What happened on 28th March and 11th April 2015 in Nigeria was a revolution no more no less. The dictionary defines revolution as …. “a political upheaval in a government or nation state characterised by great change”. Overnight the opposition party became the ruling party not only at the Federal level with vast majority in the National Assembly but also in most states of the Federation. The success at the elections was by far greater than the winning party’s wildest imagination!
We need to realise that revolutions don’t happen by default. They are achieved by meticulous planning and dogged implementation of the plans. If this revolution succeeds, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) will be the greatest leader this country ever had. Everybody in this country even PDP stalwarts truly want him to succeed. It is our duty to do all we can for him to succeed.
A cursory look at revolutions especially in the last century will show us that not all revolutions succeeded. Salvador Allende’s bid in Chile in the 1970s ended quickly in awful failure. So did the Bolsheviks in Soviet Union after nearly 80 years. Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore is a roaring success so are to a lesser extent, Khomeini’s Iran, Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnam, Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Mao Tse Tung’s China, Mahatma Gandhi’s India, Mohamed Mahathir’s Malaysia, Mandela’s South Africa, etc. We expect PMB’s name to be mentioned along with the Lee Kuan Yews, the Mahathirs and the Mandelas by Nigerians and indeed by the rest of the world in the next few years after he has successfully turned around the fortunes of this country and put it on the road to being the true giant of Africa that it should have been a long time ago.
The question is what makes some revolutions succeed while others fail? For a revolution to endure it must be based on an ideology that guides the Leader and must be shared not only by his lieutenants but also by all his followers and the nation’s citizens.
Ideology is defined by the dictionary as …. “Doctrine, philosophy, body of beliefs or principles belonging to an individual or group”. Everybody knows PMB’s ideology which explains the cult following he enjoys nationwide. But we must put it in words that the ordinary man can understand AND BUY INTO!
PMB’s ideology has the following pillars: Discipline; Integrity; Transparency; Accountability; Leadership by example (LBE) and The fear of God
These traits should be shared by all his close associates and all his followers and the general populace. These traits can easily be monitored by him and by everyone. Anyone who lacks any of these traits should not be seen with PMB. There is need to sell this ideology to all and sundry so that the ordinary man can help monitor the elected and appointed officials without any exceptions. It is easy to know if someone has no integrity or transparency by his actions. Accountability demands that every official should be answerable to a higher authority e.g. the Executive arm should be answerable to the Legislature and both should be answerable to the Judiciary. Even the President should be answerable to electorate hence the need for him to subject himself to the voters after four years. Leadership by example is the easiest to monitor. The most graphic example perhaps of LBE is that Ho Chi Minh never bought shoes in shops; his shoes were always made from used tyre rubber.
An ideology must have a name with which people will identify and that this ideology should be known as Buhariyya (or Buharism). National Orientation Agency, after the necessary repositioning and reforming, can be made to play a significant role in popularising and propagating it by way of posters, mottos, jingles and songs. They can also involve the NTA and the FRCN in the propagation of this ideology. Even Nollywood and Kannywood can be commissioned to play a major role in popularising and propagating this ideology.
Once this BUHARIYYA ideology is accepted by the leadership, the new government should come up with sound people-oriented policies such as:
Monopoly of violence by the state only; Strong military, Police and other security agencies; Recently retired soldiers to be recalled to help eradicate the Boko Haram insurgents and other criminals once and for all; Powerful Think Tank for formulating socio-economic policies; Full employment policy; Strong SME policy to realise full employment; Greater emphasis on agriculture and solid minerals sectors.
Other policies should also include Education for all; Health for all; Ensuring inclusive political institutions; Ensuring inclusive economic institutions; Enshrining of internal democracy in political parties; Eliminating money politics; Rigorous enforcement of the Asset Declaration Law especially on all top elected and appointed govt officials at all levels and Zero tolerance for corruption and impunity.
Also, Export-oriented industrial policy to strengthen the economy; Labour-intensive industrial policy; Indigenised technology policy; Extension of the local content policy to all sectors of the National economy; Recreation of National Air and Shipping carriers (at least one each) as they are both highly profitable businesses and Sound zero-based and target- oriented budgeting should be included.
The policy ideology should also include Abolishing forex auctions; CBN to stop being a Bureau de Change; Govt forex to be reserved for govt’s priority projects only; Export-surplus policy to strengthen the Naira; Budget-surplus policy to strengthen the National economy; Smuggling to be heavily penalised.
Each of these policy issues can be expanded into position papers for further information.
Engr. Sabo I. Sodangi [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 08034515166, 08076777737
