Olakunle Agboola
President Muhammadu Buhari has gotten the mandate to preside over the affairs of Nigeria for the next four years being sworn in on May 29th of this year to hit the ground running.
The potential of his next four years is a beck and call on his last four years in the office as Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation has faced myriads of problems that had fall bait of solution, which has become a tough nut for Buhari’s led administration to solve. Corruption, economic despondency and security to mention a few are belated problems and carry over for Mr. President in the next four years in office
Nigerians were so much full of hope in 2015 when Goodluck Jonathan conceived defeat to President Buhari. It was the first time in Nigeria’s history that an opposition party democratically took control of the country from the ruling party. Celebrations erupted all over Buhari’s strongholds in northern Nigeria and many were full of hope into the new administration that promised ‘’Change’’.
The ideology that Buhari is not corrupt became a subject of discussion while critics and supporters alike agree that Buhari is the one leader who did not treat the country’s treasury as a personal piggy bank.
During his brief 1983-1985 dictatorship, he ruled with an iron fist, jailing people even for littering, and ordering civil servants who arrived late to work to be punished. There was so much expectation for the perception of Buhari as a revered personality, which made a lot of people to believe that Nigeria is in a safe hand.
The inauguration of Buhari into the office to kick off with the promise of change was long awaited. He sent diverse signals and different interpretations with his speech that I belong to everybody and nobody. This became a huge subject of discussion, while some people thought Buhari of 1983-1985 is back and there will be no room for corruption under his watch; being political sponsors, an alliance of political parties or family and friends.
The President got the attention of the world with so much hope for Nigeria to maximize her potentials and take a lead in Africa. US President Barack Obama invited him to the White House less than two months after his inauguration, an honour rarely accorded to newly elected African leaders. Many Nigerians saw Buhari as a messiah who will rescue them from years of economic downturn,
institutionalized corruption and insecurity.
The faith of people became weary having waited for six months for the President to set up his cabinet. The so much awaited ministers’ list was a lost hope for most Nigerians who thought there would be a fresh air of technocrats and not politicians with diminished character in Buhari’s cabinet. It was a stark conviction that the ministerial list was based on ethnicity, party politics, political ally and campaign
sponsors.
The reality of the last four years of Buhari as the president is apparent on the economy most especially the per-capital income of the citizens.
Since Buhari came to power, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has more than doubled from 10.4% in January 2016 to 23.1% in July 2018. In June last year CNN reported that Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme
poverty. About 87 million Nigerians, or half the population, live on less than $1.90 per day.
The economy
The economist has attested that Buhari‘s administration started off on the wrong foot in terms of economic strategy. The failure to push through decisive policies that could fix a broken inherited economy weakened the confidence of the people. For months after taking power, President Buhari did close to nothing on the economic strategy but kept on blaming the government of Goodluck Jonathan. The
management of the nation’s economy was virtually on hold for six months, which uncertainty prevailed, thus accelerating capital flight. By the time the administration started showing some semblance of activities late in 2015, the economy was already in tatters, heading for its first annual recession since1991.
This was major unrest for Buhari and his government who also lack the ability to put together a coherent budget. For instance, his 2016 budget had a deficit of over 2.2 trillion Naira. His attempt to borrow $30 billion to finance the deficit was vehemently opposed by the country’s lawmakers. Nor was public opinion favorable about an external loan. This forced the administration to pare down a number of projects it intended to undertake.
Because of the administration’s inability to implement an expansionary fiscal policy, the economy has been grappling with anemic growth since Buhari’s election. The country went into recession in 2016 followed by a rebound to about 2% in 2018. However, the IMF projects that growth will remain weak at an annual average of about 1.9% from 2019 to 2023.
Poverty and Unemployment
Pervasive poverty and massive unemployment are a serious economic challenge that has maintained a rising trend under Buhari- led administration. Poverty rates remain high in Nigeria, particularly in rural areas. It is estimated that 110 million out of 180 million Nigeria’s population live in " extreme poverty" Of the 110 million Nigerians suffering from extreme poverty, the majority are young people denied employment opportunities.
The problem of poverty and unemployment in Nigeria is as a result of inconsistent policies, misappropriation of funds for empowerment schemes and increasing de-industrialization and collapse of small businesses due to the poor power supply.
Education
The state of education in Nigeria is still far from the reality of what it ought to be in the 21st century of educational advancement as seen in the developed nation. Not much has really changed in terms of educational policy and budgeting. Despite all the achievements claimed as recorded by Buhari's administration in the educational sector, the 2018 World Bank report released in March says only 20 percent of young Nigerian adults who have completed primary education can read. Nigeria’s literacy level has reduced and the nation currently has over 65 million illiterates, according to UNESCO.
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu, once called for the declaration of emergency in the Education sector. He said this would enable the country to change the fortunes of the system that will produce required manpower skills that can drive the socio-economic development of the nation.
According to him, ‘’ declaring emergency in the sector will garner the financial and political resources required for the country to tackle the challenges bedeviling it frontally and squarely’’. He then appealed to the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the Education sector for the country to be able to change the fortunes of the system.
