A new administration will take over at the federal government this week, on May 29th. New administrations will also take over in 17 states. On the whole 28 states will witness the swearing in ceremonies.
At the federal level, it will be a new dawn after eight years of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency. President Buhari who came into office in 2015 on the back of popular discontent with the country’s state of affairs leaves with more discontent across Nigeria.
On every socioeconomic score, the country appears worse off. Unemployment is projected at a staggering 40.6 percent this year. Inflation is 22 percent. On the Hanke Global Misery Index, Nigeria went from 15th among the most miserable countries in the world’s ranking in 2020 to 11th in 2021. It is worse even now, estimates show. No one thought Nigeria would get this bad in 2013-2015 when then candidate Buhari hit the campaign trail, speaking to all good expectations.
For many Nigerians, looking for the good in the Buhari administration is like searching for a needle in a haystack, especially when he failed spectacularly in his three prime objectives of national security, economic stability and fighting corruption.
Yet, a few bright spots in Infrastructure works and the good work to ease the cost of doing business show that all was not too bad. These were largely achieved because of the commitment of those who headed those efforts, such as the Works and Housing Minister Tunde Fashola and the Head of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) headed by Dr Jumoke Oduwole in the office of the Vice President.
PEBEC, for instance, has in a few years served as a coordinating office for what the federal and state governments need to do to make business easier and it has achieved some bit, as attested to by the World Bank which published the Ease of Doing Business Index. Through its work, PEBEC has helped to ensure that bureaucratic bottlenecks are curbed for investors. It is a small step. The Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Highway reconstruction headline success story in infrastructure, which many Nigerians credit to the commitment of Fashola, who has earlier proved himself as Governor of Lagos State.
There may well be other Fasholas and Oduwoles that made a difference in the Buhari administration that many Nigerians do not know of. Kudos to them.
However, what the performance of these conscientious public servants show is that a president, and indeed the head of any executive office, needs to appoint people who not only share their aspirations but truly mean well for the public good. It is a message the CEOs at the federal and state levels will do well to consider.
As Buhari retires, we wish him well and welcome President Bola Tinubu.
In Nigeria, President Tinubu has his work cut out for him. The indices are not welcoming and hope is at the nadir, which is good that his campaign slogan is Renewed Hope. As encouraging as the words are on paper, what Nigerians need now is not sloganeering. The Buhari administration fed Nigerians on a propaganda diet of Change, Next Level and meaningless mumbo jumbo that conveyed despair, rather than hope. Tinubu must beat a new path.
While it is a government of the All Progressives Congress and many have said that it will only be a continuation of the Buhari regime, the new administration must not delude itself that its victory is a vote of confidence in the outgoing APC administration of President Buhari. It should keep the good and thrash the bad. Nigeria needs not just the slogan ‘renewed hope’ but a government that evinces hope. The policies of the Tinubu administration should speak to the national aspirations of growth, development, national pride, confidence and oneness. It should extricate itself from the Buhari administration’s DNA of nepotism and parochialism not only in the appointment of its cabinet and other offices but in the discharge of its duties. Nigeria needs fresh air.
There is no doubt that Tinubu has shown that he can reach across the aisle and pick competent persons, especially as Governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007. We hope and pray that those qualities that set him apart in those years are still in place. Nigeria cannot afford another four years of small steps, mighty falters and a President sleeping at the wheel. The damage done is massive and the effort to begin to repair it is humongous. We need not just sleeves that are rolled up, but hearts that are fixed on the national goals of growth, development, national pride and unity. Any other step is a walk away from progress.
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