Alot of Nigerians exhibit enormous knowledge when it comes to the issue of ensuring development through proper political practice. However, most Nigerians like Adams Oshimole and co,  that radically criticised the politics and government  in Nigeria for many years, seem to become inactive as soon as they get the politcal power to ensure change.
It is important to understand what Nigerians really think is the problem with our political leadership, and proffer solutions on how we can ensure proper/effective leadership

If you happen to get the political power to lead Nigeria, What steps will you take to ensure change?

You must avoid answers like, "I will provide electric power!" Please Give brief details of the steps you will take to ensure that, so that it can be realistic. Don't make it look like you are dreaming.

This is important because it will expose your understanding on what you know about Nigeria, her problems and possible solutions. Who knows, you may just be the next president.

No tribal sentiments please.

I will make corruption punishable by the death sentence, even for the President.

Horus:

I will make corruption punishable by the death sentence, even for the President.

my approach will b 3 pronged. 1) infrastructure 2) security and 3) power. 4 infrastructure i c it as a mechanism dat will hav a direct positive impact because asides developin roads,bridges,raillines which will enhance commerce/transport/integration it provides employment 4 both skilled n unskilled ppl,energises ancilliary bîzness e.g bitumen production 4 roads/steel production 4 rail e.t.c even market women dat provid supplies wld b empowered. 2)revampin of our security agencies by institútionalisin professionalism/merit and a motivatin welfare scheme 4 dem nt 2 4get capacity buildin. 3)utilising d natural endowment of each region of naija to provide sustainable power e.g solar energy in d north,hydro 4 d south west,gas 4 d south south and most likely coal/gas 4 d east . D power plants will b spread based on popu density/commercial activeness n of course profitability. My lil summation

Trash Yaradua.

1.strengthen and enforce a functional tax system (if ever nigerian paid 10 dollars a month the fed budget would be 12 billion dollars annually instead of 1 billion it gets from oil.)

2. raise the military size from 100,000 to 600,000 which based on the size of nigeria and its role in africa is the appropriate size.

3. use the increased revenue to place a functioning power plant in every 4 state radius with several northern states functioning on solar power farms.

4. create a new degree in universities that pretains to leadership and politics that all politicians must have MINIMUM 2 years degree in to run, and a person with a lower degree won't be allowed to run against a person higehr one (doctors will run against doctors, associates against associates)

5. Keep Niger Delta oil in the delta wil allocations to the fed BUT NEVER other states. real federalism


6. use waht would but state allocations of oil to build a function interstate system OR repair roads as they are.

7. start a program where by government will pay off 20% of any loan and the interest for and loan taken to start any manufacturing business.

8. Build a 12 million student capacity mega university, which the main campus in the shape of a giant pyramid larger then that in egypt.

-This will be costly but can be funded by laons and tax/oil revenue.
-It will make nigeria to top producer of human capital, close the brain drain, put youths to work, sky rocket science and make us the leader of research in africa, and will do for our tourism what the eiffle does for france.

chineke!

Among others,

1. Adequate power supply
2. Quality education from nursery to tertiary
3. Sufficient provision of basic amenities in rural & urban
4. Security of life and properties. Retrain and equip our forces
5. My war on corruption will not be about the past, but from my day 1 onwards. Every kobo will be accounted for.

But generally: I will put the right people in all key position. You just have to know how to solve the problem, else you are by the side. Any Nigerian that has a good skill will be empowered. Every minute will have to count.

My believe is that Nigerians are capable of fixing Nigeria.

First things:

(1) Build enough prisons and establish a functional justice system based on local policing (local govt and state policing supported by an efficient federal police force for interstate crimes).
(2) Abolish quota system and federal character. In its place, a merit based system with affirmative action for educationally backward states. Merit -90% ,affirmative action- 10%
(3) Life jail and asset forfeiture for capital flight and unlawful export of money.
(4) Compulsory education for all persons under 18 years
(5) Long jail terms (at least 10 years) for infrastructure sabotage (electric lines and facilities and telephone lines).
(6) Empower EFCC to bring more people to justice for economic sabotage.

I just listed things I know I can do if I were the President of Nigeria today.

Shut Nairaland down. jokes

For me i will make a law that anyone holding a political office and family MUST make use of public facilities - most especially schools and healthcare.

Rebrand the Nigerian Police - raise the qualifications for entry

Lol, all political office holders must wear suit - reduce the culture difference

All primary schools teach against corruption plus 20yrs sentence for corrupt officers

and more privatisation

plus continous construction of infrastructures

I assure you a South Africa after my 8yrs

Assuming I am elected without wuruwuru

I will focus on 7 things, this is partly because I believe that having a focus on some strategic aspects would create a ripple effect rather than been everywhere and achieving nothing.

