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2021: ALL EYES ON BUHARI

 

A change of approach to governance is needed for President Muhammadu Buhari  to tackle the growing myriad of challenges confronting the country, Akani Alaka writes

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka unarguably expressed the frustrations of many Nigerians with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration when he was confronted by a reporter during a recent train ride from Abeokuta to Lagos.

Approached by the reporter with an online television reporter to comment on the performance of the administration which provided the new train he was riding on, the literary giant said doing so would not be good for his sanity. “I don’t want to talk about Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. I think it is best for my sanity just to avoid that overall question. I can take bits and pieces of Nigeria’s present predicament but I think for one’s sense of balance, one must forget the existence of the Buhari administration,” said Soyinka.

While the writer’s views may be considered extreme by some of his compatriots, it generally reflects the utter helplessness many Nigerians now feel about the way the President has conducted his government’s business in the over five years he has been in the office.

Many Nigerians feel that the President has not shown enough empathy as they were being buffeted by growing insecurity across the country and a parlous economy that has put the country atop the rank of nations with the highest number of poor people in the world.

 

Despair In The Land

The increasing hopelessness of many Nigerians was expressed by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah in his 2020 Christmas Day message. In the message which, the Catholic Bishop lamented that Buhari’s failure to address the nation’s problems and his policies are worsening the socio-economic and political conditions of Nigerians.

He lamented that that nepotism, insecurity and the general poverty in Nigeria under the Buhari administration is turning the country into a failed state. Kukah said, “against the backdrop of our endless woes, ours has become a nation wrapped in desolation. The prospects of a failed state stare us in the face with endless bloodletting, a collapsing economy, social anomie, domestic and community violence, kidnappings and armed robberies, among others.

“Ours has become a house of horror, with fear stalking our homes, highways, cities, hamlets and entire communities. The middle grounds of optimism have continued to shift and many genuinely ask, what have we done to the gods? Does Nigeria have a future? Where can we find hope? Like the Psalmist, we ask; from where shall come our help?

Though Kukah’s statement was met by strident criticisms from the Federal Government, the cleric, however, received support from a cross-section of Nigerians.

Anyway, other Nigerian leaders, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar had also lamented the increasing despair in the land as a result of worsening security and economic conditions of the people.

 

Playing Deaf And Dumb

But ensconced in Aso Rock presidential villa, many Nigerians believe that the President lives in an alternate world regarding the performance of his government in terms of tackling the problems confronting them in these and many other areas.

Just as he has made it a habit of not speaking to Nigerians, the President has also perfected the art of throwing every suggestion into the dustbin while insisting on having his way or pandering to a small clique of aides around him.

For instance,  the President had insisted on keeping his service chiefs, who in any way have since passed their retirement age despite clamour by Nigerians, including the National Assembly for a change as the country’s security situation keeps worsening.

Instead of heeding such calls, the President is practically living in his cocoon, touting achievements out of tune with reality like the claim that his administration had technically defeated insurgent group, Boko Haram.

Speaking recently a former member of House of Representatives and elder statesman, Dr Junaid Muhammed had lamented that the President’s penchant to ignore public opinion will continue to have disastrous consequences for his administration.

Muhammed was reacting to the President’s New Year’s Day national broadcast in which he acknowledged that some Nigerians are disenchanted about the inability of his administration to meet their expectations.

The President had blamed the situation on what he inherited on assumption of office in 2015, nearly six years ago. “I am aware that for some of our compatriots, the progress we have registered since the inception of this administration is not nearly as fast or as sufficient as they would wish. I do not begrudge them their views in so far as they signify a wish, in which we all share, for only the very best for our country. Nevertheless, I call upon all Nigerians to carefully recall the circumstances of our coming to office, the facts on the ground and the resources at our disposal since 2015 with the accomplishments of this administration,” the President said.

But rather than engaging in the blame game, Muhammed said the President should listen more to Nigerians while arguing that being stubborn is not the right attitude for an elected government.

He argued that the President cannot attribute the failure of his government to deliver on its promises to Nigerians to the fact that he inherited a parlous economy from his predecessor in 2015.

“As regards the service chiefs, since those appointments have turned out to be disastrous for the fight against insurgency and the emergence of banditry in the North-West and the Boko Haram terrorists, he has not been sincere with the Nigerian people. Every time the issue comes up, the only thing he says is no. Being stubborn in a democracy is not good enough and his arrogance has serious implications for the public good and brings us to the position we find ourselves today. The first challenge is security; second, economy and others follow.”

 

Growing Challenges

But some analysts have also said the fact that the President decided to address Nigerians on the first day of the year, the first of such address by him may signify a change of style on his part. This, according to them, is necessary if the President is to successfully tackle the myriad of challenges facing the country. For one, the President will need to change his style if he is to successfully tackle the growing problem of insecurity across the country.

Boko Haram and its terror affiliates have continued their battle against the Nigerian nation in the North-east in the insurgency now in its 11th year.

