Buhari’s three other promises

Local By The Nation Newspaper

SIR: President Buhari is yet to settle down, yet, we are beginning to see just where his administration will concentrate as a matter of urgency. With a two-day visit to Niger and Chad Republics, and most recently the G-7 summit in Bavaria, the foundation for squashing Boko Haram (for good) has been laid. And the President is right to make securing the lives of Nigerians and the country’s territory as his foremost engagement. After all, we all need to be alive if we are to witness the ‘change’ the party have in store. Corruption and the economy (job creation) are said to be the next targets and should be treated simultaneously. These, according to President Buhari and APC are the three fundamental issues Nigeria needs to address. Where then does the housing deficit fall in the pecking order?

A closer look at the APC manifesto will show that this along with other pressing issues has been captured. However, not including the housing needs among the three fundamental problems is clearly underestimating the deficit on some 170 million people. Judging by the President’s prioritizing of the now popular issues during his campaign, one will be quick to assume the President doesn’t want to bite off more than he can chew.

Don’t get me wrong, eliminating corruption, creating 8 to 10 million jobs and destroying Boko Haram in four years will be nothing short of a miracle, and will keep the APC government busy all through their tenure.

But then, why can’t there be more priorities like housing and access to safe drinking water for all? Electricity should not even be a question (thank God President Buhari knows too). Mass and affordable housing for all will always be a winner. When housing is relatively abundant and affordable, stealing will be made less attractive, if only by a little. As if to mock the thousands of staff working in the Federal Capital who cannot afford homes in the city and will have to travel from neighboring states, aesthetically designed and unoccupied estates of different sizes, stare on at them. They are almost certain they will not occupy these houses lying in the landscaped streets of the beautiful city. Inequity staring them right in the face!

The freest and equally very important advice the President Buhari-led Federal Government can get is to give priority to the very huge and underrated housing deficit, rest assured that if they do, their names will be written in gold. The poor masses took the risk and made this change possible. They need homes. No doubt about it.