Dear Mr President, Speak to Nigerians

Dear President Muhammadu Buhari, I am forced to write you this letter not because of anything but I feel that Femi Adesina & Garba Shehu are not telling you the truth about grievance and plights of ordinary Nigerians. There are issues that critically need to be addressed: Fuel Scarcity, Exchange rates and Insecurity. In the […]

Dear President Muhammadu Buhari,

I am forced to write you this letter not because of anything but I feel that Femi Adesina & Garba Shehu are not telling you the truth about grievance and plights of ordinary Nigerians.

There are issues that critically need to be addressed: Fuel Scarcity, Exchange rates and Insecurity.

In the whole of Kaduna North with an average population of one million, only Forte Oil is selling fuel. I toured round the bypass where we get fuel at N140 to N150/liter but all in futility. I understand your populist ideology to removing fuel subsidies – that ordinary Nigerians who voted you into power would suffer. That argument does not have a base in the current economic reality.

First and foremost, I feel the substantive Minister of Petroleum you assigned to yourself is undeserving. This is not because you lack the ability or the constitutional right, but I see the burden of leadership of a country of 170m people is already a big task to handle. I usually liken your appointment as the substantive Minister of Petroleum to that of the Managing Director of a Bank doubling as Branch Manager.

It is a virtue of true leadership to assign roles.

I read Prof Charles Soludo’s article on the state of our economy where he advised the Minister of Finance to let the open market decide the exchange rate and not have a fix rates, but it seems that message fell on deaf ears. This is hurting.

Just last week, I got a message from my Bank that come January 2016, I can no longer use my debit card for International transactions. As you may be aware, CBN has stopped the funding of BDCs and banks no longer fund Personal & Business Travel Allowances. What this means is that, the 41 items banned for official forex trading cannot source for funds anywhere to effect this line of business. Also, our students abroad can no longer get funding from parents back at home. Till date, no hard currency deposit is allowed into domiciliary accounts. Nigerians are left with no choice, not even a single one to carry out their legitimate transactions.

On insecurity, I’d like to commend you on the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. One other thing, as a leader, I feel you owe the Shiites a condolence on the last Saturday’s attack. Despite the religious differences, as the Chief of the Armed Forces, you are supposed to address the nation on the death of over 200 Nigerians. Nigerian life should be valued. Important to note also, our armed forces are not sufficiently equipped to fight 3 deadly wars at par; Boko Haram, IPOB and now the Shiites Movement – you should manage the crisis and not let it escalate to another level.

In every democratic regime, silence is not an option. In these changing times especially, Nigeria cannot afford to have a silent achiever.

Dear Mr. President, speak to Nigerians. We are hungry to hear you address us on the Economy, the looming fuel crisis and the fight against terrorism.

Electing you, Mr President, is still a better choice to former President Goodluck Jonathan, under whose leadership, Nigeria recorded the oil boom but left us with depleted treasury. It is under ex-President Jonathan that Nigeria lost an average of N1 billion monthly to the cabals as alleged by the former CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

But Mr President, we should not continue to wallow in the lethargy of past mistakes. Nigerians need strategies to drive us to the promise land.

May God give you the wisdom to turn around the tides as this is our last chance; and failure is not also an option.