Exploring Buhari’s 2016 as antidote for 2017

BY KENNETH-KAUNDA ADAMU

In spite of daunting challenges and difficulties, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) gracefully and indubitably bade goodbye to the year 2016. He is excitedly ushering Nigerians into 2017 with heightened hopes and pessimism of a better country on a greater momentum.

When one listens to Buhari’s public speeches to Nigerians at any major forum these past months, the note of finality is always the plea to Nigerians for patience; professing knowledge of their predicaments, afflictions and resilience.

But the economic hardships experienced by the government and Nigerians notwithstanding, Buhari was able to rewardingly navigate the year 2016 to a successful anchor on the shores of 2017 for prosperity. Based on prudent management of sinewy resources, the Buhari -led APC government has nonetheless, deposited relics of development and progress in several areas, which the President believes are the antidotes for a leap forward in 2017.

With the hardships of 2016 foretold, Nigerians are prodded to remember the respite the Buhari presidency has brought in their lives in several ways. The defeat of Boko Haram terrorism and the suppression of insurrections in parts of the country like secession agitations in the Southeast, militancy in the Niger Delta and armed banditry and cattle rustling in the Northwest are some of the modest milestones of government.

The Nigerian Army’s final onslaught against Boko Haram terrorists with the final dismantling of Sambisa forest, the terrorists’ haven and its new anointment as a military garrison is the President’s 2016 most overtly ambitious statement about his commitment to the safety of lives and property of Nigerians. And in spite of the enormous financial burden of prosecuting terrorism war anywhere, Buhari accomplished it even as Nigeria swam in economic recession in the last 19 months, from the zero penny treasury he inherited.

And with terrorists completely dislodged in the Northeast, some who were fortunate enough to escape have disguised and fused into peaceful Nigerian mega cities. The security agents’ arrest of BHTs commander a few days ago, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos state, who confessed fleeing from soldiers’ final onslaught on Sambisa forest bear testimony.

And the Lagos incident was simultaneously followed by a similar arrest in Abuja of another fleeing Sambisa forest terrorist suspect, who identified himself as Usman. He was arrested by the AMAC Marshal Security agency at the Utako market. Utako district in Abuja, particularly the village settlement area has been a protective hideout for terrorists.

Terror suspect Usman has confessed the presence of his soul mates lurking in dark corners around the FCT, Abuja, which calls for more vigilance. It was at the same spot, another suspected terrorist’ gang leader, Aminu Sadiq, allegedly hid his squad and bombs for days, before exporting them to set Nyanya bus station in conflagration in 2014, depositing of tears and blood.

But Buhari is ready to consolidate on the gains made on terrorism by the Nigerian Army under COAS, Gen. Buratai. It explains his special placement of defence and internal affairs ministries under a special package of critical public service provider-institutions in the 2017 proposed bill.

Buhari handled terrorism and other insecurity threats with seriousness in 2016. It accounts for the first time in several years, why Nigerians have celebrated major Muslim and Christian festivities in the year without echoes of bomb blasts or sorrows disclouring the mood of the celebrations.

Again, the President’s preachment on diversification of the economy pumped billions of naira to the agricultural sector as soft loans to farmers. This was anchored through the CBN and subsidiary institutions. And the genuine farmers who accessed these loans did not only record bumper harvests in the year 2016, but had value for their agric produce in Nigerian markets. Today, the IMF lists Nigeria as a country on the path of diversification.

Observant Nigerians would concede that local rice, which is the staple food for the Christmas and the impending New Year festivities, was patronized more than refined imported rice. For a long time in the nation’s history, this was glaringly impossibility. Nigeria at the moment faces no threat of food insecurity and the need to import stable food items to further strain scarce FOREX on account of these conscious efforts.

And Buhari intends to expand the window in 2017 so that more farmers across the nation cannot only cultivate what Nigerians consume. It is expected that this would encourage export of refined agric and agro-allied products to earn cash for farmers and foreign reserve for the country.

