The victory of Muhammadu Buhari against Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 general election was one many pundits never saw coming.
Buhari, a retired major-general who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) polled a total of 15,416,221 votes to defeat the incumbent and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) President Goodluck Jonathan, who got 12,853,162 votes.
After three previous failed shots at the presidency, Muhammadu Buhari was finally moving into Aso Rock, Nigeria’s presidential palace, as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But this time, the former head of state had secured victory by tapping into the much desired change Nigerians sought for decades after suffering in the midst of plenty.
Buhari and the APC had sold the change mantra to Nigerians who desperately needed a better life at all cost, even if it involved voting in a former tyrant who once ruled the country with iron fists. In the weeks leading to the election, Buhari had asked Nigerians not to lose hope because change was imminent in the country. In a report in the Nation newspaper dated January 01, 2015, the APC presidential candidate listed a five-point change agenda which he promised to implement if elected president.
According to Buhari, the change meant:
– A country that you can be proud of at anytime and anywhere: where corruption is tackled, where your leaders are disciplined and lead with vision and clarity; where the stories that emerge to the world from us are full of hope and progress.
– A Nigeria in which neither yourselves, nor your parents, families or friends will have to fear for your safety, or for theirs. -A Nigeria where citizens get the basics that any country should provide: infrastructure that works, healthcare that is affordable, even free; respect for the environment and sustainable development, education that is competitive and outcome-oriented in a knowledge-economy.
– A country that provides jobs for its young people, reducing unemployment to the lowest of single digits and providing safety nets so that no one is left behind. A Nigeria where entrepreneurship thrives, enterprise flourishes and the government gets out of your way so that you can create value, build the economy and aggressively expand wealth.
– A Nigeria where entrepreneurship thrives, enterprise flourishes and the government gets out of your way so that you can create value, build the economy and aggressively expand wealth.
Buhari also emphasised that the above five-point change agenda was possible to realise through exemplary leadership. But having been the slogan with which the APC achieved tremendous success at the last general election, it has come as a surprise to many that the change mantra is yet to translate into socio-economic prosperity for Nigeria.
1. The CBN recruitment scandal
Recent findings that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) secretly recruited children and close relatives of public office holders and politicians into sensitive and highly lucrative jobs has been described as a betrayal of the change mantra of the Buhari administration.
Investigation by Daily Trust revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recruited 909 staff in two years without advertising the vacancies. It is certain that this clandestine recruitment began before the inception of the APC administration, but continued after Buhari became president. However, what came as a shock to Nigerians was a story by news website,
Showing that among the children and relatives of some of the influential Nigerians who were dubiously and secretly hired by the CBN was a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari, the so called advocate of the change mantra.
Other top government officials and party members whose children or relatives were secretly hired by the bank include former vice president Abubakar Atiku; Mamman Daura, a close ally of the president; Inspector General of Police (IGP) Solomon Arase; the minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, whose sons were hired, and the minister of interior, Abdurahman Danbazzau.
The recruitments have drawn widespread condemnations from Nigerians who suggest that this shady employment of a select few wouldn’t have come as a surprise had it occurred under the Jonathan administration, but the fact that it occurred under the watch of Muhammadu Buhari who promised a change to the old policy of ‘man know man’ has left many disappointed. In reaction, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, requesting him to “immediately withdraw hundreds of letters of employment issued following a seriously flawed recruitment process and to put in place a system of recruitment and hiring based on the principles of non-discrimination, transparency, participation and objective criteria such as merit, equity and aptitude.”
Likewise, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of over 400 civil society organizations, has described the shady recruitment exercise conducted by the CBN as a betrayal of a change mantra of the Buhari administration The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fish out the perpetrators and punish them according to the law of the land, adding that the reasons given by the apex bank to embark on secret recruitment exercise was not acceptable.
But the presidency has not commented on the report, neither has any of his ministers.
The scandalous recruitment by the CBN has been viewed by some Nigerians who were sceptic of the Buhari change mantra as evidence that the Buhari administration is not different from past administrations.
