Four years ago, President Muhammadu Buhari, hitherto General in the Nigerian army, after three tries, became the first politician to unseat an incumbent President. A feat which had never been seen in the annals of our country, and to much pop and glamour, he was sworn in while also enjoying an unprecedented amount of goodwill from the Nigerian people.
His ascension had raised hopes of the multitude especially with his anti-corruption stance. He was thought to be the messiah Nigeria need to fight all of the ills –corruption, insecurity, unemployment, economic downturn etc-- that was wrong with the country.
However, four years down the line, most Nigerians have become disillusioned with his government. They have been forced to think that they have been sold a gimmick of the “change” agenda which has brought them more of pains than succor.
But, somehow, inexplicably, they have returned him to continue with his time in office (having defeated his closest challenger, Atiku Abubakr, in the last general election) hoping that miraculously, he would correct the ills that made his first term in office unbearable to the masses.
And that he would display a sense of purpose and leadership that the country needs at this point in time especially in areas identified below:
ECONOMY
Under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, the Nigerian economy was plunged into the deep end of the red sea after the economy went into recession leading many businesses to fold up and causing a vast amount of job loss thereby increasing the erstwhile large population of the unemployed in the country.
His administration, then, pointed accusatory fingers of gross mismanagement of the Nigerian economy at the opposition party which had led for sixteen uninterrupted years as being the reason which inadvertently led to the recession of the economy but Nigerians, rightly, felt aggrieved and pointed that the former administration was voted out so as to forestall the continued haemorrhaging of the commonwealth and for him, PMB, to oversee an economy of growth and development.
The government was eventually able to get the economy working again even if it was at a steep price to the Nigerian people as the naira fumbled and tumbled before eventually stabilizing.
But, recently, Abdulaziz Yari, the outgoing Governor of Zamfara state and erstwhile chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ forum warned that the economy could go into another cycle of recession by mid 2020.
Would Nigerians want a replica of the previous four years where the country became the poverty capital of the world? Where the economy somersaulted and nosedived plunging many families into depression and gradually eroding the middle class? The answer is a resounding NO.
Nigerians wouldn’t want to be used as guinea pigs for policies that may not lead to an eventual growth in their standard of living. They would seek that PMB in the next four years bring enough stability and growth to the economy which would lead to an improved life for all and sundry through creative measures.
SECURITY
One would have hoped that with PMB’s background as an army general that one of the least worries of Nigerians would have been security but four years after, the country is still grasping with issues of insecurity in the north as Boko Haram, though no longer a devastating force that they used to be, are still able to strike terror into the minds of Nigerians and they have been joined by another deadly force in the Fulani herdsmen who now take joy in killing, maiming and kidnapping Nigerians who try to as much as protect their lands from them.
While Boko Haram’s grouse is against the proliferation of western ideology (education), the Fulani herdsmen on the other hand kill, maim, kidnap and pillage the lands of their host because of their cattles which has led to an increased bad blood amongst Nigerians as it is seen as an attempt of “Fulanization” by the southern part of the country.
President Buhari’s little to no action against this dreaded group has been mistaken by most to be an endorsement of the nefarious actions of the group while Garba Shehu’s attempt at equating Miyetti Allah(the umbrella body of Fulani cattle herdsmen) to Afenifere and Ndigbo only succeeded in heating up the polity.
Also, with rumors of #100 billion going round as payment to be made to the group for them to stop their bloodletting coupled with the proposed AM radio exclusive to the Fulani herdsmen only heightens the fear of an average southerner about a northern agenda.
Nigerians would expect that PMB takes a clear, firm and decisive action against this dreaded group who have become a law unto themselves. Nigerians would not expect another four years of lip service or closed eye to the many atrocities of the group.
POWER
Power generation has been a problem for Nigeria from the get go of the return to democracy in this millennia. And immediately upon Buhari’s ascension to office, power generation had increased unlike years before which many had tied to his body language.
But the bubble quickly bust as things returned to normal quite soon as power began to fluctuate like the years before.
At a point, it was said that $16 billion had been spent, by Obasanjo’s administration, on this conundrum that is yet to be solved and still no respite is yet to be found for the Nigerian people. Instead, it feels more like Nigeria had spent more on producing more darkness than light.
Due to this erratic power supply, many businesses and homes have become forced to generate their own electricity so as to be able to maintain their business and also for their own comfort.
Fashola, Nigeria’s minister of power, works and housing, have been at loggerheads on how best to resolve the issue of “electricity distribution sub-sector which has been considered the weakest link in the value chain since privatization of the power sector in 2013, as it has failed to live up to the performance expectations”.
With PMB’s second tenure in the offing, Nigerians would hope that the problem of power is solved so that businesses could have an enabling environment to grow and develop and also that Nigerians may get more comfortable in their daily lives and dealings.
Conclusion
Buhari is expected to perform better than he did in his first tenure in these major sectors as this would determine his legacy with the Nigerian people.
He cannot repeat the mistakes that trailed his first term in office, history will not forgive him if he is unable to correct the anomalies. And Nigerians would expect that this second term is littered with growth and development of the nation which would catapult the country to the apogee because the country has the potential to be the biggest in Africa in terms of development and growth.
Nigerians would not expect the apathy that characterized his first term in office.
Oluwapelumi Adejumo writes from Ibadan
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