Knocks, kudos for Buhari

Nigerians assess 2-year of APC govt

By Cosmos Omegoh, Moshood Adebayo, Lagos, Romanus Ogwu, Abuja, Judex Okoro, Calabar, and

Petrus Obi, Enugu

It is a mixed grill of kudos and knocks for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government as it marks its second anniversary in office today.

While some people said the government made progress in certain areas, other believed the government failed to live up to the expectations of Nigerians.

One area the administration is believed to have fallen short is the economy which has since gone into reception even as it received commendations in its fight against graft and insurgency.

Two former governors, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu of Ogun and Abia states, respectively,  Bishop Emmah Isong, politicians were among those who spoke on the administration’s scorecard, yesterday.

“There isn’t a lot to cheer. The expectations of the people are not met…we are nowhere near where we should be in the comity of nations,” Daniel stated.

For Kalu, it is a tale of hits and misses.

“I think in fighting looters of the economy, they have been trying, but they must work within the ambit of the rule of law. You must fight corruption with absolute rule of law, which I support…You don’t fight people because you hate them or because they are individuals you want to fight. Any government in Nigeria that does not fight corruption with the rule of law can never succeed.”

But in terms of security, he gave the administration a pass mark.

“They have fought Boko Haram and North East is liberated now. No one knows what could have happened in these two years, maybe Boko Haram may have even advanced to Abuja. So on that premise,  the administration has done very well in the area of internal security.

“On the economy, the administration has not done very well because a lot of Nigerians are still hungry, which is not good; and a lot of things are stagnant. It is this same period that naira skyrocketed from N197 to N500, dangled through N400 to N300. I feel that both the fiscal and monetary policies have not been well handled. So, the administration needs to go back to handle these policies.”

For Isong, who is the national publicity secreatry of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), the administration has only succeeded in bequeathing poverty and hunger after two years in office.

Isong, who is the president of Christian Central Chapel International, (CCCI), Calabar, said it was incredible that Nigerians who voted for change cannot afford the commonest things of life including food, water and light.

“We don’t need anybody to tell us that the Buhari-led government has failed abysmally in the area of economy. Nigerians voted for a change to change their status, to change their economic ability, for empowerment. But today, Nigerians are poor, hungry and angry. There is unemployment; there is no investment in critical sectors including power, energy, education, agriculture, industrialisation and infrastructures. These are areas that could have turned around the lives of Nigerians. Nigerians today cannot afford the commonest things of life including food, water and light.

“Even the APC chieftains have agreed that this government is the worst government in economic formulas. They have goofed, stumbled and fallen short in the area of cash circulation, fiscal policies, banking regulations and basic commercial laws.”

He lamented the slow pace of governance and internal squabbles for power within the ruling party

“We lack good hands, intelligent, experienced men around the President to advise him on how Nigeria can come out of recession which has ravaged every sector of the economy.

“Even the President himself confessed that things are tough and Nigerians are hungry. I believe this government was politically prepared to take over government but unprepared to manage government. Winning an election is different from managing an economy and this is a big lesson for future governments. To win an election and constitute a government is not synonymous with having key players that can drive the economy.”

He said Buhari needed a team of dedicated men and women with vision on how to bring Nigeria out of the woods.

He chided those who said two years was not enough to assess the administration

“Democratic government all over the world is assessed within 100 days in office. If half way into your administration, you’re asking for another two years, what is the guarantee that you will fulfil all your promises? What they are simply telling us is that they were not ready for governance other than fighting PDP out of office, else they would have had their blueprint ready even before electioneering.”

He, however, scored the government high in its fight against corruption, terrorism and insurgency as seen in the release of some Chibok girls.

Like Daniel and Isong, Mr. Johnson Olu Fatoki, ex-member of the Ogun State House of Assembly said the Buhari administration has failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians.

“Effort is never measured. What matter is result. All the government is doing is yet to translate to improved standard of living. Cost of services and products are on the increase without correspondent increase in salaries of workers. Electricity bill, fuel, water, and other prices have increased…Corruption is still on the increase. Social infrastructures such as road, electricity are in sorry state. There are a lot of deceit than actions,” he said.

Another cleric, Lawrence Achudume, founder, Victory Life Bible Church, Abeokuta, Ogun State agreed that the “people’s hopes have been dashed by the pace at which the government is going. The APC made so much noise and unrealistic promises. The government has not done well. It can do better.”

But the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu disagreed.

In a statement in Enugu, the APC chieftain noted that the Buhari Social Revolution (BSR) has resulted in the sanitisation of corrupt institutions, revamping of solid minerals, innovation of ICT and repositioning of agricultural sector.

He faulted those using abject poverty, hunger and gross unemployment to score Buhari low, saying they neither seem to care about those who stimulated the woes in the first place, nor do they credit Buhari with the concerted efforts and enabling environment in place in the last 24 months to upgrade agriculture and stop importation of food.

The VON DG said those who scored Buhari low, wittingly or unwittingly, could not locate the Buhari Social Revolution, which in actual sense is the Rock of Gibraltar for Nigeria’s resurgimento.

He expressed confidence that with time, Buhari’s sanitisation of corrupted institutions like the power sector, where unprecedented sharp practices bedeviled the growth of industries, revamping of solid mineral as a new source of revenue, innovation of ICT and new impetus in agricultural production, will manifest appreciable success.

“Buhari did not invent the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN) nor the Whistleblower policy; yet he gave them life as effective and potent anti-graft arsenal. If Nigeria is a country where records are kept and timely reported, billions of Naira saved by these anti-graft instruments could have been mind-boggling.

‘Critics would argue that they have led to retrenchment in the banks; yes every coin has two faces. But let the truth be told, can we actually call what we have banks, when they cannot lend to the real sector, because of outrageous interest rate and other unprofessional practices? Over the years banks make jumbo profits while majority of Nigerians slid into poverty. These are the holes, which the Buhari Social Revolution is silently plugging.”

In spite of VON DG’s stout defence, the verdict of Mr. Inibehe Effiong, lawyer and right activist, is that the Buhari administration has failed to impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.

“The performance of the administration in the past two years is a far cry from what we expected. And we only hope that things change positively for better. Some of us are frustrated by the way the government is handling issues. For instance, it has more than ever before, succeeded in dividing Nigerians along ethnic lines. No one is impressed with the way and manner it has handled the Fulani herdsmen.”

Even the All Progressives Congress (APC) agreed that the administration has not fared well in its handling of the menace of herdsmen.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, confessed that the Federal Government ought to do more.

“I agree that the issue of the herdsmen is an issue of serious concern. But you will also agree with me that it did not start today. The issue of farmers and herdsmen clashes has always been there for as long as we could remember. I also agree that probably the government needs to do more than what is happening at the moment whether in the various states where these things are happening or at the federal level.

“But, what I said was that at the time the issue of Boko Haram was the dominant issue in this country, every Nigerian will not think of any other thing. Even the issue of herdsmen, as bad as it is, was insignificant in the context of the insecurity that is occasioned by terrorist activities.

“You are walking down the streets and the wind blows a nylon bag close to you, you run because you will think that it might conceal a bomb. We forget these things easily. No country is ever in a 100 per cent state of security. Look at what happened in Manchester a couple a days ago. It is a challenge that every government will continue to deal with.

“If we deal with the issue of herdsmen, kidnappers, armed robbery, there will be other security challenges that will crop up. The important thing is whether government is responsive enough to deal with the realities as they emerge. I agree with you that we ought to have done more in respect to the issue of herdsmen,” he said.