1. EDUCATION - First and foremost abolish the NYSC program! Review and possibly change our academic curriculum in view of changing times
The minimum education would be a secondary school cert. In secondary schools students would learn the western education and choose a technical field to focus on. Polytechnics would focus on industrial arts and sciences.
Fund research in areas of agriculture, energy, science, leadership etc, through collaborations with international schools and organisations
Create libraries in every community. Any private school willing to have a license must show that it has a library and children's playground No more 2 bedroom primary school buildings.

2. HEALTHCARE - Free healthcare for ages 1-12 and 65+. Why? to save our future and reward our old people thereby creating a patriotic atmosphere that after your labor the government will pay for your health care. Fund medical research and collaborate with organisations to create accessible generic drugs. Community hospitals. Fund medical, nurse, midwife schools through collaboration with WHO.

3. SECURITY - Bring sexy back to the police . The police and military would be funded and held accountable. Free health and life insurance for officers, create effective and efficient judiciary, it is important to have a society where people trust and feel that even if the trust is violated they can seek redress in court

4. COMMUNAL INVOLVEMENT - every society must have a plan for its people. Hold local leaders accountable for infrastructures and youth development. Churches and mosques must play a huge part in the fight against corruption. Also grass root sports development

5.AGRICULTURE - We will set a plan to self sustain our nation in 10 years. Research to improve farming techniques, irrigation and loans for farmers would be a priority.

6. ENERGY - This is strategic cos every other depends on it, search and develop alternative sources of energy. Energy savings would be a part in developing new roads, creative energy efficient architectural designs (eg Build cooler buildings thereby reduce need for AC). Have a new national policy for energy

I would revitalize the Bureau of Statistics, they will play a huge role in the way money is spent. Projects that have no business in improving lives will have no chance. If you want an airport then show me the money, this applies to states collecting loans. Our flags and national anthems would be everywhere

Horus:

I will make corruption punishable by the death sentence.

Its funny how this simple measure works like magic.

Anyone who can implement such a measure will turn Nigeria around in the space of 30 days.

140 million nigerians we'll all share the natiönal cake. If u dont like the road repair it urself.If u dont have light generate it urself. Lol

Peacefull dissolution of the illegal marriage called Nigeria . . . 
All ethnic groups should decide whether to form their own republic or merge with larger groups . .

you know that Suit idea isn't bad at all.

i think there needs to be a 1 nigeria formal outfit to reduce cultural difference.
and a government dress code to enforce it

ppl always say that nigerians dont know how to run the country but its not true, the average nigerian is more politically intelligent then the average american, its just a matter of giving the right ppl a chance and cracking the cronism of the past generation.

i guess i forgot to give details on how


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.strengthen and enforce a functional tax system (if ever nigerian paid 10 dollars a month the fed budget would be 12 billion dollars annually instead of 1 billion it gets from oil.)
-enforce a federal registry week. Every citizen must get registered, if you dont register your not considered a citizen [until you do and you're and illegal that can be deported. every citizen will register their name, their childrens name, their parents, name, their place of birth, age estimate, gender medical history, educational history, average monthly income, source of income, and major properities. Tax will be broken down to 4 class brackets, upper class, middle class, working class, and poor. upper will pay 50 monthly USD, middle will pay 20 monthly USD, working will play 10 monthly US poor will pay 5 monthly USD. Due to the nigerian mentality the information will be taken BEFORE tax brackets are announced or plans for having them are announced. each citizen will then recieve a tax card and id number and be required to open a bank account which they will be expected to deposit a minium of their tax expectation every month (ex. there most but AT LEAST 20 in there if you're middle ect.).

A tax revenue bureau will be created with responsilibity of tracking ppl in each state, investigating fraud, and collection tax from the banks which will work as middle men with more access to the average person, meanwhile boosting the holdings of out banks.

failing to pay will result in your assets being held by the government. failure to register means you dont have an id card and you will be barred from using government facilities like roads, schools hospitals, gov jobs, jobs in general, so if you want to not register its your choice but it will hinder you dramatically and you will basically be an illegal in your own country that can be arrested for being in nigeria.



