Ribadu on Transport

Awareness
The plan shows awareness of the failures in rail, air, water and road transport. But by focusing on rail fails to recognize the true importance of road travel in Nigeria. It is not just to do with the paving of roads, there are also issues of road quality, mapping of roads, traffic management, road user education etc. So a big area of concern is brushed over.

Ambition
The plan to build a modern rail network out of the bones of the colonial era rail system will be a colossal project and making it viable will be even tougher. Doubling the amount of road paved is admirable, but is it really enough? It is certainly not a comprehensive plan for creating a 21st century road network in Nigeria.
Making air safety a primary objective shouldn't be seen as ambitious but rather as mandatory, but making Nigeria an international hub will take a complete revamp of Nigeria's aviation sector.

Details
This section gives detail of how the programme will be funded ( through Public Private Partnerships) and the model on which it will operate. It also alludes to a pilot scheme that will be run. There is however, no information on deadlines for the pilot or the programme itself nor on how much track will be built and which cities will be connected etc.
The plan to double paved road is concrete (no pun intended) and is accompanied by details. The source of funding is also outlined, however, again there is no time scale set or stated priorities as to what roads will be paved first.
The plans regarding aviation are thin on detail, and there is no mention made of water transport.

My View
I think this section of the plan is well written but i struggle to agree with any of it. I'm not sure the amount of investment needed to build railways would not be better spent improving roads. I am not sure if there will be sufficient demand for private/commercial travel by rail. Will it not put a lot of commercial drivers out of work? I just feel like the ship for rail travel sailed a long time ago (again no pun intended). Road networks, mapping, congestion, road safety etc. would be a better use of money. A world class motorway system will have the desired effect.
Secondly the adoption of the British Railway Model is a failing of the plan, the UK has shown the problems with the model,with high and ever increasing ticket prices, less and less services and train providers going bust or abandoning their routes.
In terms of road renovation the plan isn't nearly ambitious enough, 30% of roads paved by 2015 will simply not be enough. Federal roads could be an efficient way of taxing commercial traders and a good high speed road network could be the veins of the Nation.
In terms of aviation I like the ambition - Nigerian airports should be a hub for travel in the region, of not the continent. This is something that can only be done by making the airport favourable to international carriers, I would have liked more concrete plans as to how this was going to be achieved.

Scores (Out of 5)
Awareness: 2.0
Ambition: 4.0
Detail: 3.25
My View: 1.5

Ribadu on Power

Awareness
The plan demonstrates an appreciation for the importance of power production to the economy and life in general. It recognizes the simple problem that demand for electricity exceeds supply. There is also a detailed analysis of the issue at hand with ample technical information on the nature of power production and distribution.

Ambition
Diversifying the energy mix by introducing clean coal technology would put Nigeria at the cutting edge of technology in terms of power production but would require heavy investment and heavy mining in coal producing regions. The inclusion of alternative energy sources - biomass, solar and wind - is also very ambitious as they will require the installation of new infrastructure, training of personnel and may possibly face opposition from local communities. There is also the somewhat ambitious aim of making PHCN and the power industry in general more customer friendly.

Details
There is and implicit policy to reduce technical and non-technical loss of power, but this is not laid out in any detail. The plan as I can see it is to match supply to demand by increasing supply through lowering loss of power, introducing new types of power production and re-orientating PHCN to better serve customers. This will be coupled with an education programme to minimize demand.
Beyond this, there is little detail: how many coal power stations will be built and by when; how they will be funded; where wind, solar and biomass will be introduced and by when; whether it will publicly or privately funded/run and how much energy all this will produce are all questions that are left to be resolved.

My view
I think that Mr. Ribadu's plan for power sector rejuvenation is good in its intention. We needed to modernise 20 years ago, now we need to revolutionize. The focus of any energy plan now should be on new/green energy, however, a lot of the technology that the Mallam mentions isn't yet at maturity level. There are still question marks over he green credentials of clean coal and things like wind energy attract a lot of criticism for their unsightliness  and their lack of efficiency. I believe that in the nigerian context we should focus on solar energy and biomass ( to deal with the mountains of rubbish piling up all over the country). The plan doesn't address the planned privatization of power production, I would have liked for him to come out either in favour or against it.

