May 29 has come and gone and we are in the very first week of a new dawn for Nigeria. The Buhari government gets to work on Monday June 1st and Nigerians are more than ever hopeful that things will begin to change immediately. At Nairametrics, we have our bucket list of what to expect for the coming week. Here they are;
Media SpokesmanÂ
This is one of the first appointment we expect the president to make this week. Considering that he needs to get his message across quickly and concise enough to news hungry media and impatient Nigerians, he needs to get someone will coordinate things quickly. We can’t have a government-run without a spokesperson or use a de-facto one for too long.
Secretary to the Federal Government
Another important step the government needs to take this week, is to announce the Secretary to the Government. For the government to run unhindered it needs an SGF whose job it is to ensure all the business of government continues to flow.
National Security Adviser
Buhari in his speech made mention of his plans to relocate the Army Command Centre from Abuja to Maiduguri as he plans to take on Boko-Haram headlong. To ensure his plan is put to action and his security apparatus is well prepared to tackle the security situation up North, a national security adviser is urgently needed to coordinate things. The NSA will advise on such issues as appointing security chiefs, deploying military apparatus, war strategy among others.
Chief Economic Adviser
We also expect the president to announce his Chief Economic Adviser this week considering the grim economy that has been handed down to them by the past government. The economic adviser is expected to coordinate and put into action the economic blueprint of the new government. His work will also include nominating and screening of potential candidates for various agencies of the government that border of the economy.
Name Ministers & Cabinet members
We also expect the president to announce his nominated list of ministers and other cabinet members. Many had expected that we should by now have a list so we don’t expect the announcement to pass this week. In fact, we should get a better knowledge of who and who have been nominated for ministerial appointments.
Executive orders
We also expect the president to embark on a list of executive orders which do not require parliamentary approvals. For example, we expect him to reverse some of the unpopular policies that were put in place by the previous government whilst we also expect him to introduce some new ones. This should commence this week in our opinion.
Strategy for fighting Boko-Haram
We mentioned the need to appoint a National Security Adviser. We also expect the government tell Nigerian what their plans are for combating Boko-Haram. The president already laid the foundation for that by promising to relocate the command centre, however we expect him to provide timelines to all this. Boko Haram responded with a rash of attacks on Saturday that has killed scores of people. We also expect them to tell us how they plan to fight the war going forward, what their scope of work with the US and other Western partners will look like as well as plans to address the refugee situation.
Fuel crisis
The most critical economic crisis facing the nation now is the fuel situation in the country. The government must make pronouncements that address the demands of the oil marketers , various labour unions as well as other stakeholders involved in ensuring a constant flow of petroleum products. Nigerians want to see the fuel lines disappear as quickly as possible.
