What Nigerians should do to help Buhari to succeed

Ever since Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential elections in Nigeria, Nigerians have been bombarded with questions about their expectations of the new President. How about if, for one moment we flipped the coin and ask Nigerians what they would do to help Buhari succeed. It is not for nothing that the good Dr. Oby Ezekwesili invented the so-called office of the Citizen. 

Nigerians have grown accustomed to not playing their part of the bargain and expect miracles. It is true by virtue of the powers given to the president by Nigerians; we have every right to expect him to perform wonders.  Indeed there are many things that only the president has the power to do by virtue of the resources at his disposal; Chasing the billions siphoned by corrupt officials of previous administration, fighting the criminal Boko Haram gang, fixing our road network etc. 

The little things, however, that truly makes a difference and qualifies us as a civilised people are in our hands. I will therefore list some few things that each Nigerian who truly loves this great nation should start doing from today to ensure this revolution is a success. We all know what we are doing wrong. Some, we can stop immediately without impacting our day to day life in any grievous way. Some we might need time to adjust. 

1. Make it a point from today never to litter again, it does not matter whether there is a bin in the vicinity or not. Keep your litter with you until you find a bin. If need be take it home with you

2. Make it a point never to jump a queue again, be it at the gas station or in the bank. Don’t accept the so called favour from the staff who would expect you to show your appreciation afterwards. 

3. Obey the traffic rules; driving over the red light because you think waiting for thirty seconds for the light to turn green is waste of time is both dangerous and stupid. 

4. Check at home and make sure you know where the waste water from your home goes. If it is going on the street fix it. By so doing you are helping yourself and Nigeria to succeed

5. Don’t allow commercial vehicles to overload with you inside, this is especially in the north where it has become a norm to overload commercial vehicles in the presence of FRSC personnel. If it is happening at a station draw the attention of the FRSC personnel, if they refuse to take any action quietly note their staff numbers and report them to their superiors

There are many little things that we all can do to move Nigeria forward. The point here is, there is so much the president and his administration can do if we don’t play our role of the office of the citizen. Feel free to add anything that you think Nigerians can do to make a difference.

"I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody" -- Muhammadu Buhari

Thank you for reading and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Follow me on twitter @fatihulkhair

How Dangote is Moving Nigeria Forward Single Handedly

The news that, Dangote Group has concluded plans to build the biggest oil refinery in the sub saharan Africa should send Nigerians all the world over screaming on top of their voices telling whoever cares to listen that at last Nigeria is on its way out of the quagmire that has held it back from taking its rightful place as the leader of Africa. Fuel scarcity has been the biggest challenge that the Nigerian politician have not been able to solve despite the abundance of the resources that produces the fuel i.e. Crude oil.

This blog is going to explain why that announcement is the biggest thing that has happened to Nigeria since the discovery of that black Gold. In fact it is potentially going to be bigger than the discovery of oil. We all know the consequence of the oil discovery so I am not going to dwell on that.

Aliko Dangote - CEO Dangote Group

However, permit me to indulge myself in saying that "Mr Dangote is gonna kill a thousand birds with a single stone". There are many reasons why I dare make that assertion.

Electricity, the number one factor that is affecting the ability of Nigerians to forge ahead with their lives despite the government is woefully lacking. When fuel becomes available, Nigeria should and would be able to use the fuel to generate electricity. That alone will set free the entrepreneurial and creative spirit of millions of young Nigerians. Nigeria will never be the same country again. Industries that have been relocating to neighbouring countries would come back home. There will be less smoke in the atmosphere, less noise from the so-called "I pass my neighbour". For the uninitiated, it is a generator mainly used for outdoor power generation in the developed world because it is noisy and unhealthy. In Nigeria however, it is the defacto source of electricity for everybody. Yes everybody including those who own private jets, is that not ironic? 

The reward will be endless.

There is a little matter of official corruption, we all know about the scam call "petroleum subsidy", where Nigerians were/ are robbed in the broad daylight in front of the whole world and yet cannot do anything about it for whatever reason, I let others deal with that. In short my point is, when the Dangote petroleum refinery goes into production, there won’t be any need for fuel importers and hence no fuel subsidy payments to faceless fuel importers. Well unless in a special case called Nigeria, they might still find a way of importing the fuel from Dangote, notwithstanding the refinery is physically located in the country. It is Naija so if that happens, no one should be surprise!

This is not the first time Mr Dangote has done something that the government of Nigeria could not do. His cement factory is the biggest project in Nigeria that has completed on schedule and on Budget. The Nigerian state could not repair its own refineries because it will shut the subsidy scam door just a bit. And those who are benefiting from the scam want the door to remain ajar. 

I know the politicians would line up when the project is completed, led by the commander in chief (c-in-c) of the Federal Republic of Corruption to unveil another milestone in the development of Nigeria. The c-in-c would hold the symbolic scissors to cut the ribbon that would signal the official unveiling of the refinery. What the project will be telling Mr c-in-c that he might not be able hear because he is devoid of any shame, however, is you corrupt clown, keep wasting the opportunity to make yourself immortal. And  Mr Dangote would be smiling on the background already thinking about the next responsibility to take off of the politicians and help Nigerians and  make money at the same time. Who knows, may be he would take over the monster called Ajaokuta and make something profitable out of it, lest it falls into the hands of the Chinese. Just thinking aloud!

It is amazing how Nigerian politicians don't see the irony in the fact that despite them having more funds at their disposal than Dangote, they cannot point to anything in the magnitude of what he has achieved. Amazing that he continue to succeed despite the politicians not because of them. He needed electricity, they cant provide it well generate his own.

I guess what Nigeria needs is not politicians but more Dangotes! May be from now on when Nigerians pray to their various "Gods, deities" they should ask them of more Dangotes instead of good politicians, just may be.

At least then, we know we have someone who has proven record of generating electricity albeit for his own company. 

PS: The use of politicians instead of leaders in this blog is deliberate because to be a leader, you must lead unfortunately no one seem to be leading in Nigeria today.