When United States President Barack Obama assumed duty for his first term, the economy of the country was in a mess. The banking and mortgage sectors were crumbling. Some banks were even failing. Obama did not go about making noise. He simply got down to work. Within a matter of months, he impacted positively on these sectors and many more. This is what I was expecting from President Muhammadu Buhari. Unfortunately, it has not been the case.
Our President has spent almost six months giving excuses for his inability to deliver on his promises. At a point, he said he was too old and that much should not be expected from him. The latest of his long list of excuses is that Nigeria is broke and that governments cannot afford to pay salaries. Buhari said last week: “Where is the money? You must have known that the Federal Government had to help 27 of the 36 states to pay salaries. Nigeria cannot pay salaries.
The Federal Government itself had to summon the governor of the Central Bank to see how it would pay salaries not to talk of the agreements we signed with foreign countries, counterpart funding and so on. Of course, Nigeria is broke. This country was materially vandalised and morally.”
Nigeria is broke, yet Buhari was able to provide over N500 billion as bailout fund to squandering governors. This country is broke, yet the three tiers of governments shared over N2.3 trillion in five months. Nigeria is broke, yet our President has approved the payment of N413 billion absolutely avoidable subsidy claims to fuel importers. We are broke, yet we pay billions of Naira daily to subsidise fuel importation. What a great irony.
I am sick and tired of Buhari’s persistent excuses. I am sure that many Nigerians are also tired of this. Buhari knew very well that our economy “is not doing very well” before he put himself forward to contest. He was aware of the enormity of the problem at hand. He knew crude oil prices were crumbling before he contested. He knew that our revenue was plummeting. He knew there was corruption. He knew that many sectors of the economy were struggling. In the midst of all these, he puts himself forward to contest the Presidency and told Nigerians that he was capable of turning things around. He said he could do it.
Those who voted for him did so because they believed he was capable of turning things around. They believed him. Enough of all these excuses. Buhari has already used almost six months out of his 48 months. About 12.5% of his tenure has elapsed. Our President should simply get down to work. He was not voted President to come and be giving excuses. Giving excuses amidst crisis is the simplest thing to do. Any bloody fool can do this. Buhari has spent almost six months in office.
This is enough a period for him to make some impact on troubled areas like security, education, health, roads, unemployment, agriculture and housing. Six months are more than enough to moderately reduce kidnapping and armed robbery across the country. It is enough a period to moderately turn around teaching hospitals across the country. It is enough a period to put in place a few new infrastructure in our tattered universities and polytechnics. It is more than enough a period to moderately turn around some federal roads. It is more than enough time to create some few new jobs for our teeming unemployed youth.
Buhari experienced first-hand the daily sufferings and struggles of our people during his nationwide campaign. When will he start ameliorating these sufferings? When will he start paying N5000 each to 25 million poor Nigerians? When will our President bring the naira to the same value with the dollar; provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed youth corps members for 12 months; provide free education and meals for school children, among others, as promised during campaigns by his party?
What I find even more frightening is that Buhari’s supporters are now making excuses on his behalf, instead of challenging him to perform. Even some supposedly educated people are joining the fray. Just yesterday, an ex-flat mate of mine at the University of Leeds who is a PhD holder sent me a text saying “Buhari can’t turn things around because there is no money to do so.
The previous government stole everything.” Haba! What a lame excuse. Must we continue living in the past? Is a forward-looking government not supposed to come out with strategies to improve revenue generation? So, what about the revenue that accrued to the federal government in the last five months? By official records, the federal government got about N283 billion as its share of federally-collected revenue in May (paid in June). Payment is always in arrears. For June, Buhari got N228 billion (paid in July); for July, he got N212 billion (paid in August); for August, Buhari got N168.6 billion (paid in September) and for September, he got N151.3 billion (paid in October). In just five months, the Buhari administration has received over N1 trillion or about $5 billion at interbank rate. This is good money that should make a moderate impact on troubled sectors of our economy.
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RingTrue with Yemi Adebowale phone SMS: 07013940521; [email protected]
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