factors that prove
Buhari’s change is for the
worst
Muhammadu Buhari’s victory 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.
Muhammadu-Buhari-inauguration-11-
Muhammadu Buhari promised to bring about
change during his inauguration.
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.
buhari-rally1
Muhammadu Buhari at a campaign rally in
the weeks leading up to the 2015 general
elections.
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.
Some Nigerians are beginning to feel the
change promised by the current
administration is elusive; this has been
heightened by three factors which have
made the change promised by the APC
mirror a change for the worst.
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.
CBN Gov 1
A top official of the CBN, told Sahara
Reporters that the governor of the CBN,
Godwin Emefiele, had arranged the hiring as
way of endearing himself to the presidency
and in return for saving his job.
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,
Sahara Reporters, 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.
Fuel Scarcity
Fuel scarcity has lingered in Nigeria for
weeks
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.