Scores ( Out of 5)
Awareness: 4.5
Ambition: 4.5
Detail: 2.75
My View: 3.25

Ribadu on Education

Awareness
In terms of education, Ribadu seems to be aware of the problem - in its scope, scale, causes and implications. He highlights the role of education for the economic and social development of the country and the need to make education a priority. The plan acknowledges the full range of issues in education: the issues of access to and capacity of educational institutions; the lack of a unified programme on education; the problem of specific disadvantage groups (girl child, alamjiri, nomads etc) and the issue of quality assurance. However, it doesn't address Universal Basic Education (UBE) explicitly.

Ambition
The plan doesn't lay out exactly what it wants to address or how. There is a specific reference made to the priority of funding and the need to meet the UNESCO recommendation on funding education. It also mentions the need to create a unified body in charge of education as well as improved inspection of schools. If we assume that every issue raised is to be addressed, then the plan is very ambitious but otherwise it lacks any real ambition.

Detail
The document is very detailed in its awareness of the problem, however it is very scanty on detail in regards to his goals and even more so in terms of how they are to be achieved.

My View
Education is important and should be the priority of any new government. It has the power to ameliorate a lot of the other problems facing Nigeria. Ribadu does a good job of expounding the problem but for me doesn't stress the importance of education. I think he should have made a commitment to UBE not just in the quantitative aspect of 100% education but in the qualitative aspects in regards to staff and facility. I personally would reduce the focus on secondary and tertiary education from the federal budget. Instead I would focus more on industry-specific vocational training (for agriculture, factory work etc)
The plan does well to identify minority groups ( girls, nomads etc) that need to be addressed; and while I agree, I would focus more on female education as this is the fairest way (not ethnic/region specific) and will have the widest reaching social, economic and health effect.

Scores (out of 5)
Awareness: 4.5
Ambition: 2.0
Detail : 1.0
My view: 2.5

Ribadu on health

Awareness
In terms of awareness, Mallam Ribadu acknowledges the need for primary healthcare and investments in human resources, and more long-term the need to invest in secondary and tertiary infrastructure. There is also a nod to the university teaching hospitals.
There are however other problems or health issues that aren't addressed. There is no acknowledgement of the scale of investment needed (an issue in itself). It makes no mention of sanitation and education, easily addressable issues that will have monumental effects on the health of the nation.

Ambition
In terms of ambition, his plan aims to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) vis a vis reducing infant and maternal mortality and combating infectious disease. This on the face of it may not seem ambitious, as the goals are meant to be achieved by 2015 ( coincidentally the end of the next presidential term), however, as it has been suggested by Action Aid international Nigeria, the achievements of the health MDGs need sustained effort to be achieved in Nigeria and so in this regard the pan should be seen as ambitious. The plan to build 6 top of the range secondary and tertiary institutions across the geo-political zones is very ambitious. It will require money, expertise and political capital of epic proportions to be initiated and such commitments will surely need to outlive the presidency to reach the 'world-class' levels it aspires to.

Detail
This section of the manifesto is somewhat dry on detail, it says it will improve healthcare through improvement of human resources and improving efficiency and there is of course the promise of 6 new specialist hospitals. Beyond that however, there isn't much to go on, it talks of using incentives to attract more people to the workforce but leaves it at that. There is no plan set out for how to achieve the MDGs other than their attainment is a goal. There are no other measurable targets set for any of the ambitions, neither is there a time scale set nor are details of the funding of these projects given.

My View
I think health in Nigeria is a complex issue, the scale of health problems is undeniable: life expectancy is less than 50 years, infant mortality was 100/1000 live births in 2003. I think that tackling healthcare should be a job for both the public and private sectors. The government should focus on training and utilising primary healthcare professionals and publicly funded programmes for the time being should be limited to primary healthcare. Investment in secondary/tertiary healthcare should be left largely to the private sector for now. The government should also focus on non-sector specific things that will improve health such as education, sanitation, reducing smoking, promoting healthy active life-styles etc. These will have massive effects and will probably cost less.
A start must be made somewhere and the achievement of the MDGs by 2015 has to be part of any healthcare plan for Nigeria

Scores (out of 5)
Awareness: 3.25
Ambition: 3.0
Detail: 2.0
My view: 3.0