TheCable

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari says there are at least 10 challenges ahead of his in-coming administration and has sought the support of the new legislators in tackling them.

He was speaking on Wednesday at the induction of new members of the national assembly organised by the National Institute for Legislative Studies in Abuja.

The challenges he listed are:

• General insecurity and insurgency “that has caused extreme human hardship and destruction of lives, livelihoods” in the north-east and north-west
• Environmental degradation in the Niger Delta
• Decline in revenues due to fall in oil prices
• Endemic corruption “which has crippled human and infrastructure development for decades”
• Poor provision of power supply “which has had a crippling effect on development of small businesses”
• Deindustrialization for the past three decades leading to closure of many industries and migration of many to other African countries
• High levels of unemployment and especially youth unemployment which Buhari put at 40%
• High cost of governance “that has been crowding out capital and human development”
• Erosion of public social services such as infrastructure, health and education.
• Lack of development in the agricultural and solid mineral sectors.

He said he hoped to work closely with legislators to tackle the challenges, noting that the legislature is a critical component and necessary ingredient of democracy and good governance.

Buhari told the lawmakers: “The legislature by nature is inherently democratic in the sense that all members are equal and are elected representatives of the Nigerian people. As President-elect, I recognise this fact and believe that legislators carry this heavy burden of representation with all the seriousness it deserves.

“For a president to be successful in addressing community development and general welfare of the various people of the country, he or she would benefit from working closely and in harmony with the legislative arm of government.

“I therefore commit myself to working with the legislature as development partners motivated by the desire to deliver good governance.”

He commended Nigerians for their role during the general election, and commended President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting the results of the election “before final announcement was made”.

He pledged to tackle the challenges with the support of the national assembly, describing them as the mission of his presidency. He further emphasised on the need for a cordial relationship between his government and the legislature, outlining four areas of interest.

“First and foremost, appropriate policies need to be put in place and such policies may have to be translated into laws,” he said.

“Secondly, the oversight functions of the legislature is critical in ensuring that policies are implemented effectively and transparently. Therefore, my mission to bring integrity into governance would better succeed if complemented with a strong culture of transparent oversight.

“Thirdly, we need to collaborate on the budget process and restructuring of the public sector so as to collectively tackle the menace of high recurrent cost at the expense of capital and human development.

“Fourthly, there is an urgent need to contain this high state of insecurity. All of you are representing various communities. We need to work together to address the problem from both its roots and manifestations. The strongest mitigating forces at this point are to redress the power sector deficits, encourage investments that are job creating and focus on human development and reconstruction. We also need to deploy efforts in conflict resolution and peace building in all our communities.

“I am here today, to invite you to work with the executive as partners in progress, as champions of good governance and development and as warriors for change. Together, we can make this nation great and as a role model in Africa and other emerging economies and democracies.”