Agbakoba draws Buhari’s attention to housing

The former National president of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba has pointed out housing as one of the many sectors with issues requiring urgent governmental attention.

He therefore advised the president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), to borrow the strategies of the 32^nd president of the United States, President Franklin Roosevelt, who is renowned for his programme for relief, recovery and reform, known as the New Deal, to address the Nigerian problem.

Agbakoba stated that some of the issues requiring urgent governmental attention are in the area of; national order, new anti-corruption framework, economic issues, financial sector reform, aviation sector reform, judicial reform, citizen welfare and housing.

Making the call on Wednesday during a press conference held at his Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos, law chamber, former National President, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, said the current Nigerian situation is similar to what America was going through in 1933 when Roosevelt became US president and that the tactics he applied to solving the problems could be useful to the Buhari administration.

Roosevelt, who as Buhari, defeated incumbent Republican president, Herbert Hoover, in November 1932, at the depth of the ‘great depression, renewed the national spirit such that in his first hundred days in office, which began March 4, 1933, he spearheaded major legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders that instituted the New Deal – a variety of programmes designed to produce reliefs such as government jobs for the unemployed, recovery (economic growth), and reform through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation.

According to Agbakoba who said: “I see strong parallels between the great economic depressions that occurred in American in the 1930s with the present challenges in Nigeria. I will urge that close attention is given to how President Roosevelt dealt with the challenges of the great depression that came to be known as ‘The New Deal’. Nigeria needs its own New Deal in very many directions but I can only touch on a few.

“Nigeria is in utter chaos and disorder. This greatly affects the nation. The disease of disorder has eaten deep into our national fabric. The absence of order has badly damaged the national psyche. Love of country is absent. It is suggested that your government works out a framework to reverse disorder and instill discipline.

“The issue of national order is closely linked with a new constitutional order. It is strongly recommended that priority should be given to the national question and resolved urgently. The Nation will not settle or move forward without solving the issue of disorder”, He said