Adebayo Ali wins Nigerian emergency elections, starts Five Year Plan
Lagos the largest city in Africa
is plagued with income inequality
The Nigerian Socialist Republic was stuck at a standstill following the death of former president Adebayo Ali. With the NRS stuck without executive leadership, the People's Assembly of Nigeria finally approved a set of emergency elections, which ended with Adedamola Ali assuming office as president. In his inauguration address, Ali admitted to the poor state of affairs within the NRS. "We are decades behind the developed countries. Either we must progress, or we will perish."
The NSR's First Five Year Plan was enacted soon afterward, with the goal of quickly moving the country towards an industrial based economy. In addition, the agricultural sector would be mechanized, which is expected to improve the efficiency of farming and freeing up many workers to work in other fields, as agriculture currently employs over a third of the workforce. However, there were several issues which currently plagued the NSR which would have to be dealt with first. In order to help the NSR achieve its goals, the FSR agreed to sell the NSR agricultural and industrial machinery at discounted rates until 2025 and to send over more advisers to the new country.
Although the Five Year Plan publically makes an emphasis on industrialization, in reality, the most vital part of the plan would be to improve the tax collection system. Even before the civil war, tax evasion was rampant, so much so that Nigeria before the civil war had a tax to GDP ratio of 6.1%, which is likely even lower nowadays. To fix the issue, the Central Revenue Service was created to take charge of collecting taxes and enforcing tax laws. The tax code was also reformed in the aims of making it fairer and the CRS would offer a return-free filing service. In addition, amnesty was granted for anybody who failed to pay their taxes prior to the reforms. However, in the future, the CRS would be authorized to crack down on tax-evaders. At the same time, the NRS would launch a major campaign to convince Nigerians to pay taxes.
The second most important thing would be to improve the transport infrastructure. The collapsing rail network has led to overwhelming pressure being exerted to the roads, which too were in a horrid state, leading to increased transportation costs and the highest number of traffic accidents in Africa. The repair and expansion of the road and rail infrastructure were to be a key priority in the Five Year Plan. The public transportation infrastructure was also set to be completely revamped in order to reduce traffic congestion. At first, Lagos would receive most of the funds for expansion of public transportation, due to it having daily traffic jams lasting hours. By the end of the revamp, Lagos was to have an extensive system of bus rapid transit, ferries, and a metro system. The capabilities of traffic enforcement would also be increased, including adding more traffic lights and stop signs.
Alongside with improving the transportation, improving the energy infrastructure would be tied in importance. As with most of urbanized Nigeria, the NRS had access to electricity, though it wasn't particularly reliable. Thus, many people resorted to personal generators for when power outages occurred, polluting the already polluted country. To help alleviate the situation, the NSR would replace its electrical grid with a 'smart grid,' which would allow for lesser long-term costs and to quickly identify where an outage was occurring. However, the main problem was that the NSR's electrical output was insufficient. Even before the First Nigerian Civil War electrical output had been steadily declining since the mid-2000s. The NSR would embark on a project on increasing its electrical production, though the flagship of the energy project would be the construction of a nuclear power station with aid from the FSR. The station would have a capacity of eight thousand megawatts, which once built would allow for the NSR to become an electricity exporter. A permanent nuclear-waste repository would also be built to allow for the safe disposal of future nuclear waste.
Next up was the improvisation of the educational system. In order to ease stress from overpopulation on current facilities, new schools and universities would be constructed, and some of the existing ones would be renovated. A drive to recruit and train more teachers would also be conducted, and wages for teaching jobs would be increased to encourage more to enter the field. The state would also pay to increase the availability of school supplies such as textbooks, and also to provide lunch in schools.
Classroom, an open-source classroom management tool originally developed for schools in Andea would also be integrated into the NSR schooling system. However, simply aiding schools would not completely solve the educational issue. Due to civil war, many would-be-students haven't been going to school, especially among child refugees. However, as of today, a one week grace period would be given for all school-aged children to start returning to school, afterward truancy officers would start getting involved. Within the NRS there were also many languages and dialects spoken, though English was the official language. In an attempt to allow for easier communication throughout the country, the NSR would embark on a 'transition' to English starting with the educational system, akin to what the FSR did with Interlingua. All students in the NSR would also be required to take at least one foreign language course, with Interlingua being a required course. Internet access was also an issue. Though much higher in the NSR than most of Nigeria, there was still many who didn't have access to the internet, especially in rural areas. Thus, the NSR would start a campaign to 'connect' the country with broadband internet and mobile networks, which would help bring the country to the modern age.
The healthcare system would also need to be improved. Although the NSR inherited what's likely the best healthcare system within Nigeria, it's still abysmal when compared to the global standard with an expected lifespan of 53 years. Part of the problem was the low rate of vaccination, with only 60% of the populace vaccinated prior to the civil war. In an attempt to bring up the rate to at least 95%, a policy of compulsory immunization was enacted, which would have the full support from hospitals of the FSR and also aid from charities. Ali said that the new policy was "to ensure our safety from the refugees who have had no real medical care for years" and reminded people about the anthrax attacks which happened not too long ago. Special classes would also be held in schools to teach students regarding what vaccines are. Relatedly, law enforcement would also crack down on open defecation, a common though unsanitary practice in the NRS which has also led to the deaths of many due to infection.
Another major issue with the NSR was the housing crisis, which existed even before the civil war. The lack of housing led to the appearance of slums, which was further exacerbated by the arrival of refugees from the civil war. It has gotten so bad that some have even started to look at reusing shipping containers as homes. The solution which the NSR chose was to start a large-scale house construction project. Using modular construction techniques and cookie-cutter designs, houses and apartment blocks would be mass-produced in factories. Due to this, some have compared the houses to the Soviet Khrushchyovkas, something which the NRS heavily denied, pointing out that unlike their Soviet counterparts the new NSR built ones wouldn't be meant simply for 'temporary' usage. All of the new houses built in mind with the goal of 'proper' plumbing, something which existing housing would also be retrofitted to have. Namely, the NSR plans to introduce indoor toilet facilities for the many who don't have them, to make tap water safe to drink and to connect urban and suburban households to sewer systems. Even within Lagos, only 1% of households are currently connected to sewers, which would make solving the plumbing issues quite strenuous.
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