I personally don't believe in taking stock of successes (or otherwise) of politicians before the end of their tenure; it would be similar to counting one's chickens before they hatch. Besides, it is not fair to judge someone whose 4-year tenure is only 100 days old, particularly for a country whose institutions were relentlessly destroyed for 16 consecutive years.
By Dr. M. Aminu
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(Tweet: @DrMaheyM)
I personally don't believe in taking stock of successes (or otherwise) of politicians before the end of their tenure; it would be similar to counting one's chickens before they hatch. Besides, it is not fair to judge someone whose 4-year tenure is only 100 days old, particularly for a country whose institutions were relentlessly destroyed for 16 consecutive years.
However, when enemies of progress are busy writing all sorts of rubbish about President Buhari's first 100 days in office, obliterating the truth and making it seem like the sky is about to fall, I've got no option but to write.
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Most corrupt leaders grind their countries to a halt. Unfortunately, President Buhari didn't inherit a country at ground zero; it was on reverse gear, tilting towards anarchy. Nigeria was at the brink of disintegration in the hands of the devils. It was basically a completely failed state with nothing but deteriorating infrastructure and fragmented society.
I remember posting a performance "report card" for Jonathan a day before he left office. It read something like this: "No security, no jobs, no salaries, no electricity, divided society, depleted foreign reserve, mounting foreign debt, devalued currency, fractured foreign relations..." And the list went on and on and on. That was the state of our nation on 29th May 2015 when PMB took the oath of office.
I would have been more than satisfied if all that PMB achieves by the end of his tenure is to bring Nigeria from negative to zero. At least that would have brought us out of the woods, so we could have a fresh start. Luckily, it seems he has already achieved a lot more than that in many key areas of our national progress.
Now that 100 days have passed, the question on many people’s minds is, has there been any meaningful change in Nigeria? Anyone can answer that question, but I wanted to do so in the most objective way that I can by examining a few critical areas of our national interests and corroborating my views with specific examples. My aim is not to count every progress made in the first 100 days of PMB’s administration, but to highlight a few visible improvements that even the nay-sayers cannot argue about.
Security:
To many Nigerians, security was the number one reason they voted for change. President Buhari understood this, which was why he spent his first week in office rallying support from our Chad Basin neighbours to build a formidable joint force to deal decisively with the marauding mass murderers and looters called Boko Haram (BH).
The movement of military command centre to Maiduguri, the epicentre of BH insurgency, as well as appointment of new and incorruptible leadership of the Nigerian Army has boosted morale among frontline soldiers to fight the criminal group. Similarly the relentless air and ground assaults on BH camps using newly acquired military hardware, including the new Turkish fighter jets, has sped up the elimination of terror. Plans to establish a small arms factory in Nigeria means our Army will no longer depend on foreign countries on every security hardware. Even our West African neighbours will benefit, further boosting security in the region.
Many towns and villages have been freed from BH, and the terrorists have not captured any territories since the new Sheriff came into town. Furthermore, their lunatic leader, Shekau, no longer roams freely shooting guns in the air in confidence like he used to do every now and then only a few months ago during the “clueless regime”. He is hiding like the coward rat that he is, and he is running out of hiding places. Very soon it will be all over for him and his sponsors.
Corruption:
Most Nigerians expected PMB to come down hard on corruption, and he didn’t disappoint. In his effort to bring corrupt government officials to justice and recover the loot, PMB attended the G7 Summit to persuade global leaders to assist Nigeria in recovering its stolen funds. He then visited the USA and obtained crucial documents including list of corrupt leaders who have stashed away their loots in foreign bank accounts.
Internally, so many arrests have been made and billions of stolen money have been reportedly recovered from private homes, farms, etc, of our former thieving leaders. The enforcement of use of a single account for all national revenues has plugged so many hitherto leaking holes in our national coffers. The rule of law has now returned, and the new Sheriff in town is certainly making many corrupt elements silently piss their pants right now as they are about to face justice. Some are even faking sickness, but we shall see who is fooling who.
Economy:
Apparently, to many foreign investors, the name “Muhammadu Buhari” is synonymous with honesty, stability, accountability and reliability. Financial analysts have advanced this as the major reason the Nigeria Stock Market (NSE) bounced back immediately after the announcement of PMB as the winner of the presidential election.
PMB’s victory at the polls triggered a historic 16% surge in our stock market that was never seen since March 2010. According to the Bloomberg, the famous business and financial news media company, the NSE led gains among global equity markets in the beginning of April, when the news got round that PMB had won the election.
Second, Nigerians were made to believe that NNPC refineries were at a point of return. However, all four refineries are currently either fully operational or close to being so. All done in less than 100 days, and with just $10 million instead of the $297 million budgeted by Jonathan, saving us a massive $287 million! Little wonder the Washington Post describes PMB as the “least corrupt leader in Africa”. Consequently, the erratic fluctuations of the naira is gradually coming to an end, stabilising the economy in many more ways than one.
Foreign Relations:
Just before the last general elections, many foreign countries, including the USA and the UK, had written off Nigeria as a hopeless nation. The King of Morocco even withdrew his ambassador to Nigeria for mischievous public lies labelled against him (the King) by the Nigerian presidency.
Today, a new Nigeria is born; a Nigeria that every well-meaning citizen is proud of and happy to be called a citizen. PMB has restored trust from many foreign angles that really matter. The special invitations to PMB to attend the G7 Summit in Germany and to be a special guest of President Obama at the White House, as well as the recent visit of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to Nigeria is a testament to the level our foreign friendships have reached.
Other Areas:
There are many other areas that have witnessed a remarkable, positive change in the last 100 days of PMB’s purposeful leadership. Amazingly, these areas are not yet the focus of the government, but the fact the new Sheriff in town takes no non-sense, many areas of our national interests are sitting up tight. For example, Nigerians are reporting remarkable improvement in electricity supply owing to increase in power generation to 5000MW, a jump never seen in the last administration despite the billions of dollars said to have been sunk into the sector.
Similarly, before May 29, one could hardly (if any) find a filling station selling petroleum products at the stipulated official prices. The no non-sense approach that PMB is widely known for has made marketers to sell their products at official prices. This has so many positive implications on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
As mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive highlight of the positive changes Nigerians have witnessed in the last 100 days; it is just the beginning. Even at this stage, PMB’s administration has achieved way better than his predecessor’s.
Finally, if there is one book I crave to read right now, it would be titled, “How I Turned around Nigeria from Negative to Positive in 100 Days” written by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR). It would be a great leadership resource that will benefit not just the future generations of Nigerians, but humanity for eternity.
Dr. M. Aminu is an academic and a public health professionsl. He writes from Liverpool, UK.
Tweet: @DrMaheyM
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