Buhari: Five years of little ups, many downs

On Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari clocked five years in office. For a government that rose to power on the groundswell of several promises, the anniversary, ordinarily, should be a remarkable milestone for the country’s democratic journey and Nigerians especially. This is a government that promised to transform virtually every part of Nigeria if elected into office.

As a normal political ritual, Femi Adesina,  presidential spokesman, rolled out a fact-sheet detailing what his principal has done in the last five years. “The government swept into office on the wings of change, and that change has been wrought in nearly all phases of national life. Where the lofty goals are yet to be attained, it is work in progress, and eyes are firmly fixed on the ball. No distraction,” he had said.

Going by Buhari’s promises to Nigerians in 2015, the country should be a paradise by now. Sadly, there is nothing much to celebrate. In the statement marking the president’s five years in office, Adesina had added: “Facts speak for themselves. And that is what we present at this auspicious season of the fifth anniversary of the Buhari administration.” The president’s spokesman obviously needs to revisit the streets to truly understand what Nigerians are going through.

If happenings in the country in the last five years of the present administration are anything to go by, they showed the All Progressives Congress (APC), by its conception and composition, and Buhari are unprepared for governance when they took over office in 2015. They also point to the fact that both the party and its candidate were only united by their desperation to get into power at all cost. Five years down the line, the APC-led government has done little or nothing to differentiate itself form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) it  heavily criticised to get into power. Ideologically, the APC, so far, appears to be the worst version of the PDP.

Buhari and the APC shot themselves in the foot right from the outset. They set a standard, too unrealistic, just to gain power and after gaining power, they have been fighting, without progress, to bridge expectations. Buhari and his team must have realised this by now. In the court of public opinion, the popular impression is that his government has not done well. And its not difficult to understand why.

The president rode to power on the backdrop of three major promises: to stamp out corruption, tackle insecurity and revamp the economy. When critically analysed, the Buhari-led government has performed poorly on the three key grounds on which he was elected. In terms of security, the country has witnessed an upsurge in killings than when he came on board. Before Buhari’s emergence, the country’s major headache had been Boko Haram terrorists that left many states in the northern part of the country unsettled. But since the dawn of the Buhari-led government, we have had multifaceted security challenges. Today, there is rising cases of banditry, kidnappings, gunmen attacks and herder-farmer crisis. Even Boko Haram which his government promised to decimate within a short span if elected still remains a major headache till date.

Economically, the country has also had a tough a ride under the Buhari-led administration. The country is presently the poverty capital of the world despite its ballooning debt profile. The country’s dependence on crude oil has remained the same, while the naira continues to struggle. In the fight against corruption, nothing much has been recorded too. His administration has not done enough to convince Nigerians that the mouthed fight against corruption has been majorly targeted at the opposition camp than not.

From a general perspective, the Buhari administration has failed to give the masses the Nigeria he promised them. Key sectors of the economy such as health and education are still in the abyss. However, there are key lessons. For instance, his government, notwithstanding the several shortcomings could inspire the change in the country’s political system. In 2015, we witnessed the strength of the country’s electorates to vote for their choice candidate. The Goodluck Jonathan-led administration was perceived in some quarters as “clueless”, lacking the needed political sagacity to tackle the country’s enormous challenges, particularly the raging insecurity at that time and Nigerians opted for a ‘change’ at the helm of affairs.

The positive from the Buhari experiment in 2015 is that Nigerians can push the for the kind of change that they so desire. The negative, as unfolding events have revealed, is that we are yet to come the point in our political journey where we subject manifestoes of political candidates gunning for elective offices to thorough scrutiny. If only we will learn our present situation, the Buhari- government should be a wake call on Nigerians that not all glitters are gold. Three years to end an administration which blossomed so much hopes with head-spinning promises but left many disappointed in the end, political heavyweights are already scheming for the country’s next general elections in 2023.

For now, there is still ample time for the Buhari-led government to turn things around and change public perception about itself. For this to happen, however, the present administration must realise Nigerians expect more from it than they are getting. The administration’s knack for passing the buck at the slightest opportunity has been its greatest undoing.  But a lot can still be done before the end of the administration. For Buhari, the three years left to complete his eight-year term as president is all-important. They can either improve his image or damage it.

As Chuck Palahniuk, American novelist, aptly puts it: “in a world where vows are worthless. Where making a pledge means nothing. Where promises are made to be broken, it would to see words come back to power.” The Buhari-led  government has promised Nigerians too much that failure is considered unacceptable. The present administration must wake up to this reality and deliver on its campaign promises.

Ojo is a journalist at TheCable.