ON VISION 20; 2020 and further

ON VISIN 20;20 20 and further

In my little time of research, I’ve come to realize that there is hardly a country in the entire globe that drafts better policies than Nigeria. Across every stratum, be it economy, politics, government, crime fighting etc, there is hardly a country that has better policies than Nigeria. I only equally doubt if there would also be any country that has as many failed or shelved policy statements as much as this country of ours.

From the OFN ie ‘Operation Feed the Nation’ or better yet ‘Ota Farms Nigeria’ as promulgated during the first missionary journey of Olusegun Obasanjo to the Structural Adjustment Program of General Ibrahim Babangida and now to the NV 20; 20 20 currently being mouthed by this Administration, one of its many carryovers from GEJ’s joint ticket with yaradua, I reiterate, we have a host of wonderful policies which if properly implemented would create obvious and enviable change in the life of the average Nigerian which our political echelon prefer to refer to as the masses.

Going through a copy of the Nigerian Vision 20; 2020, which connotes where Nigeria is expected to be by the year 2020. In the words of the document “..the vision reflects the intent of the federal government of Nigeria to become one of the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020”. This all inclusive vision depicts the desire of the ‘country’ to achieve two broad objectives over time, which include
Optimise her human and natural resource potential and to achieve rapid and sustained economic growth; and
Translate economic growth into equitable social development that guarantees a dignified and meaningful existence for all her citizens

This vision is truly laudable however it is gradually becoming one of the many others, mouthed by self seeking power thirsty politicians and despots alike and dumped after they must have become too comfortable in their seats of power to remember their barrage of electioneering propaganda.
I fear that this vision would die like so many others because the people whom it is meant to affect, know little or nothing about it. A true vision must be accepted by all, it is only commonsensical for a people oriented vision to be powered by the people. We need to ask ourselves certain questions, how many educated people can boast of having knowledge of the NV 20; 2020? How many people can boast of knowing how it affects them? how many Nigerians know anything what so ever about this document that has the propensity of changing Nigeria and Nigerians forever?
A verse of scripture that I fancy a lot, says ‘…. Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. In my opinion, for this vision to succeed, the federal government must
Teach a vision 20; 2020 curriculum in the secondary schools and higher institutions, let the real future of Nigeria buy into the concept/ vision. If a robust curriculum based on the vision is taught to this group of Nigerians it becomes a part of their lives. Afterall it is generally accepted that whatever and individual reads and hears consistently over a period of time becomes part of his life.
Spread the word on mass media and social networks: the world has become a true global village with the exploits and reach of the mass media {TV, radio and dailies} and even more so with social Media {facebook, twitter etc}, ‘in fact governments have been brought down through the instrumentality of social network and mass media’. The government need to tap into these modern day tools for truly meaningful issues that affect the life of the nation and not only for selfish campaigns.
Government must be run by only those who themselves understand the rudiments of the vision and have keyed into it. My take is that majority of the people in government today have only a flimsy political idea of what vision 20; 2020 is.

At the moment, Nigeria has about 9 years to either or not achieve its lofty dreams of increase in GDP not less than $900 billion and a per capita income no les than $4000 per anum. It is obvious that the people in government alone cannot achieve this. It would only be wise to borrow from the knowledge in that scripture….’write the vision, make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and will not lie’. Habakuk 2:2-3a.

God bless Nigeria.