.
The two main political parties should put their houses in order and strive to promote greater inclusion and internal democracy. They should resolve to fortify their crisis resolution mechanism as they prepare for congresses and conventions. Political gladiators should refrain from heating up the polity through their inordinate scramble for power ahead of 2023. The umpire is yet to blow the whistle. If they persists, the first implication is the tendency to distract the Buhari administration, which still has two and half years to discharge its mandate.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast yesterday capture his resolution for Nigeria in 2021. If the country cooperates with him as he sincerely implements his plans, goals and agenda for transformation, the country will not be static. It will commence its journey to recovery and progress in the new year.