A brief message to President Buhari

Sir: Mr. President, it is gratifying that you’re fine tuning the national orientation. Nigerians in the Diaspora monitor closely, and with keen interest your efforts at detaching Nigeria from the ugly past. As a concerned citizen, and an incurable optimist of a great Nigeria, I want to admonish you that, Change is not easy. Change is recalcitrant and nauseating but endurance for sustainable development brings equitable and a just society.

You need to sustain the selling of your programme to the Nigerian people. You should as a matter of urgency route for vibrant, smart and well-informed individuals to sell your vision in a very clear and explicit language to the ordinary man in Kuge; to the market woman in Ibadan and the rural and urban people in Okrika. The envisioned individuals can discern the difficult but necessary road you take now. We have collectively vowed to make your predecessor’s administration our last collective journey to the ugly past.

Meanwhile, an hungry man is an angry man. No matter how laudable your economic programme and policy might be, the ordinary people on the streets ain’t going to buy them. The plebeians need to be psychologically assisted by cushion the harrowing effects of your austerity measures on them. They also need to be conscientised and reassured that it’s going to be better in a short possible time. Do not play into the noxious hands of your adversaries.

Some people are completely uninformed about your well-intentioned destination for Nigeria. This is a difficult time, and a defining moment in our nation’s history. We appreciate your unrepentant body language to dealing with the corrupt people in Nigeria. But you need to sell your products (administration’s policies) to the people. At this time, your war on corruption should have a human face to alleviate the suffering of the innocent people in Nigeria.

Those who have stolen our money should feel more the pain of this historic and unconventional war on their corrupt practices. Your plans encompass discipline, incorruptible stance, and it is unprecedented in the anal history of Nigeria. The first time Nigeria will have a genuine leadership with purpose-driven agenda of a better Nigeria.
Yahaya Balogun,
Arizona, USA.