2. raise the military size from 100,000 to 600,000 which based on the size of nigeria and its role in africa is the appropriate size.


with the sruge of tax revenue and increased rev from not allocating to states and keeping it between the oil states and fed, the budget is expected to go from 1billion a year to 12 billion plus USD. This will give more then enough space for an 6 fold increase of military and police personal as well as a dramatic expansion of the navy. this will also take alot of youths off the street and make good use of them and increase the amount of discioplined patrioptic nigerian in the coutry

3. use the increased revenue to place a functioning power plant in every 4 state radius with several northern states functioning on solar power farms.


again increased gov revenue from modernized tax system can easily fund this plus oil and loans if need be
4. create a new degree in universities that pretains to leadership and politics that all politicians must have MINIMUM 2 years degree in to run, and a person with a lower degree won't be allowed to run against a person higehr one (doctors will run against doctors, associates against associates)

5. Keep Niger Delta oil in the delta wil allocations to the fed BUT NEVER other states. real federalism
-simple as that

6. use waht would but state allocations of oil to build a function interstate system OR repair roads as they are.
-simple as that
7. start a program where by government will pay off 20% of any loan and the interest for and loan taken to start any manufacturing business.
-simple as that

and the mega university can be funded by loan oil and tax. with 12 million ppl from all over the world paying 2000 dollars a semester it can actually be profitable in the long run. i also want to spend a lot so that no money is left idle for stealing.

If I become the president of Nigeria today I will do the following (only no 1 is in the rite other, the others are in no particular order)

1. Work on the constitution: Aspect of the constitution I will first work on is giving death sentence and confiscating properties of present and past corrupt leaders and public officers, pls note their death will be televised on national tv. I will decentralize power by bordering the six political zones of the country and giving then autonomy (i.e there will be an overall head for each political zone that will be more powerful that the individual state governors and these heads will be the VPs to the president), I will separate bodies like INEC, EFCC, ICPC from politics and they will be truly independent. I will remove federal character cos everyone will manage his resources, although at the initial take of power to 10 yrs time I will try to help each zone to provide infrastructures that can make it autonomous using oil money. I will make laws that favor a capitalist system, aspects that will not be handled by private individuals will be military and maybe health
2. Power: I will hand over power management to each geographical region, let them generate and distribute as they seem fit with the help of private sector.
3. Infrastructure: Standard Roads and rails will link all regions to one another. I will run at least 3 to 4 airport as federal in each region depending on the size of the region (some might be 2). Please note all will be PPP but at the federal level.
4. I will develop a better identification system (biometric) that will facilitate taxing, banking, health, education, security etc.
5. For health, I will run a system close to that of the British NHS system, I will give free health to birth-14 and +65
6. Education will be compulsory and free till secondary school, parent that don't comply will be categorized as child molesters. I will stop the craze on BSc. by supporting technical schools, sport schools etc. It will be compulsory to run gym and sports in schools and pupils must participate in it.
7. I will privatize NTA and the rest. Sports will be removed from the hands of Government, each region will have its own police, but there will be a federal police like the FBI. I will improve Military and provide military base (1, 2 or 3) in each region, i will encourage recruitment into the police and military by improving pay and benefit and attractive.
8. For security, it will be compulsory to have working CCTV in public places, there will be general emergency line for all region, police will be made to walk among people and not drive cars in loud sirens, no road block, I will employ technology (like number plate recognition system) and animals (dogs) in combating crime.
Consumers will be powerful and dictate what they want.
Please note fake drugs, fake and substandard products, bribery, forgery, yahoo yahoo, 419, election malpractice etc will be tagged as corruption, therefore it will take the death sentence

I will vote for Ikengawo! I like you ideas and I will glaldy work with you to make that Nigeria possible. The other ones I would suggest is;

Giving each state control over its own health, eduction and police.

Reclaim Bakkasi from Cameroon.

Ensuring that the best person gets the job, no more federal character b.s.

For a start, I dont think i can ever be a president in Nigeria. because of where i come from Niger Delta. Do you think it will happen when hawks like hausa's , the Yoruba's and Ibo's are there.
i have ideas on how to make this nation great but its needless as other ethnic nationalities dont consider me a Nigerian when it comes to governace but if its oil revenue, yeah i am a Nigerian. F****k all Ya'

AfroCynic:

.
.

Reclaim Bakkasi from Cameroon.
.
.

. . .and how would you accomplish that? Was it not Nigeria that instigated the legal proceeding at the ICJ in The Hague thinking it could not lose?

Did Obasanjo consult the nation before he signed Bakassi away? No! So the very act of signing it away is illegal as per Nigerian law. SO, I do not recognise it. Thank You.

PupetMasta:

If I become the president of Nigeria today I will do the following (only no 1 is in the rite other, the others are in no particular order)

