Since this week, the media has been awash with commentaries on the performance or not of this administration. To a large extent, these commentaries depend on which side of the divide analysts speak from. Aside from playing politics, what is clear in the two schools of thought regarding the performance or non-performance of the President Muhmmadu Buhari-led administration is that apparently, all analysts mean well for this country.
Feedback is an essential feature of assessment and growth in any society. Contrary to the criticism that President Buhari asked the media to rate the performance of his government in the past 365 days, I doff my heart for the president for the courage to have a parley with the media.
As the Fourth Estate of the realm, the president is aware of the role of the media in forming public opinion. More so, through the various vox pops, the press must have gathered enough facts. As such, it is in a better position to say the mind of the people or report things as they are.
However, the regular practice of praise-singing in the face of none-performance because some section of the media has been bought, calls to question the credibility of the media. It is saddening that some media outfits in Nigeria are rubber-stamps for either politicians or those in government. This is why some citizens find it hard to accept news from certain media firms.
Back to accessing this administration – The government of the day has scored high marks on the war against the Boko Haram insurgents who had made the North-Eastern part of the country a no go area in the past years. By dislodging the insurgents, government has not only restored peace in the area but has also restored confidence in the people as a new lease of life is picking up again in the region.
It must be said that no meaningful development can take place in a situation of war. The doggedness of the armed forces on the war on terror prepares a fertile ground for developmental strides in the country - This is a plus for the government of the day.
“The new sheriff in town,” as young people call president Buhari, has through his spoken and bodily language demonstrated a zero tolerance to corruption. The war on corruption has led to the inauguration of the National Prosecution Coordination Committee by the president to further fast tract the anti-corruption crusade – This is another achievement we cannot forget in a hurry.
The budget brouhaha is another area where the president has showed care and diligence. It is understandable if the citizenry criticise the fact that it took several months for the appropriation bill to see the light of day. However, looking at how previous budgets were padded based on vested interests and the alleged taking or giving of bribes to allow for the passage of the appropriation bill into law, the insistence of President Buhari to do what is right is praiseworthy. It is better to have a thorough budget than a padded one that would perhaps go into the pockets of few bigwigs.
We cannot rule out the new image of Nigeria among the comity of nations in the past one year. More than anything else, the personal integrity of the president is responsible for such good will from the West. Wining the confidence of the International Community has further made some countries to return erstwhile stolen funds kept in domiciliary banks.
Despite the seeming goodwill of the administration and few successes recorded in the past one year, some commentators critical of the administration have cried wolf about the sectional nature of the anticorruption war. Fingers have been pointed at some acolytes in the ruling government who have been treated as sacred cows.
While the fight against corruption is a right step in the right direction, the prior trial of accused persons on social media and the court of public opinions is a hysteria that was almost leading to dementia. Again, some Nigerians have accused the government of being partisan in the fight against corruption.
Also, expert economics cannot understand why the monies purportedly recovered at home and abroad from the Single Treasury Account (STA) and looters cannot be injected into the moribund economy for its revitalisation. When you have blood in the blood-bank and you refuse to administer it to your haemorrhaging child, it is tantamount to first-degree homicide.
The global drop in oil prices may have been responsible for increase in the new pump price of petrol between N135 and N145 from N86 and N86.50 per litre. What is worrisome is that while Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed in their separate remarks reminded Nigerians that government has not withdrawn fuel-subsidy, the State Minister of petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has maintained that the withdrawal of fuel subsidy is aimed at building infrastructure and providing a competitive market which will in the long run make fuel cheap and available.
In fact, the Information Minister while speaking at a town hall meeting in Kano recently stressed that the increase in the price of petrol has nothing to do with removal of fuel-subsidy. He noted that government did not make provision for the payment of petrol subsidy in the 2016 budget as such, how can you remove what is not there, he asked?
Questions that readily come to mind are: How was government managing the situation before the budget was passed? When those in government do not speak in unison, it shows a lot of cracks in policy decision. Nigerians are concerned about the price of petrol because in a mono-economy like ours, almost everything depends on oil. The hike in the price of petrol has affected the masses to the extent that the prices of stable food in the market have skyrocketed.
While Boko Haram is becoming a thing of the past, herdsmen attacks from Taraba through Plateau, Benue, Kaduna and Enugu is very alarming – Many Nigerians have expressed sadness that the president did not particularly mention the issue in his Democracy Day Speech. His inability to visit the affected states or commiserate with victims of the attacks is circumspect. Nonetheless, the president’s remark that his administration would apprehend and bring to justice the militants who are vandalising pipeline installations is not out of place - The resurgence of the Niger Delta Avengers is a sad commentary because two wrongs can never make a right.
To be fair to Nigerians, the statement of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron that Nigeria is fantastically corrupt is a single narrative. Good as it is, the undue attention of government on the fight against corruption which may have triggered the remark sidelines other credible aspects of nationhood namely, the good works Nigerians at home and in the diaspora are doing. Nigerians must not be painted with the same brush – the West does not wash its dirty linens in public – Why must we?
Indeed, it is clear that the current suffering of Nigerians in the areas of increase in prices of food and gas, moribund infrastructure and pockets of insurrections have come about due to lack of both an economic team and policy-direction. This government needs a mission statement about what it is doing as well as a national vision about where it intends to lead us to in the next three years. Telling Nigerians to bear with a situation that has persisted for a year without laying a concrete roadmap for the country does not constitute enough dividends in 365 days. God bless Nigeria and our president!
Fr. Justine Dyikuk is a freelancer, blogger and the Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Bauchi.
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