With the presidential election done with, Nigerians have already moved to the ‘next level’ even before the May 29 inauguration date.
What most Nigerians are speaking about are their expectations from the President.
In his first term, President Muhammadu Buhari was nicknamed “Baba Go Slow” by those who had expected him to respond favourably to major issues that affected Nigeria and Nigerians. Not only were the expectations of many Nigerians cut short in the President’s first few months, the business of government moved truly slowly.
No one has denied the fact that President Buhari’s integrity is a terrific asset. It went a long way in helping him in winning re-election. Nigerians, however, want the President to be more active this time. Those who remember what the ‘body language’ error cost the country have opined that Mr. President should speak up and allow Nigerians and the international community know what is on his mind this time.
While the President left his body language to do the talking on his behalf in the first term, the Naira fell and the country slid into recession. One of the topics of most discussions now is that Mr. President should hit the ground running this time. Most of those who spoke to Parrot Xtra said they wouldn’t appreciate being left to guess who and who would be in the President’s team like it happened in the first term.
Security is one other thing Nigerians would want the President to put on the front burner in his second term. To many, the largely ‘decimated’ and ‘technically defeated’ Boko Haram should be defeated this time around. The menace of killer herdsmen, Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP) and other armed groups must be effectively cut down.
Disdain has been shown by Nigerians to President Buhari’s ‘Maurizio Sarri approach’ to issues in his first term. Like the Chelsea FC Manager, the President hardly substitutes government officials until the game becomes almost irredeemable. To further complicate matters, how some people found their ways into Mr. President’s team became a matter of debate across the country.
The anti-corruption fight is one of the selling points of the Buhari administration and Nigerians have not shied away from the fact that they want him to continue. Save for a few corrupt ones, Nigerians want the anti-graft war to continue until corruption becomes totally unattractive in the country.
In continuation, however, it must not be selective.
Discrimination is one other thing Nigerians would want the President to jettison in his second term. Regardless of which region voted more than the other, Nigeria needs to develop and the development should be without ethnic coloration.
Not a few Nigerians have also pointed out the need to convince the entire country that he is in firm control of the country as against the insinuation that a two-man cabal has taken over the reins of power from him.
And above all, Nigerians, especially the media savvy look forward to a change from the old order where the Federal Government’s policy decisions were first heard on foreign media. Nigerians believe they deserve to know more about the government and its workings.
They simply want to hear from the President more often. Within two weeks, the President addressed Nigerians about thrice before and after the presidential poll. The President Nigerians voted for, is one that would not keep them in the dark.
By avoiding a repeat of the mistakes that made the first term draggy at the initial stage, it is believed that the movement to the next level will take the country closer to the promised land.
Packaged by Wole Adejumo