1. Work on the constitution: Aspect of the constitution I will first work on is giving death sentence and confiscating properties of present and past corrupt leaders and public officers, pls note their death will be televised on national tv. I will decentralize power by bordering the six political zones of the country and giving then autonomy (i.e there will be an overall head for each political zone that will be more powerful that the individual state governors and these heads will be the VPs to the president), I will separate bodies like INEC, EFCC, ICPC from politics and they will be truly independent. I will remove federal character cos everyone will manage his resources, although at the initial take of power to 10 yrs time I will try to help each zone to provide infrastructures that can make it autonomous using oil money. I will make laws that favor a capitalist system, aspects that will not be handled by private individuals will be military and maybe health
2. Power: I will hand over power management to each geographical region, let them generate and distribute as they seem fit with the help of private sector.
3. Infrastructure: Standard Roads and rails will link all regions to one another. I will run at least 3 to 4 airport as federal in each region depending on the size of the region (some might be 2). Please note all will be PPP but at the federal level.
4. I will develop a better identification system (biometric) that will facilitate taxing, banking, health, education, security etc.
5. For health, I will run a system close to that of the British NHS system, I will give free health to birth-14 and +65
6. Education will be compulsory and free till secondary school, parent that don't comply will be categorized as child molesters. I will stop the craze on BSc. by supporting technical schools, sport schools etc. It will be compulsory to run gym and sports in schools and pupils must participate in it.
7. I will privatize NTA and the rest. Sports will be removed from the hands of Government, each region will have its own police, but there will be a federal police like the FBI. I will improve Military and provide military base (1, 2 or 3) in each region, i will encourage recruitment into the police and military by improving pay and benefit and attractive.
8. For security, it will be compulsory to have working CCTV in public places, there will be general emergency line for all region, police will be made to walk among people and not drive cars in loud sirens, no road block, I will employ technology (like number plate recognition system) and animals (dogs) in combating crime.
Consumers will be powerful and dictate what they want.
Please note fake drugs, fake and substandard products, bribery, forgery, yahoo yahoo, 419, election malpractice etc will be tagged as corruption, therefore it will take the death sentence

Very impressive

i will first of all visit the history of governance in nigeria.
i will also do my best to reward our past leaders according to their works and thereby encourage and discourage our intending leaders.
i will do my best to convience nigerians that governance is not the shortest means to wealth.
all i am saying here is, under my leadership, there will be federal killings involving all the anti progressives in nigeria.
past leaders will be forced to explain their sources of wealth.
i will take at least four years to cleanse the land which has been defiled by our past rulers.

Another thing that just crossed my mind is Bakassi. I will find a way of taking back bakassi, i will prefare using peace first then threaten, if it does not work I will use Military action. Another way I will strengthen the military is encouraging military technology development in the country, just like it is done in North Korea. Nigeria will really need it.

. . .many good suggestions in this post.

I would expunge the section of the constitution that grants immunity to sitting governors. It is the most hideous statue ever penned and it promotes, sanctions and applauds corruption by elected officials.

AfroCynic:

Did Obasanjo consult the nation before he signed Bakassi away? No! So the very act of signing it away is illegal as per Nigerian law. SO, I do not recognise it. Thank You.

For a while there, I thought you were going to tell me that you would march in your commando gear towards Bakassi and liberate the land from Cameroon.

***************

To put the blame squarely on Obasanjo would be ahistoric. OBJ was not the Nigerian head of State who signed away the Bakassi peninsula. That ignominy belonged to Gowon, who flew into Yaounde to pawn away Nigeria’s birthright as gratitude for the support Cameroon gave Nigeria during the civil war. Cameroon had prevented arms flow into Biafra through the waters around Bakassi. That strategic assistance from Cameroon starved Biafran soldiers of weapons and supplies and precipitated the collapse of the Biafran army.

Whether Obasanjo was wise in assenting to adjudication at The Hague is debatable. What is clear is that part of OBJ’s motivation was to be seen as a “World Statesman”, which he had fancied himself. Recall also that OBJ, earlier in his presidency, had purged the Nigerian army of senior officers in a bid to secure long jeopardy of democracy in the third Republic. So, the man was in no position to proposition the military for gunboat diplomacy with Cameroon over the Bakassi peninsula. 

And if you think back, Cameroon was negotiating with IBB on a framework for financial compensation for Bakassi, and joint administration with Yaounde before the impetuous Abacha provoked a military confrontation with Cameroon. That drove a militarily weaker Cameroon to the ICJ. Before Abacha, the Cameroonians were willing to work with IBB to reach a diplomatic solution.

As for your complaint that Obasanjo acted unitarily without consulting the nation, you'll have to realize that it would invite paralysis, if a nation’s leader called a plebiscite each time he or she had to make an important decision. Did Abacha call a referendum before he created the 774th LGA in Bakassi (I am asking because we had fled the country when Abacha came to power)?

Political analysis aside, the fact remains that OBJ was the legitimate president of Nigeria at the time and any action he took in Nigeria’s stead was validated by his standing. End of story.

what do we gain by reclaiming bakassi from cameroun? that area was undeveloped by the Nigerian government, the only reason we care about it is the oil.

i will first of all find a way of wasting all those old toads who keep recycling themselves into government position and replace them with fresh young minds that are ready to work, afterwards we form a team to carry the nation forward. But most important, waste all of the old farts so that there will be no godfatherism anywhere.