As I write this piece, I cannot help but
remember the words of the “Hall of Fame”
music idol, late B.B. King in his once-in-a-life
time album titled “The thrill is gone”.
The first 100 days of the change Nigerians
massively voted for on March 28 and April
11 could be a pointer to whether or not the thrill
and the enthusiasm for the APC and Buhari and
Osinbajo would still be there in 4 years. A
struggle that took 55 years to achieve must not
be allowed to fizzle away just like that
I appreciate the fact that the new President has
refused to let the Governors submit to him the
names of their nominees for Federal job s and
the determination of Buhari to not let the Local
Governments and the State Government spend
Federal subvention any way they want. Whoever
pays the Piper should have a right to dictate the
tune. It was the right thing to do and Buhari
must not let up on that decision. There is too
much corruption at the three levels of
Government. If the amount stolen by anybody is
too much, the culprit must be probed and
brought to book regardless of his position in
Government. The suggestion by Jonathan that
Buhari cannot probe him until he has probed the
other Heads of State is arrant nonsense. If it is
established that Jonathan or his first lady has
stolen money they must be made to face the
full force of the Law just like each of the
Ministers.

The number of Ambassadors and overseas
missions would need to be drastically reduced
just like Awolowo as Finance Minister had
advised General Gowon and Okoi Arikpo, the
Foreign Minister to do in 1968 while the Biafran
war was still on.
I knew about the move first hand because I was
among the last batch of Foreign Affairs officers
appointed in November and December of 1967.
My group was supposed to be posted to some
of those missions. That was how I ended up
being posted to the Army Headquarters as
Assistant Secretary Grade 2. That was how I
briefly served under Alhaji Damcida from
Katsina, and Yusuf Gobir from Ilorin as
Permanent Secretaries and B. G. Popo from
Warri as Deputy Permanent Secretary and Mr.
S.A. Ogunleye from Ijebu Ode as Senior
Assistant Secretary.

It made no economic sense for Nigeria to keep
some of those useless missions at a time
Nigeria needs all the money it can get to fight
and defeat Boko Haram and the Niger Delta
militants within our country.
President Buhari who flew British Airways during
his last trip to London must reduce the number
of aircrafts in the presidential fleet as a matter
of principle. Some of those aircrafts can be
sent back to form the nucleus of the new
National Carrier he intends to bring back to
Nigeria.

I am happy he has tried to check the excesses
of praise singers who massage the ego of our
men in power by calling the “Your Excellency”
and shouting “Power, Power” when they go
around town or attend public functions in their
convoy of cars with dispatch riders and sirens
all over the place. I noticed with huge
satisfaction that President Buhari did not allow
that eye service at his inauguration.
We hear from the grapevines that civil servants
in many states like Osun, Ekiti and so many
other states have not been paid their salaries.
Buhari has to liaise with the Governors Forum
to know why that is the case. Unless those civil
servants are paid, the euphoria we all feel today
about Buhari could be short-lived. The 19 APC
legislators who were driven out of Ekiti by
Governor Fayose and denied their salaries and
allowances all fall within the same show of
shame.

There are a few things that cannot wait. The
first 100 days are very critical. The Government
must be seen to be up and running very
efficiently. Part of it is finding money to replace
the empty Treasury left behind by President
Jonathan. Those who are known to have looted
the treasury and ministers like Allison Madueke
must immediately release back to Government
the aircrafts they have bought for their
Ministries. Nigeria has not yet reached the same
level with the United States where the
Secretary of State has his or her own plane.
That is a misplacement of our priorities.
There are little things the President could do as
mere gestures without endangering himself like
Murtala Mohammed made when he started
coming out of his car to start directing Lagos
traffic because he was fired up and ready to go.
But he went too far and was taken out in a ray
of bullets by Dimkar and his gang of coup
plotters at Alagbon Close very close to my
office at Ikoyi when I was assigned to the Udoji
Salary Review Commission next door to the
Federal Secretariat. My staff and I were the
first witnesses to the assassination because it
happened less than half a block from our office.
Many Nigerians job analysts and Salary Review
experts trained at the Journal Building at
Ottawa, Canada who used to work for the Udoji
Salary Review Commission and the Federal
Ministry of Establishments and the
Administrative Staff College in Badagry are still
around and some of them can be tapped to
review the salary structure of our Legislators
and public servants in Nigeria.
Our leader at the Commission at the time was
one Mr. M.A. Soneye from Shagamu who later
became the Director-General of ASCON in
Badagry. The man is still alive and he is now a
Barrister in Lagos. He can help the new
President fish- out some of his staff who are
still able to help the new President and his
Administration.

Nigeria faces enormous challenges. We must
not succumb to hopelessness and defeatism as
rightly observed by the new President with his
inaugural address. Yes, the President can
delegate a lot of things but he must be able to
back up such delegation with authority before
the thrill is gone as reminded us by B.B King.
Nigerians want to see action from the President
and his team and the time is now!
I rest my case.

saharareporters.com/2015/06/01/thrill-and-popular-support-buhari-could-evaporate-easily-dr-wumi-akintide

I thought so too

In as much as I am a strong buhari fan,I wont desist from the truth. So far so good, I am not happy with buhari. It's as if we don't even have a President. That nigga must start acting now...

ionsman:
In as much as I am a strong buhari fan,I wont desist from the truth. So far so good, I am not happy with buhari. It's as if we don't even have a President. That nigga must start acting now...

U are not a buhari fan mr man....
D man just travelled out for d sake bh issue...

tucky200:

U are not a buhari fan mr man....
D man just travelled out for d sake bh issue...

Lol...I started supporting buhari since 2003. .So go sit down if you have nothing to say.