Buhari: One year in the saddle

JOHN NWOKOCHA reviews the three major planks of President Muhammadu Buhari’s electioneering campaign promises after one year in office.

President Muhammadu Buhari in his first year in the saddle as the president has made some critical decisions believed to be in line with his agenda for deepening democracy in Nigeria, seemingly in tandem with the “Change” manifesto of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The campaign declarations of Buhari and the APC raised high expectations that as president he would focus on changing all facets of the nation’s life. For many, Buhari and the APC are metaphor for change in appraising the administration’s first year in office because the party promised the electorate so much change. Against this backdrop, it is rational that after one year in office, many Nigerians would evaluate Buhari’s administration on how it has impacted the various sectors of the nation’s economy.
It is also common knowledge that Buhari anchored his ascendancy to the presidency on three key policy thrust of security, economy and corruption. It is pertinent to note that the party’s campaign think tank cashed in on the mood of the country that yearned for change (positive one).
Looking back at the take-off of the administration, the nation began to get agitated over the anticipated change when the president kept everybody in suspense over the composition of his cabinet. Indeed, the appointment of minister suffered unnecessary delay that even supporters of the party began to lose faith. To the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buhari was not prepared for the office.

Remarkably also, the 2016 Appropriation Act presented to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Buhari on December 22, 2015, was buffeted on account of avoidable flaws. The 2016 budget eventually got the presidential assent only a couple of weeks ago. The unprecedented controversy over the budget literally held the country at a standstill as the economy got to its lowest ebb.
Another major challenge Buhari encountered at the onset of his administration was the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly. The principal leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, as Senate President and Speaker House of Representatives, respectively, emerged contrary to the grand design of the party leadership.

The inclusion of the opposition PDP in the leadership of the senate has been acknowledged as is a costly mistake the APC would not easily forgive itself for. Ordinarily, the power calculation of the leaders of the party is to take the format of winner takes it all. However, in a dramatic turn of events all the 49 PDP senators who were present during the election of the senate leadership, on June 9, 2015, rallied behind Saraki and defeated the ruling party. The PDP got the deputy senate position for its trouble, thereby; outsmarting the APC in the leadership tussle.
It followed that with Ike Ekweremadu, PDP, Enugu West, as Deputy Senate President, the power equation portrayed the party, even in opposition, as formidable. By implication, therefore, the leadership of the APC and President Buhari did not have absolute control, as it had planned, over the national assembly.

SECURITY
The country was indisputably on edge, an alarming situation caused by the activities of Boko Haram terrorists before May29, 2016. Three North-east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states were utterly under siege with the escalation of dastardly killings, kidnappings, wanton destruction of property, conquering territories, attacking communities and military formations without hindrance. There were also isolated attacks in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Taraba.
However, on assumption of  office Buhari started tackling the problem headlong. The president’s first approach was to relocate the military command and control centre from Abuja to Maiduguri, Borno state being the main theatre of war. Indeed, the morale of the soldiers was boosted through the president’s spirit, confidence, determination and commitment to wipe out the insurgents.

A major achievement in this regard is the recent rescue of one of the 219 abducted Chibok girls abducted by the terrorist on April 14, 2014, from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state. This was indeed the climax of the state of insecurity in the country.
Presently, the Boko Haram terrorist group which held the nation hostage since 2009 has been decimated and degraded resulting from onslaught by the superior fire power of the Nigerian military. In the last one year, peace has returned to the North-east and by extension, the country at large.
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are gradually returning back to their villages while economic activities are once more booming.

ANTI-CORRUPTION CRUSADE
The administration under one year has pursued its anti-corruption policy with vigour. Although, some observers argue that the corruption crusade has been one sided, however, an objective assessment of the administration’s commitment to zero tolerance to corruption would score the first one year in office of President Buhari a pass mark.
Reason is because the government, since it came to power has recovered looted funds in the region of N3trillion. Currently, some people allegedly linked to a massive fraud over purchase of arms to fight insurgency are being tried by the courts of law, after investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

INFRASTRUCTURE
Arguably, Buhari has substantially fulfilled his promise of restoring security to the North-east and Nigeria generally, but in the area of infrastructure transformation the administration has left everybody in doubt if the change has any impact. The housing deficit among other infrastructural issues in the country is yet to be addressed. The pertinent question is whether this sector would ever get Buhari’s attention?
Similarly, the power sector is in bad shape as electricity generation dropped from about 3000mw to 1400mw in April, with its attendant persistent power failure and outrageous tariff imposed on consumers. Added to the incessant power outage is the recent hike in the pump price of fuel by more than 100 per cent.

Generally, the nation’s economy is on the precipice with the naira tumbling at alarming rate. Just a year ago, the nation’s currency exchanged at the rate of N150 to a Dollar, with rising inflation the value of the naira is on a steady decline. A recent disclosure on the nation’s foreign reserves is equally disturbing, because the reserve is depleting rather than increasing. Official report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stated that: “Foreign Exchange Reserves in Nigeria decreased to 27140 USD Million in April from 27870 USD Million in March of 2016.”
The development no doubt, says a lot about the economy in one year of the current administration.

JOB CREATION
The administration promised to create mass employment, but evaluating the employment sector revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment crisis worsened as the rate jumped by 518,000 in three months according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The bureau said in its latest Unemployment Watch report that between December 2015 and March 2016, the population of unemployed Nigerians increased by 518,000 to over 1.45 million. The NBS said the nation’s economy witnessed unemployment rate rising by 12.1 per cent, in the period under review.
In the light of this, critics of the administration are of the view that if the administration has failed to deliver on its promises in critical areas such as these, hope may be lost that they would fulfill the promises before the end of the four-year tenure. However, time will tell.