Four years ago, Nigerians, apparently unhappy with the 16-year-old rule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), decided to vote for a change of party at the centre and in most states of the federation.
Expectedly, Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Expectedly, too, the election of Buhari rekindled the hopes and aspirations of many for a better Nigeria. Many desired to see a country where there’ll be near zero level of corruption, employment opportunities for all and security for lives and property wherever Nigerians reside.
In March 2019, the president went through another round of election and won, mainly on the strength of his performance in office.
To many Nigerians, the president has, largely and successfully, met their expectations in his first tenure and, justifiably, got inaugurated to serve for a second term of four years on May 29, 2019. And those who believe the president has met their expectations are right to believe so.
The president campaigned and got elected on three key issues – to battle insecurity, corruption and improve the nation’s economy.
Today, the security situation in the country, despite the cases of few skirmishes and pockets of Boko Haram attacks which are mostly carried out against soft targets, has greatly improved.
Economically, the country, which fell into recession shortly after Buhari became president, has since jumped out of recession and steadily heads in the direction of positive growth.
On the issue of anti-corruption war, a cankerworm that did not only deprive the country of its development but successfully set it on the direction of underdevelopment, the Buhari-led administration can, without any iota of doubt, be said to have recorded huge successes.
In fact, if the fight against corruption continues the way it’s now waged and, why shouldn’t it with Buhari at the helm of its affairs, Nigeria will soon be counted among countries with the lowest level of corruption, especially in official circles.Still, to the critics of the APC-led administration, the president has not lived up to their expectations, particularly in the delivery of his campaign promises. They argue that Nigerians, who voted Buhari as their president, have yet to realise their expectations under his presidency.
Quite expectedly, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is at the forefront of those who have scored the president and his government below average.
In an open letter published in the media in January, Obasanjo gave a damning verdict of poor performance on the Buhari-led administration, saying that the levels of poverty and insecurity have increased. The former president also cited cases of poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty and tolerance of misdeeds.
But, to Buhari’s supporters, Nigeria has never had it so good. In fact, to this category of people, it’s only those who plundered the nation’s commonwealth prior to the coming Buhari that hold ills against his administration.
However, to many rational Nigerians, the president should be commended not condemned, especially if the mess inherited by his administration is considered.
Truly, a country ruled badly for 16 years, as the PDP did here, cannot be fixed in four years and, to that extent, Buhari’s administration has delivered on its key promises of anti-corruption war, security and economy.
Thus, nothing better than a close look at the Buhari-led administration’s policies and programmes and their successes will vindicate the president.
Soon after it assumed office in 2015, the administration, in order to fight corruption, introduced the whistleblowing policy under which more than N15.8 billion was raked in from tax evaders, N7.8 billion, $378 million and £27,800 from public officials who were exposed by whistle-blowers.
The administration, in its bid to address the issue of poor levels of remittance of operating surpluses by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government got the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) to remit more than N13 billion in three years, against the N51 million it remitted between 2010 and 2016.
Through the activities of the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), 54,000 fraudulent payroll entries have been identified, with payroll savings of N200 billion.
The Treasury Single Account (TSA) had recorded inflows of a total sum of more than N8.9 trillion from MDAs. The TSA has resulted in the consolidation of more than 17,000 bank accounts previously held by MDAs and spread across commercial banks in the country. This initiative saves an average of N4 billion monthly in bank charges associated with indiscriminate government borrowings from the commercial banks.
The use of Bank Verification Number (BVN) to verify payroll entries on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform has so far led to the detection of 54,000 fraudulent payroll entries.
To boost the anti-graft battle, Nigeria, which joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2016 and became the 70th OGP country, has been elected to lead the OGP alongside Argentina, France and Romania.
The Buhari administration created the Efficiency Unit (EU) to spearhead the efficient use of government resources and ensure reduction in recurrent expenditure. The EU’s efforts have resulted in N17 billion in savings on travel, sitting allowances and souvenirs.
With the quantum of stolen funds from the oil and gas sector, the Buhari administration spearheaded the oil and gas reform in line with best international practice. This initiative saw the controversial Offshore Processing Arrangement (OPA) cancelled and replaced with a Direct Sales and Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme with reputable offshore refineries.
The administration has largely secured the country in the past three years, though its critics see the cases of killings by herdsmen and kidnappings as dent on achievements recorded on security.
To fight insurgency in the North-east, the government revitalised the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to combat trans-border crimes and the Boko Haram insurgency, and more than a million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) have returned to their homes and communities since 2015.
Under the Buhari-led administration, Boko Haram’s operational and spiritual headquarters “Camp Zero” in the dreaded Sambisa Forest was captured by troops in December 2016. The Maiduguri-Gubio and Maiduguri-Monguno road was reopened in December 2016 after being closed for three years, while the Maiduguri-Bama-Banki Road was reopened in March 2018, four years after it was seized by Boko Haram.
Agreed, the broken economy inherited by this administration in 2015 has yet to convincingly recover, the Buhari-led administration has greatly and happily put the economy on a steady path of growth.
The administration’s priority sectors of agriculture and solid minerals maintained consistent growth during and after the recession. This development justifies the administration’s promise to diversify the economy.
Around 14 moribund blending plants have so far been revitalised under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) with a total capacity of 2.3 million metric tonnes of NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer. The benefits include annual savings of $200 million in foreign exchange, and $60 billion annually in budgetary provisions for fertilizer subsidies.
The scheme has also made it possible for farmers to purchase fertilizer at prices up to 30 percent cheaper than previously available.
The contributions of solid minerals to the federation account have tripled from N700 million in 2015 to about N5 billion in 2018.
Now, in four years, the Buhari-led administration extended more than N2 trillion to state governments for them to meet their salary and pension obligations, especially in the face of dwindling oil revenues.
The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) introduced by the (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development substantially raised local production of rice in the country and produced a model agricultural collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi states, among others.
The administration has demonstrated a single-minded commitment to upgrading and developing the transport, power and health infrastructure. Thus, the government launched the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), under the management of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority.
There is no doubt that the administration has invested in people and developed fortunes of Nigeria and improved its billing and reputation internationally.
However, with the support of Nigerians, more progress would be made in the next four years.
The federal government has done incredibly well in so many fronts, yet, it could do more, even in areas such as security and anti-corruption war. There’s no gainsaying the fact that some parts of the country are fast falling into the hands of criminals and bandits.
The president will be appreciated more if he distances himself away from the allegedly corrupt people found close to him during his first term in office while the administration, as it now promises, should do well to create jobs for especially the teeming number of unemployed youth in the country.