And there are even fears that the terrorists may have extended the operations to North-west and may now be working with bandits. Even with the alliance with the terror groups, the bandits through their mass slaughter, kidnapping and pillaging have continued to drive people out of their villages across the states in North-west Nigeria.

Nothing best illustrates the impunity of the bandits who now seem beyond the caution of security operatives than last month’s abduction of 344 schoolboys in Kankara town of Katsina, the home state of the President. The President was holidaying at Daura, his home state when the boys were kidnapped, a situation considered to be a big insult and embarrassment to his government.

Some weeks before, Boko Haram had slaughtered 44 farmers in Zabarmari village, Borno State in the continuing assault of the terrorist group on the people. In the Southern part of the country, Nigerians have continued to be confronted with the challenges of kidnapping, cultism, armed robbery and other crimes. Also, the attention of the President will be required in tackling the downturn in Nigeria’s economy which has entered a recession for the second time in four years under his administration.

According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, Nigeria’s economy slipped into recession after the GDP contracted by 3.62% in the third quarter of 2020, after the negative growth of 6% recorded in the previous quarter. Analysts attributed the downturn in the economy to fall in oil prices induced by a reduction in demand which came about from coronavirus epidemic.

The recession and continuous fall in the value of the naira, as well as insecurity, have combined to drive up the cost of living, with many Nigerians now living from hand to mouth.

 

Need For Change of ‘Style’

 

While there is the need for the President to change his out-of-tune-with-democracy aloofness to critical national issues to be able to tackle the challenges, he must also take a look at his cabinet.

The President retained every member of his cabinet till the end of his first tenure. But many said the President cannot afford to go the same way if he wanted to make a difference in the remaining part of his tenure.

Harping on this, Ali Ndume, the Senator representing Borno South in the Senate recently told journalists that aside reconstituting his cabinet to remove the deadwood; the President must also ensure that those to be appointed reflect the makeup of the general populace. “Nigerian youths constitute over 60 per cent of the population who are unemployed and frustrated and that is what led to the EndSARS.

When the President directed the ministers to visit their states to speak to their youths during the EndSARS, some of them could not go because they are not connected with their people,” said Ndume.

“You can’t be providing and yet the impact is not felt. The problem with the Buhari administration is that the handlers, who are supposed to implement the laudable projects, are either compromising or not doing it appropriately. I believe that 2021 will be a turning point in the history of Nigeria, because the problem of leadership normally is either denial, ignore the problem or don’t identify the problem,” he said.

Buhari’s Promises

In line with that optimism, the President had in his New Year’s Day address promised to work on enhancing the capacity of security apparatus and personnel of the armed forces to enhance their capacity to engage, push back and dismantle the operations of both internal and external extremist and criminal groups.

“Our administration is fully aware of the responsibility we have to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians, and we will not relent in learning and adapting to changing threats to our national security and civic wellbeing,” the President had promised.

On the economy, the President had also promised to revamp the economy through the national economic diversification agenda that supports the primary goal of national food self-sufficiency, rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure base and series of special interventions designed to boost job creation and support the entrepreneurial drive of our youths.

 

Promises Met By Cynicisms

But many Nigerians were not convinced. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for instance, noted that the President has not demonstrated the capacity to play his own part in finding solutions to the myriad of security and economic challenges buffeting the country on his watch.

“On the economy, Mr. President failed to articulate a definite economic recovery blueprint. He had no clear strategies to shore up the value of our naira, repay and end our foreign borrowings, revamp our external reserves, give hope to foreign investors, move promises of job creation from the perpetual drawing board and guarantee food security, health care among others,” the PDP said in a statement by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbodiyan.

Also, Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) in a statement said Buhari must face governance and stop making excuses at every turn, especially his penchant at making references to 2015 as reasons why he fails to perform: “The President is elected to provide governance, by so doing he must be ready to proffer solutions, right wrong where it exists and solve problems besetting the country in every facet and not always relapse to advancing excuses to explain away palpable failures.”

In his own reaction, the National Chairman of African Democratic Party (ADP) Yabagi Sani, dismissed the New Year speech, as he noted that the President failed to say anything new.

“What Nigerians want to hear was that Mr President has retired all the Service Chiefs and he had appointed new ones to energise the boys and take the battle to the doorstep of the insurgents. Insecurity is the most disturbing issue in the country.

“It is affecting so many things. Investment cannot come to the country. People are living in fear. Nigerians are no longer united because we are losing confidence in the ability of this government to govern. The responsibility of the government to the citizens is the security of lives and property as well as the welfare of the people. If the government cannot guarantee these things, that government can hardly command the respect of the people.”

The question is will the President prove these critics wrong in 2021? Perhaps, he can start by announcing a change in service chiefs as proof of his commitment to do a ‘new thing’ in the security sector to assure Nigerians that their ‘wailings’ will indeed not go unheeded in 2021.

 

 

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