Health Sector
The health sector still faces a familiar problem under Buhari’s led administration. Poor facilities, poor staffing, shortage of vaccine, low response to public health emergencies, Incessant strike by doctors and health workers, mass migration of doctors and health professionals from the country, war on drug abuse, lack of equipment, low disease surveillance rate among others are long haul problems which
hasn’t been cracked in his last four years of administration.
The minister of health, Isaac Adewole, a professor of medicine once emphasized that revitalization of the primary healthcare was one of the top priorities of the government. This, the government believed was the bedrock of healthcare provision in the country. It said that he would ensure that the poor have access to qualitative and affordable healthcare services.
However, many primary healthcare centers across the country are still in dilapidated states, low staffed, poorly equipped, lack of electricity, water, and cannot effectively cater to the people in rural areas. Most pregnant women still seek the services of traditional birth attendants for delivery.
The British Broadcasting Cooperation BBC once slammed Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and other African leaders who have a penchant for the medical trip overseas. The BBC in a report on its website questioned ‘Why do Buhari, Dos Santos, and Mugabe go to hospital abroad?’ The report said that ‘Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, is the first among equals’ of those who have spent time
abroad seeking medical treatment and that Buhari apparently lacked faith in Nigeria’s health systems. It is of great concern for Nigerians if the first citizen of the country lacks credibility in the health sector.
It is a national embarrassment and disgrace that most government officials in Nigeria travel abroad for medical treatments. Nevertheless, 75 percent of Nigeria-trained qualified doctors have left the country while those at home are planning to leave owing to the poor working conditions and bad welfare schemes.
Corruption
People have argued that Buhari’s scorecard in fighting corruption is selective. Despite he has prosecuted high-profile politicians, civil servants and retired military officers for corruption and secured convictions in a handful of cases; Buhari’s anti-corruption efforts have been marred by the perception of selecting and targeting mostly members of the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Also,
his failure to prosecute a prominent state governor who is one of his close political allies, after the governor was shown on video collecting several thousand dollars in bribes, has accentuated the perception that he is only interested in prosecuting his political foes.
The shortcomings of Buhari’s campaign against corruption has not put him in a right standing of fighting corruption. Some have argued that it will become a necessity if the government can implement policies of the death penalty for any government officials or public servants caught in the act of corrupt practices.
Security
Security is not negotiable nor a subject to compromise in any guise for any serious government who cater to the life of the citizens. Insecurity is the greatest challenge faced by President Buhari’s administration in the last four years in office. Traditional security threats such as violent conflicts, militancy, armed robbery, and kidnapping have assumed worrisome dimensions in Nigeria. Evolving
threats such as insurgency and terrorism have further complicated the situation.
Under Buhari’s administration, Nigeria has “witnessed more ethnoreligious, communal and political conflicts of varying intensity and magnitude”. For example, clashes between farmers and pastoralists have claimed the lives of innocent citizens. The escalation of Boko Haram activities, which seeks to impose Islamic law in Nigeria has not been eroded, though President Buhari vowed to eliminate the group. The extremist group has responded with a series of deadly suicide bombings and attacks on soft targets that have killed a lot of Nigerians in the
last four years of Buhari’s administration.
The Next Four Years
The next four years of Buhari’s- led administration will be a close watch by Nigerians and the international communities. There is so much hope that baba go slow would have learned from his mistakes and speedily put his cabinet together to hit the ground running. There is a sense of duty for Mr. President to think intuitively and select not only a politician but also smart and young technocrat to his
cabinet.
The unity and common good of Nigerian is a necessity for Mr. President. This is the time to unite Nigerians beyond political parties, ethnicity or religion lines and rally them together to a common purpose. When President Buhari won the 2015 election, he announced that those who handed him only 5 percent of his votes should not expect to be treated the same as those who gave him 97 percent of his
total vote. This should not come from a leader who thinks he has the interest of the people and the citizenry.
The government has not seen the need to attach due importance to education policies and infrastructure. There is so much to be done to improve the educational standards in Nigeria. Tertiary education requires a lot more attention than it is presently getting. A lot of Nigerian youth are tired of the educational system and leaving Nigeria to study abroad. This is becoming endemic and the government should wake up to its responsibilities to put an end to this malady.
Hopefully, this next four years of Buhari’s administration will finally end the ASUU strike and brings back sanity to the overdue problem that has ravaged the potentials of the educational system in Nigeria. In some advanced countries, teachers are rated as highly as doctors and other professionals, unlike Nigeria.
The government needs to pay attention to their welfare, provide a conducive environment for the staff and students and generally upgrade the infrastructure.
Trust in democratic institutions is severely dented by how elections and governance play out. Mr. President is aware of so many flaws in our electoral systems that need reformation. Until INEC is truly independent, Nigeria will continue to have voter apathy.
Security of life, Information Technology, Science and Technological Innovations, Good health facilities, Agricultural Innovation, employment for teaming youths, Robust educational system, Power, Oil, and gas among all will take a fine-tuned energy by the president to put in place in his next four years in office.
