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By Henry Akubuiro
When President Muhammadu Buhari took over the reins of power as Nigeria’s president on May 29, 2015, he promised to revamp the economy, curb corruption and improve security in Nigeria. But, in a bid to achieve a realistic domestic and foreign policy, as well as national development, his government, in 2020, expanded the priority areas to nine to guide its policy directions over the remaining period:
Building a thriving and sustainable economy; enhancing social inclusion and reducing poverty; enlarging agricultural output for food security and export; attaining energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products and expanding transport and other infrastructural development; expanding business growth, entrepreneurship and industrialisation; expanding access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians; building a system to fight corruption, improving governance and creating social cohesion; and improving security for all.
By tomorrow, May 29, 2022, the chimes of the clock will echo the seventh year of his two-term presidency. How has the Buhari administration fared? Perhaps a holistic appraisal would suffice, which is why the Presidency has unveiled compelling statistics that point to a bumper harvest, albeit a few nagging national malaise.
Under President Buhari, Nigeria has seen the most ambitious legislative programme in its history, affirms the presidency. Within this period, several landmark bills have been passed or amended. Some of the most recent include the Electoral Act (Amended) Bill, 2022; Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022; Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022; Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill, 2022; Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON (Amendment Act, 2021); Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act, 1993 (Amendment) Act, 2019; The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, etcetera.
Compared to other Nigerian presidents, President Buhari has deployed the use of Executive Orders the most. Since 2017, from available statistics, he has issued a number of landmark Executive Orders, including but not limited to Presidential Executive Order on Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment (2017), Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Local Procurement by Government Agencies (2017); and Presidential Executive Order on the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration.
One of his greatest achievements is in the area of infrastructure development. For instance, after being moribund for many years, the railway system in the country has started functioning once again. Travellers plying the Lagos-Ibadan route have been enjoying the efficiency of the 156 kilometre Standard Gauge Rail, completed in 2021, in a record four years. The 186 kilometre Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Line was completed five years earlier in 2016. Likewise, the 327 kilometre Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail Line was completed and commissioned in 2020, 33 years after construction began by other governments. Also, the Abuja light rail was completed in 2018, while work has commenced on the Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail. Aside from other completed projects, there have been many productive capacity development programmes in the sector.
Like in rail transportation, road transportation has thrived under the Buhari government. According to the Presidency, the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) has invested over one billion dollars in three flagship projects: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which will be concluded this year; Second Niger Bridge, which will also be completed in 2022; while the first phase of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway will be completed in 2023. So far, more than one trillion naira has been mobilised through the Executive Order 7 of 2019 for road projects across all the six geopolitical zones of the country, including Bodo-Bonny Road in Rivers and Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota Road in Lagos. In the same vein, more than 600 billion naira worth of Sukuk Bonds has been raised since 2017 for over 40 critical road projects across the six geopolitical zones.
Air and seaports have also recorded some highs under the Buhari administration. Some of the most remarkable ones include the completion of new terminals for international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. Also completed are new runways for the Abuja and Enugu International Airports. Meanwhile, the president has approved four international airports as Special Economic Zones in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
Besides, the Lekki Deep Seaport, the first new seaport in Nigeria in decades, has been 90 per cent completed, while a groundbreaking was done for Bonny Deep Sea Port last year. The Kaduna Dry Port was commissioned in 2018 and is expected to be completed this year. The Deep Blue Maritime Security Project was completed in 2021, a project that includes 17 special mission vessels, two special mission aircrafts and three helicopters. Also, among President Buhari’s achievements in the maritime sector include developments of the eastern ports.
In 2019, container shops berthed in Calabar for the first time in 11 years. Also, the Calabar Harbour dues were slashed by 10 per cent to encourage traffic, while an LPG tanker operated by NLNG berthed in Port Harcourt for the first time in any of the eastern ports. The Presidency informed that the two largest container ships to ever berth at any Nigerian seaport was in Onne three years ago, to mention a few cheery news.
In the power sector where many Nigerian administrations have failed to lay the ghost of darkness to rest forever in the cities and villages, the Buhari administration, informed the Presidency, has assured that an incremental 4,000MW plus of power generating assets will be completed during the life of its tenure, from the Zungeru Hydro to Okpai Phase 2. There have also been other energising programmes in Education, Economy, Agriculture, Mass Watering, etc. There are, in addition, a number of special grid interventions financed by the government or its agencies, including the Central Bank and Presidential Power Initiative. As of the first quarter of 2022, the Presidency has revealed, there are about 135 ongoing projects for transmission lines, substations and other associated grid infrastructure.
