Hello Mr. President, congratulations on your emergence as the newly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigeria is a very historical nation with enormous human and natural resources. Mr. President, apart from petroleum, Nigeria’s other natural resources include gold, natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, and zinc. Nigeria has an arable land area of 34 million hectares: 6.5 million hectares for permanent crops, and 28.6 million hectares on meadows and pastures. Nigeria is indeed a blessed nation with little or no natural disasters.
Nigeria is a Federal Republic of 36 states and a Federal Capital Territory, the current population of Nigeria is 219,669,923 as of Sunday, February 26, 2023, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups, the most populous and politically influential being Hausa-Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%. It also has over 500 languages, with English being the official language.
GDP in Nigeria is expected to reach 454.05 USD Billion by the end of 2023, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Nigeria GDP is projected to trend around 469.04 USD Billion in 2024 and 482.64 USD Billion in 2025, according to our econometric models. However Mr. President, kindly note with emphasis that some Nigerians are problematic in nature, even Nigeria is a problematic nation. Please be informed that “taking into account a number of on-going activities (of the previous administration), the total public debt stock; that is the external and domestic debts of the Federal Government, the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory would be about 77 trillion naira.” – this was stated by Patience Oniha, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office Nigeria. The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has projected that the country’s unemployment rate will hit 37 per cent in 2023; that is over 80 million Nigerians will be unemployed at the end of 2023. Nigeria has been ranked sixth in the 2022 global terrorism index out of 163 countries; only behind nations like: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Burkina-Faso, and Syria. Aside terrorist attacks, extra judiciary killings, and other forms of killings are still very rampart. Mr. President kidnappings and banditry have become blooming businesses in Nigeria. When you look at the set of persons that engage in the act of kidnappings and banditry, majority of them are: unemployed and poor people. Majority of the populace are poor, and corruption has become too cancerous to the Nigeria system. Mr. President the educational sector is decaying due to the incessant ASUU strike; we at still in lack of basic structural amenities like: good road and interrupted power supply.
Mr. President, as Nigerians we are highly religious even though it seems superficial. It is estimated that 50 percent of Nigerians are Muslim, 40 percent are Christian, and that the remaining 10 percent practice various indigenous religions. Please, embrace people of various religions. Unite the nation irrespective of differences. What kind of President do we truly need in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigeria and Nigerians is in dire need of a humble and honest president. Being the newly elected president kindly note this exhortations from the Bible; it focuses on service which your office as the president is centered on. Mr. President, “Seek humility and integrity” (Zeph 2.3). “Tend the flock . . . willingly [and] eagerly” (1 Pet 5.2). Don’t be greedy for money (1 Pet 5.2). Don’t lord it over others, but be an example for others to emulate (1 Pet 5.3). “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet 5.5). Mr. President kindly note the following too:
– SECURE NIGERIA BORDERS: One of the prominent areas your government must pay attention to is securing the Nigeria borders. Firstly, there is an urgent need to survey the land scape of the country.
Drones and other technological apparatus can be used to give an adequate result of the land mass and land scape of the nation. Secondly, the various borders of the country should be guided very well, these borders should be mapped out, and well-trained individuals with adequate tools should be placed in various borders.
– RESTRUCTURING: There is an urgent need to restructure the way in which we generate revenues in the country. Various states in the nation should be productive. It is high time we stopped depending on the allocation from the federal government to sustain various states in the nation. Various regions and states should be self-sustaining. State governments should make due use of natural and human resources in their domain to create jobs and create wealth for their individual states. By so doing, unemployment and poverty will be eradicated.
– DIVERSIFYING SECURITY FORCES IN NIGERIA: With the high rate of insurgencies, terrorism, and banditry in the nation, we urgently need regional policing, state policing and community policing. They are to supplement the effort of the federal government in securing the nation. The security forces have been overstretched, we need to diversify. The federal government should be in charge of the federal security forces, the regional state governors should be in charge of the regional policing, the state governors should be in charge of state policing, and, the local government chairmen should be in charge of community policing.
– SEEK EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE: Nigeria as a nation is not a country blessed with abundance of technological knowledge about tackling security issues; as such we seriously need to appeal to nations and countries who are experts. The federal government should visit nations like: Israel, USA, Russia, Germany, and others – seek assistance from them. They should assist with technological and human resources to help tackle the present menace.
Mr. President may God bless your reign, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Rev. Fr. Victor Chika Ugbor A Catholic Priest writes from Ibadan Archdiocese
