TO celebrate a new year is to celebrate the possibility of change. It is a chance to place the past behind us and commit to a better future.
AT last, year 2020 has gone into history leaving behind it, its TERRIBLE indelible mark. Many Nigerians would have loved to forget the year in a hurry but the outgone year has inflicted many scars which may be difficult to obliterate so soon. It left no one in doubt of what was in the stock few months into it, a world health challenge, coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID -19 emerged. It first emerged from a city called Wahun, in China.
THE consequence of this was the shut down of world economy. which had serious adverse effect on the world economy. Nigeria is not immune from this health challenge as virtually every sector of the nation is affected. The country is still grappling with effects of COVID-19 as its battling with a second economic recession within five years.COVID- 19 no doubt is the highest killer of mankind in the world. At present, over 84million people have contracted the virus with over 1.84 million deaths. America leads the countries grappling with the virus. No fewer than 20.5 million have contracted the virus in the country and recorded over 350,000 deaths. In Nigeria 89,163 have contracted COVID- 19 while 1302 had died of the virus infection.
CORONAVIRUS killed many citizens in the country in 2020. But Nigerians must be grateful that the deadly virus was less lethal in the country’s climatic condition, a situation which prevented the country, and other African countries from recording the massive casualty recorded in Western countries.
CLOSE to COVID -19 is the #ENDSARS protest of October 2020. The protest which caught the country unawares has sent signal to the leadership that the people cannot be taken for granted. That protest was symbolic for Nigerians, particularly the youth, rising in unison to express their dissatisfaction, unemployment, economic crisis and acts of misrule.
NIGERIANS will remember the year for its unprecedented reign of fear unleashed on all citizens in every part, but more deadly in the Northern parts of the country where criminals variously called Boko Haram, bandits, herdsmen, cattle rustlers and others unleashed terror on hapless Nigerians.
ARMED robbers and kidnappers also had a field day operating on the roads and at homes to waylay vehicles and pick their choices of who to kidnap, depending on the commercial prospect. The climax, of course was the kidnap of about 350 secondary school students in Kankara, Katsina State, for which government had to negotiate with the criminal abductors.
WE therefore believe that government should as a matter of policy deliberately alters its usual course of governance, else, it may not be able to stop the country from experiencing serious challenges in the year 2021. Most prominent among them is security. We recommend that president Buhari take a look at the security architecture of the country in 2021.Appointing new Service Chiefs with fresh ideas could be the magic wand to our security woes in this country need. No doubt, government is overwhelmed by the myriad of problems surrounding it, which unfortunately it brought upon itself through neglect and failure to take appropriate action when it mattered.
OUR position is that one of the ways for this government to succeed is to immediately embark on programmes to restructure the country. This it should do by divesting the federal government of some heavy responsibilities such as policing (security), and challenging the state to secure their territories and people thereby stimulating the economy to grow.
GOVERNMENT does not have the luxury of time in this regard. It should make use of various documents, including the 2014 Confab Report and those compiled before and after then to set the ball of real change rolling. Every minute of procrastination constitutes immense gain for criminal elements that are ready to subvert government and consolidate their reign of terror on the people. Ultimately, criminal elements, and not the people protesting legitimately, are the real threat to government.