On this edition of Building Bridges, we futhered the discussion on policies and legislations that will advance Nigeria in 2021. Other policies such as that of the anti-corruption has also hit the rocks. The system has loosed credibility owing to the fallouts of major strategies by the Government which has since been criticized an opposition witch-hunting exercise. On Agriculture, the country’s food production has also nosedived due to issues of Insecurity which has greatly affected farmers as well as their yields. Thereby leading to food shortages with further negatives projections in 2021. Policy on social inclusion and poverty reduction is also an avenue where the Government has performed woefully in 2020. This is owing to increased polarization of the country along ethnic, religious and social divides which has also increased agitations from various groups within the country. This is also underscored by the classification of Nigeria under countries with less religious freedom tolerance by the United States of America last year. While poverty reduction programmes such as the “Npower” and “tradermoni” has also gone the way of other policies due to its unsustainable nature. Lastly, policies on encouraging business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialization is another area that Nigerians are very much interested in for the year 2021. This is owing to the increasing difficulty in running small scale businesses.

The Government’s recent directive on the linking of National Identification Number to (NIN) to Sim Cards has also been criticized for flouting COVID19 regulations as it witnessed crowds at various National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) offices nationwide. This is as other countries are battling the second wave of the pandemic. Are there no better ways of going about these issues? why does the government maintain indifference to the plight of Nigerians? How can citizens sustain their demand for improved lives and livelihood?

All these and many more will form the basis of our discussion as we adjust our focus on policies that will shape 2021. We had as guest, Mr. Kabiru Sabo, Mr. Mujidang Sitdang, and Mr. Ret John Ret. We hope you enjoy listening.