Which way, Mr. President?

Sun News

15 June 2011

Which way, Mr. President?

By Ned L. Ned

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you announced that the NNPC, in partnership with the private sector, would establish a petrochemical plant in the Niger Delta (you did not state where exactly). You promised the plant will create job opportunities for the Niger Delta youths. Then you went ahead to promise the implementation of Local Content Law and Petroleum Industry Bill. In case you can’t remember when you made all these, cast your mind back to the stampede that claimed some lives (where your wife called them martyrs).

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A lot of people are by your side which no doubt culminated in your victory at the polls. But thereafter Mr. President, which way forward? I would rather advise that you drop the seven point agenda your predecessor started and pick up a two point agenda which by my thinking, should be fixing of power and the Niger Delta Development. This is because if you fix power, you would have fixed industries, manufacturing and by extension, job creation, crime reduction etc. And if you answer the Niger Delta Question, you would have taken care of youth restiveness, job creation again, foreign investment earnings, security, etc.

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Therefore Mr. President, answering the power question, fixing of roads, establishing the naira and opening up new opportunities for Nigerian Youths, as well as fighting corruption, are all legacies that you can keep after leaving office, these of course will only be realisable if your administration will not be business as usual.