In the last couple of months, there has been unnecessary dissipation of energy especially in the social media between supporters and opponents of President Muhammadu Buhari on the question of whether or not there are any tangible achievements by President Buhari.
Specifically, opponents of the President buoyed by the economic difficulties in the land in terms of huge unemployment and high cost of food, angrily stated that PMB has not achieved anything and that if he has, let his supporters list them.
The pro- Buhari group took up the challenge and has reeled out several road and other projects in various parts of the country carried out by Buhari administration. In addition, Buhari supporters say that the problems facing Nigerians today took several years of poor leadership performance to create and that no one can expect amelioration of these problems in just three years that PMB has been in power.
This writer wishes to state that PMB has indeed many achievements to his name in the three years of his stewardship so far, the only problem or the blight on these achievements or laudable efforts in the pipeline are the difficult economic condition facing a majority of Nigerian citizens which resulted in growing unemployment nationwide and high cost of foodstuffs which is not surprising giving the poor wages paid to the average Nigerian worker. We need to note that President Buhari is in no way responsible for the poverty or death wages paid to the Nigerian worker. In fact, it is the governments that have been in power since 1999, that should answer for the slave wage paid to the Nigerian worker. PMB administration in fact is at the moment working together with organized Labour to fix a reasonable and living wage for the average Nigerian worker which hopefully would address current economic realities.
We said above that the government of PMB has quite a number of achievements to its name but economic difficulties among the population has tended to blight these.
PMB’s achievements can be categorized into four broad areas for understanding and analysis. They are (a) policy, ethics and values (b) continuity of government (c) new infrastructures and (d) catalyst for new projects in the states and (e) national security
In the area of policy, ethics and values, it can be said that the administration has and is putting in place practices that in the long run would enable the country to run efficiently yielding development and prosperity. Here what comes to mind are the TSA (Treasury Single Account) policy which has reduced free money in circulation, curbed corruption and waste of government finances. The TSA implementation by doing the three things listed above, indirectly reduced the amount of money in circulation and created hardship for people who hitherto depended on looters and corrupt persons for their livelihood.
The TSA policy has brought prudence and frugality to public financial management, marking a radical departure from the irresponsibility and waste of the previous Goodluck Jonathan administration. Though it was the Jonathan government that introduced the TSA, he dithered in its implementation until most of the country’s revenue were stolen by his aides and party men. The coming of PMB and his embracing the full implementation of the TSA policy, put a lid on the waste and stealing of government funds. The TSA, to a considerable degree was part and parcel of the general anti- corruption drive of the PMB administration. Aside the TSA, the policy of economic diversification through concentration on agriculture both for food and as a revenue earner are all part of the achievements of the government of PMB which when maintained and advanced by successive administrations will ensure a better future for Nigeria.
Already, the food import bill of the country has fallen as a result of this policy. Non- oil exports like rice, cassava, maize, millet and sorghum have become revenue earners unlike in the recent past. Entrepreneurship as an economic culture rather than paid employment is taking root and Nigerians are directly earning foreign exchange as they sell their products and services abroad.
The icing on the cake in the area of policy, is the launch of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the medium term economic plan launched in April 2017 by President Buhari which charts a course for the nation’s economy for the next four years (2017- 2020). The vision behind the plan is to restore economic growth, invest in the Nigerian citizen and build a globally competitive economy by transforming and modernizing critical sectors of the economy.
In the area of continuity of government, to his credit, on coming to power, PMB declared he would focus more on completing the several hundreds of abandoned projects that dot the country’s landscape from the previous administrations. Towards this end, several projects in the area of roads, railways, airports and general aviation, power or electricity projects that have been abandoned by previous administrations at a great cost to the nation have been given attention and some completed. In view of the many years since they have been abandoned, it is not fair to expect that many of these projects would have been completed in just three years and put to use considering endemic budget delays and slow release of funds for projects. Notable among the abandoned or uncompleted projects completed by PMB is the popular Abuja- Kaduna railway, the Lagos- Kano line etc.
Under continuity which PMB takes seriously, are the many cases of abandoned payments and emoluments of workers like civil servants in the states, retired staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways and unpaid pensions of federal government workers. PMB has taken it upon himself to ensure that debts owned by the Federal Government are paid to alleviate the suffering of the beneficiaries.
In the area of new infrastructures, conceived, ongoing or nearing completion, the Buhari administration has not done badly. All states of the federation are captured in the governments new road infrastructure construction programme.
Railway projects newly conceived will link all parts of the country with standard gauge railways. If it happens that these ambitious projects are not completed by the time PMB leaves office, it behooves on his successor and successive governments to ensure that the projects as ambitious as they are, are completed. A spectacular new project, started and completed by PMB administration with lightning speed is the Abuja airport new runway project at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja. This project because of its economic, strategic and national importance was conceived and delivered in a record time of seven weeks!
Four, the government of PMB has been acting as a catalyst encouraging states of the federation to embark on economic ventures and projects that will energies the economies of their states in the years to come. In Edo State, the State government is building a multi- billion naira industrial park while Lagos State in working on an economic free trade zone in Lekki peninsula. The catalyst role is a derivative of the role of policy, ethics and values being introduced to governance by PMB. It is an off- shoot of the policy on diversification to end dependence on oil as the mainstay and main revenue earner of the nation’s economy.
Finally, President Buhari on the national security plane, inherited a country that was being ravaged by an insurgent group, the Boko Haram. The insurgents had so eroded security in the country that most parts of the North east region of the country where the insurgents were most active had become a no-go area to ordinary citizens and even security personnel. The country’s sovereignty was at stake as the Nigeria Army could not come to grips with the challenge posed by the Boko Haram.
In fairness to the Buhari administration, to a large extent it has fought Boko Haram to a stand- still and freed many of the kidnapped Chibok School girls taken away by the insurgents. Second, the government in a swift move rescued the more than 100 abducted Dapchi School girls kidnapped under its watch unlike the Chibok case that took place under the former ruling party, the PDP.
However, it would be right to say that in the area of national security, the PMB government has not given the country total security as insecurity still dogs the land and killings are everywhere but no country has a hundred per cent security as national security is always work in progress.
The herdsmen/farmers clash in many parts of the country remains a challenge for the government though in view of where we were as a country some years back, PMB deserves a pat on the back for a good job so far.
Written by Chidi Arinze.
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