Nigeria will be great again!

Nigeria is truly a great country. We are blessed abundantly with both natural and human resources. We are blessed with very hard working people, who if given a little opportunity will excel in any endeavour. But the opportunities are simply not available. We have the will and the capacity to do better and improve our lives, but the environment is not conducive for such.

In every society, social change is driven by a particular subset of that society. Today, this change for a new Nigeria is driven by the youth. This group is made up of young people; school leavers, job seekers, young professionals, and technocrats, whose collective dream is to see a better Nigeria. The older generation may claim that the young lack experience but time has shown this to be false.

When Obama came out and ran for the American presidency, he was said to be too young; that he lacked experience. His opponent, John McCain, was assumed better suited for the job, with years of political experience and a sitting governor for a running mate! The change that swept America, swept them away. When Louis Ignacio Da Silva of Brazil ran for president in his country, he too was assumed to be too young, and inexperienced. Today, the change he wrought in Brazil has seen the Brazilian economy soar and country move from international back stage to the limelight.

Today, in Nigeria, there are people who also see Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as being too young and inexperienced. But Nuhu Ribadu is the epitome of the youth; a champion for the dream of a new Nigeria. He believes that if the youth are properly integrated into our leadership processes and become part of it, that Nigeria will be a better place for everyone.

For a leader to truly champion a cause, he/she must believe in the cause. Nuhu Ribadu represents a visionary and dedicated leadership, determined to change the fortunes of Nigerians for the better. For despite all our God-given natural and human resources, Nigeria still lags behind in the comity of nations. There are many issues requiring attention in Nigeria, the most pressing being youth unemployment. Young people 30 years old and below make up 70% of Nigeria's population, yet youth unemployment is rampant. Up to 50-60% of our graduates are unemployed, to the point where parents and children now question the value of education.

The Nigerian economy is performing below its potential and is not creating enough jobs for our fast growing youth population. Though the economy is growing at around 6% per annum, it could grow at a much faster pace and more importantly it could create more jobs if the right policies are pursued.

The economy has to be managed with fiscal prudence so that our expenditure does not exceed our revenues. The fiscal deficit kept at 3% of GDP from 2003-2007 has now doubled to 6%, implying a great deal of spending without much impact or results on the ground. At the end of 2008, the Excess Crude Account (ECA) had the equivalent of US$20 billion in savings to cushion the country against a "rainy day".

Much of that money has now been shared between federal, state and local governments. What is left is less than US$500 million. Our foreign exchange reserves have come down from a peak of more than US$50 billion a couple of years ago to US$38 billion now. Our domestic debt has climbed to the level of Naira3.76 trillion or the equivalent of US$25 billion (from DMO website as of June 30 2010).

This in an abuse fiscal responsibility and it has serious impact on our domestic economy, especially as some of the states borrowing may not be in a position to fully service their debt. All the borrowing and use of our domestic revenues has not led to better services on the ground. The position of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is that we must budget within our means and keep overspending to a minimum. This means bringing the fiscal deficit back to 3% of GDP.

The Ribadu Plan seeks to bring our foreign exchange reserves to a robust level of US$50 billion or more; and work for a steady and attainable economic growth rate of 7-8% per year for the next five years and 8-10% per year for the years following that. This growth must be job-creating growth focused on both the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy. It will invest in infrastructure, in health and education, and in creating the enabling environment for investment in all key sources of growth in the economy, particularly agriculture, the extractive industry, manufacturing, housing and construction, financial services, information and communication technology (ICT), as well as arts and culture, and the entertainment industry.

That is the challenge facing us in the second half of the Nigerian century; and that is the challenge Mallam Ribadu will address if he becomes president.

-By Deshola Komolafe