As the Muhammadu Buhari administration clocks one year in power, civil society activist and president, Nigeria Voters Assembly (VOTAS), Comrade Mashood Erubami, looks at the achievements of the new administration, saying it has made giant strides in many areas.
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari clocked one year as an elected president last Sunday. The election represented a change of guard from the unimpressive and unproductive government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) rode to power on the crest waves of ‘change’. He was elected on the basis of his personal virtues of transparent, accountable leadership and his promises to bring about positive changes in the economy, to fight corruption and insecurity. He has used his goodwill effectively to ensure that the positive changes to start bearing fruits through changing the rules of engagement and methods of governance in the areas of constitution of the political office holders and programmes of government.
As we have come to understand the change mantra, there is something new in the President Buhari change government given that peoples’ expectation is unarguably very high. The chant of change in itself means that the government represents something new. Change means bringing about difference in a situation positively or otherwise as Nigeria for a long time has existed on very low moral standards. In the last one year, the context of the APC change mantra has been shown to be about bringing the country out of decay to a different status through radical redirection and transformation in new attitudes and new orientation, replacing old, unusual practices with a new and different heart.
Evidently, there has been manifestation of new levels of change in that government has seized to be conducted as business as usual like in the past. The changes have been real, governance has started to be newly democratic remaining to be inclusive, people driven and people owned.
Before the emergence of Buhari in power, the Nigerian economy was growing, but it was not impacting on the lives of the citizenry. Ironically, majority still lives in penury because the prosperity did not trickle down to the poor and the lower middle class.
As a result, it is not easy to evaluate the Buhari administration in the last one year. The administration has been confronted with huge challenges, which affected the ruling party’s already worked out programme to reposition the economy. This development has caused initial discontent among the populace, but with his strong character, honesty and focused leadership, the President has in the last one year adjusted the programme. The delay in constituting his cabinet was also another factor that affected the speed of the government in the last one year.
Artisan, traders and even blue chip businesses have started to pick up in their trades, because Buhari has started to run a new government of change, by facing the multiple problems facing the economy with a strong political will.
Right now Buhari is already making steady progress in diverse areas of life. For instance, the administration has repositioned the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to become more effective in its operations. Already, has started witnessing achievements that were unheard of in the last 16 years, by contributing to growing the economy and dishing out monthly reports of its activities. Production, sales and income generation from oil are being published in manners that underscore transparency and accountability.
This is another step following after what he introduced while in power as a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, when he made citizens to know the state of the economy through the then Minister of Finance, Dr. Onaolapo Soleye. The minister made public the revenues made on quarterly basis.
On the promise to fight insurgency, it is unarguable that the war against terrorism is being steadily won. Boko Haram insurgents have been disarmed and are no longer controlling territories, kidnapping citizens and terrorizing the people with bombs day and night.
Electricity supply for industrial and domestic usages are being engaged towards improvement unlike what obtained before, PMB took the reign, improving productivity, reducing the cost of production and enhancing income/surplus. Not a few of every sector of life enjoy improving electricity supplies even though there are still rooms for improvement.
On corruption, the promise made by PMB is already yielding results, corruption has been made to become an unpardonable offence in Nigeria and those saddled with the fight against corruption are now up and coming in their responsibilities. High calibre offenders are being raked into detention and being queried on their stewardship and very soon will find themselves in jails where they belong.
Today, Nigeria’s rating has improved internationally. The government has started to put pressure on the international community to help it recoup stolen funds tasking world leaders to do something quickly.
Right now, Britain and Switzerland are being implored to assist Nigeria in this regard. Notwithstanding the challenges of Corruption fightbacks, Buhari has achieved a lot in the area of fighting corruption in the first one year of his administration and this is quite discernible to all.
It is no gain saying that President Buhari came into government with the exceptional courage to tackle corruption in a country that has been described as ‘fantastically corrupt’.
He is not only fighting corruption, he is also engaging corruption fightback and blocking leakages in the system. The revenue accruing to the nation through the Nigeria Customs Service and the NNPC has increased astronomically.
The President has improved the on the revenue accruing to the country in the face of the falling oil prices in the world market. Yet, the resolve to diversify the economy cannot start yielding result in just months. Buhari inherited an economy in crisis on account of declining oil revenues and an economy also ravaged by large-scale corruption and internal insecurity
Sustaining the legacy
As we move through into the second year, the government headed by Buhari must begin to enthrone financial accountability, improve living standards, defeat corruption, reduce unemployment, as well as indiscipline; a phenomenon, which in Buhari’s analysis, three decades ago “is the main problem of Nigeria.”
He must go back to the drawing board to begin to make the people the safeguard of the system and relist a comprehensive programme on value re-orientation (relaunching of WAI), as well as resolve the internal rift within his party.
Buhari and the APC should revert to quarterly public information presentation either directly or through his dedicated minister on current and emerging issues about economy, peoples orientation (discipline), gains from anti-crimes and anti-insurgency wars and successes in anti corruption drives to lay bear before the people, information about the three core areas of tasks allotted for the government of change.
The current efforts at fighting corruption should continue to be non-selective and unsparing. The giver and the taker of bribe and stolen money should be treated as equal criminals. If two people commit the same type of crimes, no one should be treated with kid gloves.
The Federal Government should open a dedicated account to serve as a pool for keeping the proceeds of recovered graft and stolen money and make public regularly: Such money should be utilised for better and beneficial purposes that will last longer and sustain prosperity in the life of the citizens; provide equipment for the armed forces; create jobs for our army of unemployed graduates; fix all roads schools and hospitals that are in states of disrepair.
Finally, the Buhari-led administration must unleash full-scale change actions that will spring up real development and give a new economic direction for sustainable peace and human development, a new approach with indicative backup measures must be installed to ward off the strategies being mounted by the Opposition to distract his administration to fail. Whereas, If he succeeded in making the country to shine again among the comity of nations, he would have reinforced the confidence of the people in his government and meet the genuine aspirations of the international community.
The successes in the three critical areas set by the president. Will depend on the success of the anti-corruption war as the war against graft will reduce the cost of doing business with Nigeria and cut down drastically on the under development that is minimising the economic growth and human progress which are the real causes of insecurity. Once there is justice, insecurity will not be prevalent because justice is a major precondition for peace.
To avoid latter-day regrets on the three critical areas set by the president for himself in the first two years the president must begin to build the people around his government.
The government is being watched by the opposition, it will seek to weigh it down for its strategic rebound towards seizing power in 2019 which is not too far from now, how the. APC government positioning its party for stiff contest in the election year will be determined largely by its relationship, acceptability, confidence and mass following among the people after the first two years. through its remedial policies and the goodwill that is left in the government by this time when resistance from legislators, labour and other anti-government forces, civil society/human rights community would have developed full blown. These critical sectors must not be ignored and should from the start be made the impregnable shield against anti-government forces. Their forces are needed to ward-off the type of opposition brewing currently from those who have nothing concrete or better to offer than to seize power and reinstate reaction. Therefore, they should be mobilised to own and buy into the programs of the government using them as an interface between the government and the legislature on one side and the people on the other. Their value was recently demonstrated when labour and civil society stood by government on its anti-corruption drive , if care is not taken and they are mismanaged or ousted from the government, they could also be the tool for bringing the government to its knees and down outrightly.
Whatever score card that is issued will stand the government well or otherwise, in the eyes of the people.
