From our recent political history, few events have
created more media buzz than when the 73-year old retired Army General,
Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as President of Nigeria, Africa’s most
populous country.
As we gasp in shock and as the Buhari administration gasps for
breath, Nigerians wonder what happened to the Chief-Agent-for-Change who
toppled the Otuoke Corruption Czar, former President Goodluck Jonathan,
15 months ago in a rare democratic defeat of a ruling party that held
power for 16 years. To see clearly is prophecy. More so, trying to
revive a failed state like Nigeria is like hiking in the wilderness. You
need to see far into the future. You need survival skills before you
start the journey. So far, it is evident that Mr. Buhari was never
prepared for the journey. Didn't see where he was headed.
Many writers and critics offered free help to Mr. Buhari to enable
him realize and appreciate that leadership position is not a spectator
position. Volumes have been written to intimate Mr. Buhari with the
complaints, concerns, and expectations of our people. Complaints which
focus on what we think the President is doing wrong, concerns aimed at
finding solutions to the problems, and expectations from a government of
“change” have sadly been rebuffed and resisted by Mr. Buhari.
Mr. Buhari has settled for the status quo just to fit in with the
crowd of spectators at the National Assembly that run the affairs of
Nigeria. He swims around like a pawn on a chessboard moved around at
their whim. Mr. Buhari forgets that harmful association with people like
his Chief of Staff Abba Kyari and General Tukur Buratai the Chief of
Army Staff, both of whom have been accused of financial improprieties,
are like magnet that exert a pull that can distort his moral judgment
and throw his moral sense off course!
Arguably, the first 100 Days of a new administration particularly a
government of “change” are very crucial. It was the auspicious time for
Mr. Buhari to build up momentum. It was when opinion about the new
leader would crystallize. It was very important for Mr. Buhari to get
early wins that build personal credibility and political capital rather
than dig himself into holes and have to clamber back out. The first 100
Days would have been Mr. Buhari's best chance to reshape Nigeria
according to his own agenda and vision.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his first 100 Days in
office to lay the foundations of the New Deal. Indeed, his first 100
Days was a model of presidential accomplishment. Between March and June
1933, FDR successfully urged Congress to enact a series of laws creating
a host of new federal programs. He seized the opportunity of the worst
economic depression in American history to unleash legislative
onslaught. Fifteen million Americans were unemployed. The Gross National
Product (GNP) – a measure of a nation’s total economic activity – had
fallen for more than half since 1929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
of 386.10 on September 3, 1929 fell to 41.22 on July 8, 1932; a drop of
nearly 90 per cent.
“The secret to getting ahead,” says Mark Twain, “is getting started.”
A reformist presidency begins with the first 100 Days. Just like FDR,
Mr. Buhari would have taken the advantage of the Jonathan years of
economic plundering and political tragedy to rewrite history of his
presidency by flooding the National Assembly with progressive bills.
Take a look at some examples of lasting revolutionary changes that Mr.
Buhari squandered in his first 100 Days in office:
He failed to restructure Nigeria inside out and make it a true
federal system. He missed the opportunity to jumpstart the economy with
the largest stimulus package in the history of the world. He refused to
fire corrupt judges. He failed to reform the judicial system and the
criminal justice system. He lost the chance to slash the bogus salaries
and criminal perks of the highest paid legislators in the world and make
it competitive with what other legislators in the world earn. He blew
away the opportunity to reform education, agriculture, health, power,
aviation, and other industrial sectors. He failed to abolish the Lord
Lugard relic known as Nigeria Police Force and replace it with state and
local government police.
Our history shows we’ve been ruled mostly by collection of bandits.
Mr. Buhari failed to break protocols and distant himself from the past
by surrounding himself with a collection of the same old bandits as
members of his inner caucus. He missed the opportunity to do away with
the same non performing individuals as ministers. As Buhari’s
administration waffles and shuffles through its second year, the slides
further and further into recession.
I know some incurable Buharists and political voodoo optimists will
be quick to dismiss my view. They will come up with the same old, tired,
worn out excuses and reasons. We’re familiar with such tunes. We were
bombarded with such lullabies during the time of former Presidents
Ya'radua and Jonathan: Rome was not built in a day. It is easier to
destroy than to restore. The President is not a miracle worker. Change
takes time and it’s painful. The mess was not created by him. He met
empty treasury. Nigeria is a big and complex nation. Nigerians are
difficult to govern. Nigerians are impatient people. Slow and steady
wins the race. The inmates at the National Asylum are the clogs in his
wheels. It’ll get worse before it gets better. The President is taking
his time to lay a solid foundation. The President doesn’t want to appear
like a dictator to the world. He knows what he’s doing. Let’s continue
to pray for him. With prayers, we’ll get to the “Promise Land.”
Bullshit. Hogwash. Balderdash. Nonsense. Heresy!
Well, I have bad news for them. No change will happen to a
“government of change” during the first two critical years and possibly
for the tenure of Buhari’s presidency. The Buhari administration will
expire – technically – May 29, 2017 – unless he acts quickly and
decisively to jumpstart the suffocating economy. Mr. Buhari will resist
every attempt to restructure our fake federalism. Poverty will continue
to ravage the land on a scale and extent we’ve never seen before. No
good paying jobs will be created. Electricity will remain the greatest
demon on the infrastructural grid. Economic resurgence will be a
tantalizing mirage. The economy will remain dormant and dead. There will
be ceasefire on the War of Corruption. Already, it has hit a
cul-de-sac. In fact, the War on Corruption will be overthrown by the
sharks and whales of corruption like Bukola Abiku Mesujamba Saraki.
Needless to say, they’ll will continue to swim undisturbed. There will
be unhindered free fall of the Naira.
Investors, I mean real job creators like the multi nationals and
other conglomerates that formed our industrial hub in the 60s, 70s, and
early 80s at Ikeja Industrial Estate and other parts of Nigeria, will
continue to avoid Nigeria like a plague due to lack of basic
infrastructures, safety and security. Think of corporations like IBM,
UAC, UTC, WAHUM (West Africa House Utensils Manufacturers), Peugeot
Automobile of Nigeria (PAN), Volkswagen of Nigeria, BATA, LENNARDS,
ANAMCO, GM, Leventis, Kingsway, WIN BED, Western Traders, AIL
(Associated Industries Ltd.) NIROWI (Nigeria Romania Wood Industries),
AFRPRINT (textiles), Dunlop, BEREC Batteries, and host of others that
fled our shores to other friendlier and safer countries with available
and reliable electricity.
No new dams to produce drinking water for Nigerians will be built by
Ministry of Water Resources. Bore-hole and bottled water will remain the
primary sources of drinking water. The Ministry of Health will remain
comatose in the intensive care of a London or Indian Hospital. No new
hospitals or medical facilities will be constructed by the ministry. No
new healthcare initiative will be launched.
The Ministry of Education will remain captive in the thicket of
redundant and overlapping education programs and agencies. There will be
no innovation or any reform to transform the decadent education system
from its dilapidated physical and content structures into 21st century
system of innovative learning. Deaths on our roads will increase and
persist. Public housing will be hopelessly inadequate. The Ministry of
Agriculture will continue in its old tradition of shelling out loans
intended for farmers to politically connected thieves who’ll not plant a
seed. Overall, things will remain the same.
Nigerians will end up with Buhari administration disappointed with
unfulfilled hopes and expectations, unmet needs, increased poverty,
hunger, anger, and hopelessness. Buhari's presidency will become
irrelevant, confused, clueless, constrained, weakened, drained, and
mangled beyond recognition. Above all, it’ll usher in a new set of
ancient evils that will signal the death of a nation.
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