What Buhari should do in next 17 months

By Abba Dukawa

Although, President Muhammadu Buhari had good intentions for the people and Nigeria, his administration missed the opportunity to formulate good policies in its first six months, and wasted away without a cabinet, ministers are expected to be genuine reformers and technocrats of international repute. Interestingly, President Buhari had been an ardent critic of successive administrations in the country since 2002 for wrongdoing or formulation of anti amasses policies.

His criticism of successive administrations raised great expectations of citizens that the Buhari administration’s change mantra will halt the dangerous drift of Nigeria towards a failed state. Another problem the administration encountered in its early days was excessive praise-singing by subordinates, sycophants and people seeking favours. The masses were also praising and believing that only Baba Buhari can change the unfortunate situation of the country.

No administration in the country has formulated as many welfarist policies as the PMB administration. There are substantial gains on Infrastructure development across the country, support to state governments with various financial bailouts, budget finance support, and many more policies to alleviate the suffering of citizens.

Challenges in the country had become extremely difficult for the administration to contend with, as Mr. President has taken the country through many challenges. The Buhari administration has been struggling to keep Nigeria together through odds such as insecurity, poor economy, poverty, etc. As a result of these challenges, there have been all kinds of expression of disapproval by citizens on the basis of languishing in extreme hardship. In fact, no one will believe that one day, the poor masses would be fed up with “Sai Baba” to Kai Baba.”

Mr. President promised a transformational leadership that would bring order and harmony in place of insecurity and tension, to restore faith and trust in government by tackling corruption and abuse of power, and to give hope to ordinary Nigerians by managing a successful economy, reducing poverty and increasing prosperity.

Economy Since 2015, economic growth has been too low to lift the bottom half of the population who are below the poverty line. Nigeria entered into second recession in 2016, the first in 30 years. Nigeria slumped back into recession, its second in five years and its worst ever. The administration pledged to create enabling environment for foreign direct investments into the country. Mr President embarked on countless foreign trips seeking investors but even those that operate in the country are moving to neighbouring countries. Foreign direct investments into Nigeria slumped to its lowest in 11 years as the last time Nigeria recorded lower FDIs was in Q1 2010.

The country became a debtor nation relying on loans to execute infrastructure projects. The administration has consistently assured that it is working hard to grow the nation’s economy but each passing day Nigerians see scary escalating debt profile.

The administration uses 50% of its revenue to service its debts! This is unsustainable. This is just part of an economic malaise that has consigned millions of Nigerians to “Multidimensional Poverty” even as a few continue to enjoy the nation’s wealth. in addition, the administration has failed to diversify the nation’s economy which would have strengthened the value of the naira and boost external revenue.

Corruption: No one disputes Buhari’s reputation of being incorruptible. At the inception of the administration Nigerians anticipated that the president would work with the National Assembly to remove immunity clause from the constitution. This constitutional provision remains one of the challenges of curbing financial infractions and corruption in governance.

Nigerians expected that the administration would forward Executive Bill to the National Assembly for the creation of special courts for prosecution of corrupt persons and economic saboteurs. Regrettably, it is under the watch of our incorruptible Baba that Nigeria has dropped on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranking.
In South Africa and South Korea the Office of Public Prosecutor is independent and powerful that can investigate the president even while still in office but this is not the case in Nigeria despite the proclaimed war on corruption.

Insecurity: at the beginning of the administration Nigerian troops made giant strides in technically defeating Boko Haram. Unfortunately, the country is now bedeviled by insecurity in North-central, North-west and other parts of the country as terrorists and kidnappers have overrun these areas.

Therefore, the president needs to make a difference in dealing with unpatriotic individuals because Buhari’s fear factor has disappeared. Let’s enjoy your status of a retired General and war veteran; Buhari was celebrated as the General Commanding Officer in 1980, he showed great courage by chasing out Chadian soldiers who had annexed Nigerian islands in Lake Chad. Let Mr. President act like Ethiopian prime minister who led troops in the fight against rebels in the north of that country. Abiy was not a trained but a child soldier, while Baba is a trained soldier.

Truth is that Buhari has 17 months to make things better for the sake of himself and the generations after him. These are not the best of times in the country’s history, the president and those who love him, indeed, Nigerians at large are worried. How will history judge Baba Buhari when he vacates office next year? Even though, there is less hope for citizens in 2022 given plans by government to increase petrol price and sundry anti-masses policies, let’s pray for Allah to guide Baba and open his heart to understand the suffering people are going through. We bow before Allah to forgive us, help us in our trying moment as people and the country at large to pass this trial.

Wishing him Allah’s guidance to regain his personality in the eyes of Nigerians that keep asking whether he’s the same man of reliability we saw in Baba Buhari some years back because what citizens and the country are going through are unimaginable. I wish you well and may the 2022 be a great year for your administration and the country at large.

Dukawa writes from Kano.