A presidential candidate of GDPN in the 2019 General Elections, Davidson Akhimien, has congratulated president Mohammadu Buhari on governance, says he should use his second term to focus on security.
TBI Africa said Akhimien, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos on expectations of Nigerians from Buhari’s second term.
He said that without assuring the citizens of safety, which is critical of all the needs, other aspirations of the people can hardly be achieved.
” I will like to congratulate Mr President on this occasion of his inauguration for a second term in office as President and Commander in Chief of our great country.
” The last four years of his administration recorded very significant points in some critical areas such as the fight against corruption, recovery of economy from recession, technical defeat of Boko Haram,” he said.
According to him, the fact must not be lost is that before the coming of this administration, the Nigerian economy was on a free-fall.
Akhimien said that there existed cases of massive corruption of political office holders and other government functionaries, which led him to the introduction of fiscal discipline.
He noted that the frugality of Buhari had put some caution to the manner in which public funds were handled, adding ” Credit must go to the president for this.”
He however, decried the fact that no sooner had the Boko Haram has been degraded that other security threats by the herdsmen banditry and violent bandits began to rear their heads.
” These threats have served to obliterate the gains recorded in the anti terror fight, this must be decisively tackled.
” Centrifugal forces appear to be at work to tear the nation apart. Policies must therefore be well thought out to reflect inclusiveness in all facets of governance.
“There is need to check incessant killings and loss of lives especially in the North west region of the country,” he said.
According to him, kidnapping is also a serious ailment across the country, which has been instilling fear and trepidation on the people.
He said with the current situation of things, it is evident that the security forces are hard pressed to contain the situation.
He therefore, suggested that it was necessary at this point, to revisit the security architecture with a view to reorganising and reassigning roles to some of the security agencies.
” They should contemplate on the establishment of new, specialised and highly mobile units to take care of border security, transportation security and community security.
” These new units will work with state-of-the art technology and equipment available to similar units in other climes,” he said.
He further suggested that there was need to revert to intelligence-led policing methods, adding that the current threats that we face demand such approach.
Akhimien however, appealed to politicians in government to put their selfish and clannish ambitions aside and look instead, at making the Nigerian project a reality.
“Talking about inclusiveness, the government needs infusion of fresh ideas in the different areas where we are experiencing challenges.
“If the old model is not working, they should be sincere and courageous enough to try new or other models,” he said.
He further said that a good place to start was in the Agro-allied sector which he described as labour intensive and one of the sure precursors to industrialisation.
He noted that to achieve this, the educational sector should emphasize more on Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics, so as to boost industrialisation.
He advised the Buhari secod tenure to focus on job creation for the teeming youth population, government must begin to seek ways to diversify the economy by encouraging the private sector to thrive,” he said.
