President Muhammadu Buhari: One year on
Today, the Muhammadu Buhari administration is a year old in office. Nigerians had welcomed the government with open hands on May 29, 2015, pregnant with expectations that it would, within its term of office, build a solid superstructure for significant alterations of their unpleasant past and take steps forward towards the manifestation of a country of their dream. President Buhari came on board with an identifiable pedigree. He had been military Head of State in 1984 at a time of perceived slide in the affairs of Nigeria and arguably imposed a regime of probity, accountability and great disdain for the social mucks of indiscipline and corruption that had coagulated and indeed signposted the relationship between the government and the governed.
The last one year has seen a fastidious and frenetic governmental abidance by its campaign promise of purging the polity corruption. High-profile persons are being prosecuted, with frightening details of their alleged involvement in fiddling with the national patrimony. For the first time in the history of Nigeria's anti-corruption moves, the top echelon of the military have a searchlight beamed on their alleged corruptive past and details of their nefarious activities placed in the public sphere. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has, in the last one year, been operating at a speed arguably unheard of since its establishment. For a Nigeria that seeks scapegoats for its economic stagnation, the public example made of those who allegedly converted national inheritance into personal fiefdom has attracted claps, salutations and kudos for the government.
However, these commendations are pock-marked by allegations of one-sidedness. This is founded on a general perception of governmental demonisation of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while unwittingly beatifying the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). This allegation is strengthened by the fact that, even though both PDP and the APC went into the general elections parading stupendous war chests, only the then ruling party that has slipped into the opposition has had a searchlight beamed on its spending.
More fundamentally, rather than strengthening the anti-corruption institutions, government's attention and energy are, in the last one year, unduly focused on scape-goating individual malefactors and making public examples of them. We are of the opinion that, desirable for the moment as this approach may appear, the vermin of corruption would thus only have been attacked superficially, with the tendency for it to recur and metastasize at a later date. It is thus our candid opinion that government should begin immediately to build and strengthen the institutions of anti-corruption so that even when it is no longer in office, the anti-corruption fight would have been virtually on auto pilot. Its refusal to obey court orders, though fascinating against current national angst at the bleeding of the national till in the past, is ultimately dangerous and could foist on the nation a despotism.
In the area of security, we commend the feats so far recorded in the war on insurgency. We however counsel that government must not rest on its oars until it finally purges the Nigerian slate of all remnants of this global affliction that has led to the death of thousands of fellow compatriots. Still, we are not pleased with the resurgence of the impunity of Fulani herdsmen in the last one year. Even though the nefarious activities of these nomads have been recurrent, they seem to have assumed unusual boldness in the last one year. Government's inability to find a lasting solution to the animalistic butchering of innocent people is already making many Nigerians to assemble their own private army to combat the menace. The argument by the military high command that the herdsmen could have had their ranks infiltrated by Boko Haram insurgents begs the question. The truth is that, whether they are insurgents or blood-thirsty herdsmen, Nigerians' safety and security have been compromised and government is seemingly inept at curtailing or apprehending these mindless attackers.
The activities of Niger Delta Avengers who have made the bursting of Nigerian oil pipelines a demonic pastime, thereby crippling the economic lifeline of the country, also leave much to be desired. The group appears resolute and vengeful. Taking into consideration their complete familiarity with the geography of the creeks, it makes sense for government to enter into a cogent dialogue with the militants in such a way that national integrity and economic sustenance would not be compromised.
However, the economy is perhaps the greatest bother of the polity at the moment. All indices point to a national slide. Government has flip-flopped on basic economic policies and the national economy, from all indices, is entering into a period of recession. Even though it is flawed logic to blame the current government alone for this looming economic doom, it is vicariously liable for the inept and wobbly steps it has taken in the last one year to tame the slide. Chief among these steps is the tardiness in the passage of the national budget and the ding-dong between the National Assembly and the presidency which elongated the process of budget passage. It was obvious that an economy that had faced severe balkanization and plundering could not withstand such dilly-dally.
The result of the economic meandering is that Nigerians are facing extremely excruciating pains on all fronts. States have become economically stymied and the cost of living grossly unbearable. Now, government is unsure whether to devalue the Naira and it is at present toying with the regime of flexible exchange rate. Even though the stock exchange has picked up with news of possible liberalisation, government has to do more by speedily injecting massive palliatives into the economy. This economic stasis has also bred tension and despondency among the populace.
In spite of the foregoing, we believe that there is still hope for the country. Government must communicate hope in its actions. The effect of non-communication of hope to the people is dire and disastrous at this time of gross despondency. We urge that government should cloth all its policies with democratic tenets and the rule of law. With a combination of all these responses to this peculiar time, Nigerians would be confident to journey with government to cross this critical bridge of national development.