By Willy Eya

Barely a week away, 2016 would be history and in its place would be a new year. The natural transition is as sure as the celestial movement between day and night. And characteristically, as the curtain is gradually but steadily being drawn on the outgoing year, many are patiently and anxiously waiting for a fresh calendar.
As expected, this is a period of sober reflection and stock taking. And in the minds of critical observers, one question that keeps recurring is –how has the receding year impacted on various sectors of the nation’s political economy. Of course, for obvious reasons, politics would always be at the epicenter of public discourse.
In the recollection of informed observers, the outgoing year started with high hopes and expectations from a fairly new government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari which came to power on the mantra of change. But after the turbulent 2015 presidential election and eventual inauguration of Buhari’s administration on May 29, not much happened until the end of that year. The situation was excused because many believed that the government needed some gestation period to stabilise, hence the expectation that 2016 would be a new dawn in terms of the Buhari government meeting the expectation of a seemingly disenchanted citizenry.
It was not surprising that on January 1, 2016, many heaved a sigh of relief when during the New Year Presidential address, Buhari in the spirit of his campaign promises, assured Nigerians of the commitment of his administration to alleviate the problems confronting the nation on various fronts. He had said:
‘’The effective and efficient implementation of our 2016 budget proposals will address many of the socio-economic issues that are of current concern to our people. One area in which Nigerians, especially those in the North East, have already begun to experience major change is in the war on terror.’’
However, even as inspiring as Buhari’s 2016 New Year message was, it did not take long to observe that the year was not going to be one smooth journey ride. As early as February, the signs that 2016 was going to be a challenging year had already started to manifest. The two arms of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives declared that the 2016 budget was full of errors, saying the document could no longer be passed on February 25 as earlier promised. The development consequently sparked off the budget crisis between the Legislature and Executive arms which eventually metamorphosed into the budget padding scandal that subsisted till September of this year. Many believe that the crisis which eventually led to the suspension of the erstwhile chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin affected governance in 2016.
But more than the budget padding controversy, other political events dominated public discourse in the outgoing year.