The incoming administration has been advised to as a matter of priority focus on the problems of electricity generation and distribution, and education to retool the economy.
The advice was given in Lagos by Leonard Umunna, founder of Bible Life Church, at a media chat with journalists on “State of the Nation.”
Speaking on his expectations from the yet-to-be-inaugurated government of Muhammadu Buhari, Umunna said the incessant power outages and general electricity crisis across the country needed to be addressed. He also said that the nation’s education system needed to be overhauled to ensure that, henceforth, products of Nigerian schools can defend their certificates.
“If I were in their shoes, I would tackle the two most critical aspects of Nigeria’s problems. Everybody expects the economy to improve, but you can’t get it except you tackle the issues of electricity crisis and near-collapse of education system in the country. If we focus on these two areas, other things will follow; so that our certificates will not be undervalued; so that our people will be well informed to do the right thing; the artisans can create wealth for themselves and live a quality life through their trade. These will help to improve the economy and then lead to industrialisation, and other things will follow. Then, to achieve these, my exemplary character and the type of people I would surround myself with would tell everyone that I mean business, not just rhetoric,” Umunna said.
The cleric, who said that President Goodluck Jonathan deserved commendation for setting good example by conceding to his opponent, which he said was alien to Nigeria and indeed, African continent, however, expressed the opinion that Jonathan may have dug his own hole by not taking certain steps that could have improved his chances at the polls.
“Humanly speaking, am convinced that he handed over that victory to Buhari. For instance, when the calls were coming for him to remove Jega, if it were some of his predecessors, Professor Jega would have been removed immediately or have the machinery rearranged or reorganised. But he did not do any of such. I have told some journalists that the President inadvertently dug his own hole,” he said.
“But I say it is God answering the prayer of Nigerians for a purpose, may be, to see how the change they are looking for would come. I don’t believe in consensus but in positive change. A prophet does not consent to the expectations of the world; I cannot go farther than this. But, I agree with the sentiment of some people that President Jonathan handed over this victory to Buhari; maybe, God has allowed it to teach some people lesson. The future will tell,” he added.
According to him, “President Jonathan has done what no president has done in Nigeria or in Africa. They know how to scuttle elections when they (polls) did not go in their favour; in Nigeria, before now incumbents don’t lose elections. If Jonathan had not taken the step he took, if he had delayed, what Orubebe did at the INEC collation centre would have been done outside; his Niger Delta people would have taken to arms. Now, President Jonathan is going into history as a world class leader who followed others to hand over power. Those who toed this path in some countries were praised and if the President hands over on May 29, he will go down in history as a great leader who must be praised for his courage.”
On the conduct of the 2015 general election, Umunna, who is a public commentator and educationist, said: “I didn’t expect everything to work out smoothly. I know that Nigeria is largely corrupt and as they say the fish begins to rotten from the head. But INEC has tried. A lot of issues were raised before the election concerning the Commission. I must say that there were certain things that were done that gave opportunity for people to raise eyebrows and also made people to believe certain things.
For instance, if not that I raised my voice during my last media briefing comprising newspapers, magazines, radios, television and online medium; I wouldn’t have got my PVC. The elections have come and gone with many willing prospective voters not having the opportunity to exercise their civic right. They did not collect their PVCs. There were trends that made people to conclude that something was wrong. But generally, we managed to land. There’s still room for improvement.”
On the gale of defections by members of the PDP to the APC, Umunna said: “It is even for the good of PDP that such people should leave the party. The reason is this, what is it that has made APC to come up, is it not because they started with people of progressive mind and got consolidated before some people in PDP joined them and they now won the election? How did PDP start? Was it not progressive minds that formed the party before others hijacked the whole thing? It is now left for PDP to restrategise and come up with a coalition that will blend with the vision they have for the country and do something that will disprove those who think they’re a finished bunch. What we are going to see is a situation where sycophants will move into the APC and before long they foul the air in the party and make the new broom not to sweep clean again. I don’t advise them to jump ship like that; they should do something that will bring the party to life, especially if they should get the right person at the helm of affairs.”
Speaking on the role of the social media in the last election, he said: “That is the good side of this social media; the bad side is making our students lazy and making them not to be serious with their academic work anymore. The good side is using it to spread quick information to one another. I tell you that people are everywhere spreading information, to make others to be at alert. For instance, the world saw the telephone communication between President Jonathan and Buhari during the congratulatory message. So, nothing is hidden anymore. We have now learnt how to congratulate opponents because we saw it in the internet and some politicians have since emulated the President in that regard.”
