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The Niger Delta is again at risk of sliding into chaos. The 29 May 2007 inauguration of new federal and state governments offered an opportunity to resolve longstanding conflicts afflicting the oil-rich, deeply impoverished region. Six months later, the opportunity is unravelling amid new violence and criminality.

How did a Kentucky entrepreneur, a Louisiana politician, and the vice president of Nigeria end up in one of the biggest scandals to hit America’s black elite in decades?

Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.

Nigeria’s democracy is in crisis. The April 2007 elections were supposed to move the country to a higher rung on the democratisation ladder, create a more conducive environment to resolve its many internal conflicts and strengthen its credentials as a leading peacemaker, but instead generated serious new problems that may be pushing it further towards the status of a failed state. The declared winner, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, assumed the presidency on 29 May with less legitimacy than any previously elected president and so with less capacity to moderate and resolve its violent domestic conflicts. He must act urgently to heal wounds, redress electoral injustice and punish the most grievous voting frauds, including those by officials of the agencies directly involved in administering the elections. To salvage his government’s legitimacy, he needs to pursue policies of inclusiveness and restraint in relation to the opposition, accept the decisions of the tribunals (including the Supreme Court if need be) reviewing the petitions of defeated candidates, and embark on a vigorous electoral reform program.

Throughout May, NVS is reproducing for public scrutiny and performance evaluation, the promises of  President Olusegun Obasanjo and the objectives he set for himself. In this second installment, we reproduce Obasanjo's inauguration speech to the National Assembly after his second term elections in 2003. The Speech is titled "Fast forward into the future"

Throughout May, NVS will reproduce the promises of  President Olusegun Obasanjo for public scrutiny and performance evaluation.The following is the inaugural speech following Obasanjo's swearing-in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 1999.

"I believe that this administration must deal with the following issues even in these difficult times of near economic collapse:

(I) The crisis in the Oil Producing Areas
(ii) Food Supply, Food Security and Agriculture
(iii) Law and order with particular reference to Armed Robbery, and to Cultism in our educational institutions
(iv) Exploration and Production of Petroleum
(v) Education
(vi) Macro-economic policies - particularly, Exchange rate management etc.
(vii) Supply and Distribution of Petroleum Products
(viii) The Debt Issue
(ix) Corruption, Drugs, organised fraud called 419 activities, and crimes leading to loss of lives, properties and investment.
(x) Infrastructure - Water Supply, Energy, Telecommunication, Ports, Airways, National Shipping, Nigerian Railways, etc.
(xi) Resuscitation of the Manufacturing Industries
(xii) Job creation, and creation of conducive environment for investment
(xiii) Poverty alleviation
(xiv) Housing
(xv) ECOMOG
(xvi) Health Services
(xvii) Political and Constitutional Dialogue
(xviii) Women and Youth Development "

Speech Presented by President Obasanjo before the Joint National Assembly on October 11, 2006  with a summary by Prof. Aluko