10-year-old DUMEBI EDWARD-DIBIANA writes on what she would have done if she had the mandate to lead Nigeria.
If I were the president of Nigeria, the first thing I would work on is insecurity. Insecurity is one of the major problems we are facing in Nigeria. It is growing bigger and bigger every day. The major aspects of insecurity in Nigeria are kidnapping, terrorism and banditry.
Kidnapping has grown so bad that after the Chibok girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, more children are being kidnapped from various schools in Nigeria. As president, I would increase the number of security personnel posted in affected areas, especially in Northern states. If we can’t stop insecurity, at least we can reduce it.
Furthermore, the economic situation in Nigeria is very bad. Prices of food items are now very high. Some of the reasons for the increase in prices of food items include the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since the pandemic started, there has been lockdown, not only in Abuja but all over Nigeria, causing businesses to shutdown, especially buying and selling of food items. After the pandemic, traders, in a bid to recover from all the money that they lost during the pandemic, increased the prices of food items.
Secondly, we all know that farmers are the people that grow all the food that we eat in Nigeria. The problem is that farmers find it difficult to go to their farms because of fear of terrorists that kill and terrorise them on their way to and at their farms. This leads to shortages in food items because farmers are afraid to go to their farms.
For example, if there are 100 apples and 1000 people want to buy those apples, the traders would most likely increase the price of the apples because of the increase in demand, so that those that are able to afford the apples would get them. As president, I would provide security for the farmers and reduce the cost of farming tools so that farmers would produce more and make food more available.
The third reason is that farmers live in the villages and not in the towns. So, in order for them to get to the town, they would have to use transportation. But in most remote areas where farms are located, the roads are very bad and this makes transportation very difficult. So a journey on a good road which takes two or three hours, would take up to seven hours or even a whole day on a bad road. And that makes the cost of transportation very high, making the farmers add the high cost of transportation of their goods to the cost of the goods.
This leads to the traders increasing the prices of the food items in order to recover the money spent on transporting their goods. This is like a chain reaction. One action has a big impact on another and it keeps on going on and on. So, if I were the president, I would provide good roads in rural areas where farms are located so as to reduce the cost of transportation, thereby making the traders sell their goods at affordable prices.
Aside from that, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria is growing day by day. More than half of Nigeria’s out-of-school children are poor and live in remote areas, especially in areas where serious cases of insecurity such as terrorism, banditry and kidnapping are taking place. As president, I would build schools in those rural areas and employ well-trained teachers to teach the pupils who attend the school. The pupils will not have to pay school fees because most of them are poor and cannot afford to pay the school fees. My government would pay the teachers who are working in those schools more. I would also provide security for the children and people in those areas.
I would also like to review the punishments given for certain crimes. This is to ensure that criminals get punished severely and serve as an example to others not to live a life of crime.
Another important aspect that I would like to work on is the issue of electricity. Electricity is very important in Nigeria, it is used in factories for manufacturing of different products such as cosmetics, beverages, clothes, etc. It is also used in barbing, hair salons and different other businesses in our communities. Without electricity, we wouldn’t even be able to communicate with our relatives who are living in far-away states or distant countries. As president, I would make sure that there is constant power supply or electricity, in our cities and rural and remote areas.
Furthermore, unlike some previous presidents we had in Nigeria, who used money meant for the people to satisfy their own personal desires. I, Edward-Dibiana Dumebi, as president, would use the money meant for the people for the people. I would be humble with my dealings with the money and put the needs of the people before my own desires.
Finally, I would work on the issue of unemployment. As we all know, the rising rate of unemployed people is forcing the unemployed people to go into a life of crime. As president, I would provide skill acquisition programmes for the youth who just finished NYSC and are searching for jobs in order for them to use the skills learnt to start their own businesses. By doing this, they would employ more young people to work for them, therefore reducing the number of unemployed people in Nigeria.
As you can see, insecurity is the cause of almost all the problems we are facing in Nigeria. If we can stop insecurity, Nigeria will become a better country.
* Dumebi is a 10-year old JSS 1 student of the Command Day Sec. School Abuja. She made this presentation at the Children’s Church of the House of Destiny, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Abuja