The president we should elect, NSCIA counsels electorate ahead polls

By Hameed M Bello

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the apex body overseeing the affairs of about 150 million Muslims in Nigeria, has laid bare the qualities of the type of President it believes Nigeria needs, who will receive the support of Muslims in the country.

It also called on the electorate to be conscious of the candidate they will elect for president in view of the current realities in the country and the expectation of the rest of the world from Nigeria.

These were according to a statement issued yesterday signed by Prof. Salisu Shehu, Deputy Secretary General, and Arc. Zubairu Haruna Usman-Ugwu, the Director of Administration of the NSCIA. The statement was titled ‘The Charter of expectation of Nigerian Muslims from the next government.”

The statement noted that while protecting the interest of Islam and Muslims in a multi-religious Nigeria, the Council said it has also been championing the cause of good governance, and is convinced that it is only in the atmosphere of good governance that the whole country

•Sets agenda for incoming president

can enjoy peace, progress and development.

The NSCIA said it wishes to discharge its responsibility to both the country and its citizens by engaging with the process of leadership recruitment and sharing its views and concerns with its members on the coming general elections.

Considering Nigeria’s rising population expected to hit 300 million by 2030 and 400 million by 2050, the NSCIA said Nigeria needs statesmen with vision to strengthen our institutions of governance, fight corruption tooth and nail and prioritise competence, ethics and moral character. “We particularly need a leadership that will appreciate the future and plan for it,” it said.

It said among other things: “We need leaders with the vision, courage and discipline to plan for this teeming population.

“We expect that the discussion around our political circle should be about how to provide food, health care, housing, education and jobs for this population over the next 25 years; knowing very well that failure to do this is a recipe for another disaster.

“It is this context that the NSCIA wishes to convey to our presidential candidates, as well as Nigerian citizens who will be electing them in the coming general elections, our concerns and our expectations from the incoming President/Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The NSCIA believes that leadership is bestowed by God; it also believes that leadership is a trust, and this trust remains a burden on leaders, until they discharge it by delivering on the promises they made to the electorate.”

The NSCIA cited Islamic authority, Shaykh Abdullahi bn Foduye who said, “Verily, political power is a vicegerency from Allah and stewardship from God’s Apostle. How great then, its dignity and how heavy its burden.”

Accordingly, the NSCIA expressed its belief in the conviction that leaders should strive to deliver on their mandates and meet the expectations of the citizens, as much as possible, adding that the extent to which our presidential candidates will receive the Nigerian Muslims’ support is proportional to their level of willingness to consider those issues important to the NSCIA.

The priority issues dear to the Muslim body, according to the statement, include security, economy, infrastructure, human capital development and good governance.

On security, it said “almost one and a half decade, Nigeria has been traumatised by an unprecedented level of carnage with losses of hundreds of thousands of human lives and millions of displaced peoples and a kidnapping industry that has caused havoc and pauperised both urban and rural communities.

“This growing and seemingly unending insecurity has crippled agriculture, commerce and education, with all the consequences in its trail. Assurances of successive governments have been to no avail.”

It said the failure has created a huge trust deficit between political leaders and citizens, particularly when experts have proposed various solutions to the authorities.

“The incoming president is expected to make this his top priority and to deploy the highest political will and resources to bring this menace to a quick end.

“Some of the key lessons to note here include the dismantling of the war economy from which a few officials are feeding fat, the integrity of commanders, the absence of synergy between the different security services, building local trust for effective intelligence and working with local authorities who would know their terrain better than any outsider. Besides, the incoming government must curb the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.” the NUT Annual Solemn Assembly, held recently in Abuja.

On the economy, the body said the incoming government is expected to reconstruct our economy, and to do so in ways that will address the grinding poverty, joblessness and severe inequities across the populace.

It said the frightening statistics of about 2/3 of the Nigerian population living below poverty line is not acceptable, and that agriculture as key economic driver to be prioritised.

It also decried the continued decay of infrastructure, especially the power sector, and expects the incoming government to restore power to this country which has groped in the dark for too long.

“We also need to have a sustainable energy plan that will unleash our natural resources while protecting the environment. Other critical areas of infrastructure include improving roads and rail, recharging the Lake Chad waters to boost agriculture, arresting desertification and boosting digital literacy,” it said.

In respect of Human Capital Development, it said it is critical to our economic recovery and the future of this country. “In global competitiveness, this is our area of comparative advantage as 65% of our population are under 35 years of age. At the moment, the records show that we have the largest out-of-school children in the world. Our girl-child enrolment presents another worrying statistics, with implications for our development. If we can educate this population and give them basic health care, they alone can be a powerful momentum in our economy.

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“ Similarly, our health care, which is currently in a shambles, must be revamped to meet our growing population,” it said.

Regarding governance, it said that the service delivery of our governments at all levels is dismal. “We need an incoming government that will pay immediate and serious attention to this all-important issue.”