Dashed Expectations
Two years after, the euphoria that trailed the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari as president appears to have given way to disappointment. Iyobosa Uwugiaren takes a critical look at the performance of the administration
The venue was the popular Eagle Square, Abuja. The invited guests: the young, the old, students, market women/men and others on their feet, singing, dancing and praise-singing their new president’s name, as if they were being controlled by whizzes. But they were. As he was being driven around in an open vehicle, his followers and admirers rushed forward to record the moment on their phones. It was a momentous, historic event: the swearing-in ceremony of President Muhammadu Buhari----two years ago; he was the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election in Nigeria since Nigeria became independence in 1960.
Minutes after the Daura born, army general was sworn in, thousands of excited, thrilled young men and women, who were at the start of the ceremony prevented from gaining access to the venue, loped through the security barriers to the Eagle Square and pressed up against the perimeter fence, cheering their new president.
For those, including this reporter, who witnessed the event two years ago, it was an unambiguous message and reminder that so many impoverished Nigerians were expecting ‘real change’ from the new Administration. The president apparently got the enthusiastic huge crowd’s message and assured Nigerians of delivery of dividends of democracy. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”, he emotionally told the cheering crowd at the inauguration, to the consternation of some political investors, who were present at the event.
The president undertook to bring ‘increased prosperity’ to Nigeria; Buhari vowed to wrestle ‘head on’ the issues of corruption and the act of terrorism by Boko Haram. He said the Nigerian economy was ‘in deep trouble’. He identified insecurity, pervasive corruption and seemingly impossible fuel and power shortages as the some of the main challenges.
According to him, the country’s power supply crisis was ‘a national shame’, which had brought ‘darkness, frustration, misery, and resignation’ to Nigerians. He surely entered into a covenant with over 180 million Nigerians on May 29, 2015.
But, two years after, there is near consensus by many Nigerians that the ailing president has failed the most populous African country. There are indicators pointing to the ‘monumental let-down’ by the Buhari-led federal government.
In November 2014, when the Independent National Electoral Commission lifted the ban on presidential campaign, one of the respected non-governmental bodies, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) West Africa, started observing, tracking and documenting promises made by the presidential candidates of the two major political parties: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Expectedly, Buhari, who won the presidential election of March 28 2015 under the platform of APC, made several promises during his campaigns. The campaign promises were derived mainly from two documents: APC Manifesto titled ‘An Honest Contract with Nigeria, and ‘My Covenant with Nigerians.’ And in order to make sure that Buhari’s promises during electioneering process were kept and accountability mechanism is instituted, the CDD conceptualised the ‘Buharimeter’, a mechanism designed to address the challenges of governance, civic participation and effective and operational service delivery in Nigeria.
According to the group, the central focus of the initiative is to bridge the existing gap between the government and the governed; and ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered to Nigerians, who overwhelmingly voted for change in the 2015 general election.
Recently, The Buharimeter in line with its mandate published its finding concerning the president’s performance: On corruption, the report admitted the unwholesome image of the country as corruption sanctuary and the pledge by Buhari to sustain the fight against graft.
Its finding: while 86 per cent of Nigerians were aware of the government’s actions to curb corruption, only 37 per cent said their expectations had been met. Another 63 per cent said the government should do more.
The survey also showed that perception and expectations of the Buhari administration’s war on corruption vary among the six geopolitical zones.
For instance, in the North West, Buhari’s home region, 60.2 per cent said his war on corruption met their expectations. In the South East region, the report showed the least faith in the president’s anti-corruption campaign as only 10.7 per cent of respondents from the region said the president’s anti-corruption war met their expectations.
In the South South region, 20.4 per cent of those surveyed said Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign fell short of their expectations.
The Buharimeter report added that the president’s anti-corruption campaign had been blunted by widespread claim: that it is lopsided and targeted at the members of the opposition PDP and other perceived enemies and that it lacks regard to the rule of law.
This is further accentuated by the feeling that the government does not respect the rule of law and due process in handling culprits, particularly those linked to the previous administration.
In the same report, Buharimeter noted the