Seven years after he set foot on Aso Rock, the Buhari administration, says the Presidency, has completed housing projects in 34 states of the federation, while more than 5000 houses are at various stages of completion. Already, the national 5G policy has been launched and licensed to two private companies. The national digital economy policy, which was launched in 2019, is another thing to celebrate when it comes to the digital economy.
Lest you forget, the Buhari administration has declared this decade the “Decade of Gas”, which has manifested in the policies and constructions tailored towards the needs of the sector, one of which includes ongoing construction on the 614 Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Project, the largest of its kind in the country. Under his watch, too, Nigeria’s first Marginal Field Bid Round has been completed, the first in 20 years, and it’s expected to raise in excess of half a billion dollars. With the launch of the National LPG Expansion Programme, VAT was removed from the domestic pricing of LPG. Among others, a $350m Nigerian Content Intervention Fund has been established to finance manufacturing contracts and assets in the oil and gas industry.
In the area of agriculture, the Presidency informs that the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank, launched by President Buhari in 2015, has disbursed more than 800 billion naira to more than four million smallholder farmers of 23 different commodities. The government has also created numerous initiatives to boost the sector, such as Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, Special Agro Industrial Processing Zones, Agriculture for Food and Jobs Programme, National Livestock Transformation Programme, The Green Imperative, etc. Each of this programme is said to have recorded many highs.
While poverty is difficult to eradicate totally anywhere in the world, the Buhari administration has moved to alleviate it through social investments and direct grants and gifts. The government’s National Social Investment Programme is regarded as the largest of its kind in Africa. So far, close to two million poor are said to have benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme. In addition, programmes, such as Survival Fund, the National Youth Investment Fund, the National Special Public Works Programme, have catered directly to the needs of 774,000 beneficiaries across 774 local governments. Perhaps the most remarkable from the perspective of young Nigerians and owners of small businesses is the COVID-19, N300 billion Targeted Credit Facility to support millions of citizens via federal grants, loans, and stipends. There are similar programmes like Survival Fund, Investment and Growth Fund, as well as multiple disbursements by the Bank of Industry to over three million large, medium, small and micro enterprises since 2015.
Worthy of note, too, are the feats recorded in the education sector. According to the Presidency, the Buhari administration has committed over N2 trillion of capital intervention to the Nigerian tertiary institutions through TETFund and various means. The sum of N240 billion has also been committed to UBE Matching Grants to states and the FCT, while N24 billion has been committed to Teachers Professional Development Fund to States and the FCT, to mention a few.
Statistics also show that N75 billion has been committed to the National Youth Investment scheme, approved by the president in 2020, ranging from N250,000 to N3 million each to the more than 6000 beneficiaries. The next set of 25,000 beneficiaries has been selected for payments in 2022. Under Buhari’s watch, the monthly allowance of corps members was increased to N33,000 from N19, 800. The government has also, through the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, established the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CFI) to provide single-digit financing to young Nigerians in fashion, film, music and IT. On completion, the renovated National Theatre of Nigeria, which was developed into a world class Creative Park, will host the first Global Conference on Cultural Tourism and Creative Industry in Lagos from November 14-17th 2022.
Thanks to the Buhari administration, the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State has taken off; the deployment of the BVN system has eliminated fraudulent transactions, while the NIN database has improved security tracking; the counter insurgency fight targeting Boko Haram “has been hailed as a leading cause of the reduction in terrorism deaths in Sub Sahara Africa,” says the Presidency, just as the Nigerian Air Force has acquired 38 brand new aircraft under President Buhari. Above all, the Buhari government tackled the COVID-19 pandemic headlong with the creation of special committees that succeeded in ensuring Nigeria exit the pandemic and attendant economic recession on time.
However, the Buhari administration has endured a spate of criticisms from some Nigerians. But, with these aforementioned strides and others not stated here for lack of space, the Presidency invites critics and fans alike to appreciate the sacrifices made so far in advancing the lot of the citizens and the fortunes of the country by the president. If you are never criticised, says a trite, you are not doing much that makes a difference.
