Dear Mr. President,
It gives me lots of joy to learn about your reiteration to improve standard of living for all Nigerians. I am sure that you are aware that your subjects are law-abiding with exception of the very few that are bent of shattering the hopes of aspirations of the majority; such few as Boko Haram and Kidnapping gangs who are causing mayhems here and there. In line with your thought process, I believe it is time for you to fixate your attention to the following issues that could augur well for your subjects:
1.Power Supply: Legacy is not build on empty promises and on empathetic structure. Legacies are obtained by deeds and policies that affect people’s day to day living. Nigeria is recording a huge number of deaths than ever before, and how did I know about this? The rate of deaths in many towns and villages are becoming alarming. I am not an expert on air pollution; it appears that the carbon monoxide that emanates from millions of households in the country appears to be equal to oxygen in the air, though with a little exaggeration. No wonder your subjects are suffering from lungs and other pulmonary infections. The generators become necessary because of inadequate power supply in the country. Mr. President, could you append your legacy on this signature of making sure that Nigeria has constant power supply to your subjects living any part of the country? With enormous earnings from the high priced crude oil, you could send electrical experts to many Western countries to study how they maintain constant power supply to their subjects. Mr. President, do not leave office without establishing your legacy on a piece of gold. Do not leave office like your predecessors that only stole public funds for their personal affluence and family’s extravagant livings.
2.Potable Water: Mr. President, you and I understand the relevance and importance of having good and clean drinking water. There is no doubt that you and your family enjoys the best drinking water to keep the body and soul together. Please, don’t you think that your subjects deserve to enjoy the same clean and good drinking water as you do with your family members? Could you please let your Minister of Water Resources to work with State counterparts to ensure that boreholes are developed and constructed every nooks and corners of the country? In case our country do not possess the technical manpower to provide good and clean drinking for your subjects, could you employ the expertise of foreigners to teach us how to do it? As a president, it becomes your incumbent to ensure that your subjects are, at least, comfortable with basic necessities of life. Clean water is available to those that could afford thousands of Naira to dig boreholes for their families. The question is: How about those individuals that could not afford such a high-priced project? The provision of funds and its supervision to ensure that the project is executed flawlessly becomes of paramount importance to its completion, and more so, availabilities of good drinking water for your subjects. Many of your citizens are dying as a result of water borne diseases. The so-called rivers and streams are loaded with bacteria and other deadly chemicals that are resulting to many deaths in towns and villages. Mr. President, Time has come to use your good offices to ensure that potable water is available to your subjects irrespective of the locations of their towns and villages.
3.Shelter: Mr. President, I am in support that your official residence be as sparkling as white crystal as snow. I want you to live in a normal room temperature where there are no open gutters with odors like rotten egg and fermented fish soup; as well as where there are no open buckets to “shit” upon with endless of flies feasting on human droplets. Equally, Sir, your subjects deserve clean environment as you do. Does it make any sense to you that many of your subjects live in squalors and batchers with temperatures ranging from 200 to 600 degrees heat after a day’s had work? Your administration could easily build about one thousand three-bedroom housing units in each of the State in the country. At the same time, encourage the States to construct at least three to five hundred two-bedroom units to alleviate scarcity of accommodations. Mr. President, the resources are there to actualize on these projects if not the presence of “Almighty corruption” in the country where those entrusted with the responsibilities of ameliorating the plights of their citizens are thinking about them first before the country. Be a housing president that provides shelter for your people. This is how legacy is build. It is not done on number of national awards to undeserving elements that never moves the nation forward. Of course, the housing is not free, but offered it to low income earners at a subsidized rate. They could pray for your long life too.
4.Roadway: Mr. President, construction of highways and maintenance of road networks are of paramount importance to citizen’s standards of living. Economically, it improves the interstate commerce and safety. It does not make any sense to be a giant of Africa with enormous wealth, but could not boast of good road network around the country. The colonial set of Federal and State Ministries of Works need an immediate revamp to suit the present Nigerian State. With the economy of Nigeria, there is absolutely no reason why people should meander on narrow highways that are punctuated with deadly potholes. Federal Interstate highways and States major highways could benefit from demarcated roadway to avoid constant head-on collisions. Development of every country is not measured by number of skyscrapers, but its road networks that enhance commerce and safety supersede the physical structures of buildings.
5.Hospitals and Medicines: Mr. President, this particular issue does not require muck talk. Please endeavor to ensure that hospitals and medicines are available to your subjects. Please ensure that red tapes are reduced to nothing to ensure private and foreign investors are not confronted with 10% bribe for the minister, 20% graft for the governing Board, 8% for the permanent secretary and other officials liquidating the funds for the capital projects on building hospitals, thereby resulting to the “killing” of the said project. A healthy nation is an evidence of improved standard of living.
6. Constructions of Restrooms (Latrines): Mr. President, this particular issue is very important to maintaining public safety, but previous governments had ignored it as nothing, and I am very optimistic that you will not ignore it. Its absence in the lives of your subjects has resulted to countless of deaths of your citizens to diarrhea, dysentery and other water-borne diseases. Not quite long ago, the United Nations remarked in its report that your country defecates very much in the bushes and shrubs, and when it rains, human feces are washed into the rivers and wells; people drinks it that results to many disease that ultimately leads to deaths. The constructions and maintenance of rest areas along Federal and State highways are of great importance to your subjects. Please instruct your Federal Ministry of Health or Federal Ministry of Works to carve out funds from its budgets to construct these rest areas with good toilet facilities to improve standard of living for tourists and other highway users. These little developments help your nation to increase her standard of living for your citizens.
Finally, Mr. President, these bold projects, if implemented properly, your legacy as president could be written on a platter of Gold. In a country of over one hundred and sixty million people, and you are elected to govern them should be treated as a manifestation of a divine love. You must take advantage of it to use the nation’s resources to affect people’s standard of living. If you win re-election as I hope you do, and serve out your time, you would not have another opportunity to serve Nigeria as its president. So, make sure that long after your reign is over, be sure you could look back at your deeds as president to nod your head in approval that “I serve my people well.” Many presidents all over the world are known for one or two major achievements, and be sure your name is embedded into annals of history in a positive fashion. Consider these projects for the common good of your ordinary citizens. Ndewo daa!
Best wishes,
Mazi Henry Otulle Eke, Sr.
Austin, Texas, USA