2. Perennial fuel scarcity
Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency ended with a biting fuel scarcity that the suffering masses hoped would never repeat itself under the Buhari administration. But that scarcity they so despised is exactly what they’re grappling with at the moment.
The scarcity of petrol has persisted for weeks across the country as motorists spend close to five hours at filling stations queuing for the commodity which is not forthcoming. As if that was not enough, the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu worsened matters when he said the current petrol scarcity will continue till May, and that only “magic” could bring a quicker end to the crisis that has already stretched beyond a month.
In his word: “One of the trainings I did not receive is that of a magician, but I am working very hard to ensure some of these issues go away.” However Kachikwu has retracted his statement and apologised after drawing scathing criticisms from many Nigerians, including a senior leader of the ruling APC, Bola Tinubu, who said the comments were “insulting” to the Nigerians facing hardship daily to get petrol.
But from the look of things, Nigerians appear to be more in need of fuel than apology as evidenced by the queues at petrol stations across the country. Kachikwu has assured Nigerians that the queues will disappear across the nation by April, but the queues seem to be getting longer even as May approaches.
At a meeting with the Senate committee on petroleum on Tuesday, March 29, the minister said there was no immediate solution to the fuel scarcity, because 90 per cent of Nigerian depots were not functional. “Most fuel products into Nigeria come from Europe and it takes 14 days for fuel to land here,” he said.
But Kachikwu made the statement more than 21 days ago and yet fuel scarcity still persists and the long queues at the petrol stations remain. Many Nigerians, including civil society organisations, analysts and individuals have expressed anger and disappointment over the on-going scarcity, blaming oil marketers and President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as the minister of petroleum, for their plight. Civil society groups, among other Nigerians, have said that President Buhari, whose presidential campaign had promised to bring change to the country, has failed to deal with the problem of fuel scarcity.
Many have also accused Buhari of failing in his promise to Nigerians to revive the oil sector. Nigerians who embraced the change mantra preached by the APC administration expected that things in the oil sector would change, but the lingering fuel scarcity which appears to have no end in sight depicts that things in the oil sector have indeed changed for the worst.
3. Poor power supply
For many years, Nigerians have suffered immensely from epileptic power supply, but the current the situation is worsened by the fuel scarcity experienced in the country. The energy crisis witnessed in most parts of the country has cast doubts on the ability of former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, who now serves as the minister of works, power and housing to restructure the power sector.
Apparently, displeased with the fact that the country continues to grapple with the problem of power outage almost a year after Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as president, some Nigerians have begun to question the rationale behind appointing a lawyer to head a sensitive ministry like the power sector, while others have called on the president to urgently unbundle the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to ensure productivity.
This was the position of a socio-political group, the Rescue Nigeria Economy Project which said it was high time the president realised his mistake and allow Fashola to focus on one ministry.
In a statement signed by Dennis Alamu-George, its executive secretary, the group said the current situation in the country has clearly shown that Fashola lacks what it takes to combine the three ministries, according to a report on Daily Independent.
From the perennial power outage experienced across the country, it is evident that the change President Muhammadu promised is yet to have any positive impact on the power sector, and what is baffling is that despite the unavailability of electricity, the federal government recently announced a 45% increase in electricity tariff which led to protests in several states.
As if that were not enough, rather than step up to solve the challenges of poor power supply, the Buhari administration has hinged the power outage experienced across the country on the activities of vandals.
The presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina has even asked Nigerians who are complaining about the incessant black outs and almost non-existent power supply in the country to go and fight the vandals if they really needed power.
Below is a video of Femi Adesina asking Nigerians to go and fight vandals.
It is on record that when Muhammadu Buhari campaigned to bring change if elected he said his five-point change agenda was possible to realise through exemplary leadership.
But for now, the lack of due process witnessed in the CBN recruitment, the perennial fuel scarcity across the country and the power blackout have shown that the much desired change promised by Buhari has not come, but in a worst form.
