Editorial

Appraising 2012 And Projecting 2013
In the area of infrastructure, the country has witnessed massive rehabilitation of roads, especially after the rainy season. Agriculture has however not been given the required attention. The reason being that apart from manufacturing, agriculture remains the highest employer of labour globally and no wonder unemployment is staring the teeming Nigerians on the face. Though the Federal Government has been harping on the need to use agriculture as a tool to combat unemployment, the impact of such ideas are yet to be felt by the people.
Since technology or development can better be evolved from within or at home, it is pertinent for Nigeria to start looking in wards for a home grown technology. If you ask me where to find it, I shall without hesitation direct the country to Aba, in Abia State where almost every house serves as a factory for production of one product or the other.
The Niger Delta or South South Zone is yet another area with high technological/developmental potentials. The so-called illegal refineries, otherwise referred to as bunkering spots could be legalized, upgraded and used in solving the country’s petroleum products scarcity problem. What it simply requires is to gather the operators of the illicit business, provide them with tools and of course empower them to produce refined products for the country. A fraction of what goes into fuel importation in the country could solve this problem once and for all. No nation has developed with foreign technology historically. Technology is either stolen or developed within; afterall development is the ability of man to conquer his environment.
Now that the 2012 is gone for good, what are the expectations of Nigerians in 2013? Nigerians like their counterparts all over the world expect good life through improved infrastructure and basic amenities.
With the high level of natural endowment of resources in the country anything short of living above poverty line will be unacceptable and resisted.
Youths which constitute major percentage of the country’s population expect to be employed gainfully. Therefore, it is the duty of government to provide these jobs by creating a conducive atmosphere for business to thrive.
Nigerians expect improved security. A situation where citizens are not safe to go about their lawful businesses for fear of armed robbery attack and kidnapping, yet we have a government who most times provides security to only its apologists, leaving the larger society to their fate. By the number of human and material resources that abound in the country, Nigerians should not have any business with poverty.
The major part of 2012 was spent on strikes. It was either the Resident Doctors, ASUU or Teachers were on strike or one controversy or another was occupying the country. Nigerians therefore expect a more stable polity that will guarantee industrial harmony in the country. This is necessary for sustainable economic growth.
It is only when there is absolute peace in a given society, that government can think and plan right. ###