A United Kingdom-based renewable energy expert, Sunny Ache, has proposed a five-point agenda for President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu, who was elected on February 25, will be sworn in on May 29.
Ahead of his inauguration, many Nigerians are already highlighting their expectations and pitching ideas to the incoming administration.
In an open letter released on March 20, Ache said that Nigerians home and abroad were pained, afraid, or restless about rising violent crimes and the endless suffering of average income-earning Nigerians, particularly civilians, police, and military personnel.
He said that with Tinubu piloting the nation’s affairs, the problems can be solved “quickly” by ensuring that every jobless Nigerian gets access to decent meals every day along with standard accommodations, with “single mothers with children under the age of 18” given priority.
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Ache said that with the President-elect’s brilliant campaign manifesto, experience in governance, and capability in assembling nation-building teams, he can transform Nigeria within five years to the level which he said the late Libyan leader, Muammar Al-Gaddafi took his country.
First of all, he said, Tinubu must create a social security administration with unfailing results that will enable the nation to provide financial assistance and food stamps to the unemployed and disabled while setting up and replenishing food banks throughout Nigeria.
“This social security contributory system would make us independent of Nigeria’s federal revenues so long as it is federal law, such as is done in Western nations, with 25% (UK) to 35% (US) of all sought gross earnings going to the government for such programs.
“Every single employee, employer, and business owner in Nigeria earning above minimum wage must commence making a lifetime monthly contribution of 20% of their net earnings to the government.
“The goal is to ensure the spreading of wealth and the provision of free medical care to all while also preventing crime.
“There’s no excuse to avoid such contributions.
“Half of the funds collected from the working public would be allocated to an integral part of any Nigeria government department or a new non-departmental public body of the Nigeria’s Ministry of Health (as practiced in the UK, in particular) to successfully provide free quality medical care to every single Nigerian citizen, whether born or naturalized, who is not subject to immigration control,” he proposed.
Ache said that the other half of the funds would pass through the Ministry of Labor and Productivity to facilitate social service departments’ payments of monthly allowances to the unemployed above the age of 17, housing for the homeless above the age of 25, and replenishment to food banks to enable lifetime relief from poverty—which is and has always been the backbone of crimes that make us feel insecure and force efforts to attract affluent foreign investors to fight an uphill battle.
According to him, not only would this new system elevate the image of Nigeria with the highest respect globally, but it would also eliminate the resentment Nigerians continue to nurse against politicians, thereby preventing many of our citizens from causing international embarrassment due to their involvement in international transgressions.
Secondly, he said, Tinubu’s government must create a transparent extra-revenue generation ministry for the Nigerian Police, “which has been undeniably underfunded for more than 30 years”.
He said that this ministry should create platforms to help all police departments in Nigeria take advantage of the opportunities on the ground within their jurisdictions to officially generate billions of naira weekly for their state commissioners by dealing with minor offenders on the streets.
“Such efforts would boost their take-home earnings by 3 times with allowances from these independently generated funds and replenish their closet with new uniforms and kits so as to all look presentable before Nigerians and foreigners both in person and in photographs and videos that appear on international platforms,” Ache said.
Thirdly, he said, all major Nigerian prisons should be leased out on renewable or transferable 5-year contracts to capable security companies to generate billions of naira in revenues for the government from chain gang operations servicing the agriculture sectors and construction industries.
For the fourth agenda, he urged the incoming government to “introduce a road tax and enforce compulsory annual payments according to vehicle size directly to FRSC, which would also be empowered to award contacts for new road construction and year-round maintenance”.
Ache also urged the incoming government to accept and make massive investment in the proposals of direct community electrification nationwide so as to provide every Nigerian home and industry with uninterrupted power before the end of Tinubu’s second term in office, “a fast move that cannot be achieved within the expected time period through the national grid”.
“I feel strongly optimistic about this new administration dedicating the time and effort to making these efforts a reality,” he stressed.