When PMB increased the pump price of petroleum to N145 per litre, many Nigerians grumbled. But since the increment, the country has not witnessed fuel scarcity. And even the celebration of major festivities like Sallah as well as Xmas and the coming New Year, there is no sign that the commodity would be scarce.

It is rather in abundant supply, with some fuel marketers adjusting their pump prices slightly lower than official price. The liberalization of the oil retailing sector, has broken monopoly and installed healthy competition among marketers. Government plans to maintain this tempo of 2016 next year and at best, reduce the cost of refined fuel in the year 2017, when modular refineries’ come on stream and the refining capacity of the major refineries’ in Nigeria surges.

The pains Nigerians have shouldered these past months by paying N145 per PMS has robbed dozens of fuel subsidy thieves of the trillions of naira they dubiously rape Nigeria annually into their private pockets. Instead, the removal of fuel subsidy and the excess cash from it has created and is funding the N-Power Jobs empowerment scheme of the FGN.

Even with just the 200, 000 applicants so far clarified and engaged, out of the 500, 000 targeted for 2016 in a depressed economy, the ovations from the beneficiaries and their families are enough to move a leader like President Buhari to even sacrifice his soul to make more Nigerian unemployed youths happier. The balance of 300,000 applicants in 2016 would soon be engaged. This scheme has been retained with the same sumptuous budgetary provision in the 2016 budget estimates.

Additionally, over 10,000 Nigerian youths have been recruited into the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). Like the N-Power jobs, engagement of applicants was based on merit, which adhered to the best practices in the world.

So, children of poor families, with no political godfathers or influences of any kind, suddenly had jobs they never paid a dime either as application fee or bribes to conducting officials. It was properly organized and no stampede and deaths reminiscent of the Immigration recruitment ever occurred. Buhari does not intend to deviate from this path of equity and fairness to all Nigerians.

The enforcement of the Treasury Single Account has blocked leakages in FGN revenue. It has brought sanity into the financial system as public officials have no more access to free money collected as revenue under their desks to squander.

Hardly do Buhari’s public appointees attend social functions and spray money on the floor in millions of naira or thousands of hard currency or donate same to projects of personal friends. They are still reaching out to associates, but within permissible limits of the law and legitimate income. The trend of un-receipted levies, arbitrary charged students is also gradually receding in public universities; hence it would no longer be slush funds for heads of such institutions’.

But the big bang in 2016 was vibrated by a recent report of the IMF, which rated Nigeria as the 22nd largest economy in the world. The global monetary body drew its conclusions in news published on its website, somewhat expressing surprise that despite drastic drop in global prices of crude oil, Nigeria weathered the storm of negative growth rate, the affliction of several crude-producing countries in her dilemma

Interestingly, from IMF’s list of 30 countries, only Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa made the list, which pegged 24th and 30th respectively after Nigeria, enjoying GDP growth rates of 5.2% and 2.4% accordingly. Nigeria has a GDP rate of Nigeria: $1.105 trillion; Egypt: $996 billion and South Africa pegs last in Africa with $724 billion.

Under PMB, the IMF says the country has continued to diversify and likely to net its goal of climbing the ladder of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020.

It explicit affirmation by the respected world financial body that President Buhari has been on track in getting his policies on economic recovery and the administration’s management of resources from the period it took over the reins of government in 2016 very effectively, even with crude oil prices dropping as low as far below $40 dollars per barrel.

Nigeria has demonstrated enough leadership promise in Buhari and if such grandeur achievements can be recorded in 2016, despite the economic crunch, it is deducible that with the determination of PMB to better the lot of the masses of Nigeria, the country can harvest more goodies in 2017 with the sustained, unflinching support of all Nigerians.

For Buhari, the year 2017 is a more dependable era of governance. It is reason for his excitement that the implementation of his programmes and projects “…will move to centre-stage as we proceed with the process of re-balancing our economy, exiting recession.”

Adamu is based in Lokoja, Kogi state