Tinubu and Buhari
Truth be told, Tinubu has in two years demonstrated the courage to lead. He brought home the reality of a nation that has been living a false life. He made Nigerians aware that their economy has become a huge mess long before his arrival at Aso Rock.
Barely two weeks back, precisely May 29, it was two years in the life of the President Bola Tinubu APC-led Federal Government. Add to that the 8 years of Muhammadu Buhari. There, you have it: 10 years of APC dominion. It was also another democracy milestone and exactly 26 years unbroken run of constitutional government in Nigeria.
I will not lament the 16 years of roguish but somehow productive leadership foisted on the nation by the PDP. It is not worth the trouble anymore.
This day, it makes much sense to focus on the APC government, ten years after. The APC rode to power on the crest of change. The birthing of the APC government was a huge relief for Nigerians who had been denied the basic things of life by an under-performing PDP regime. The frustration was so unbearable for Nigerians. The people simply wanted a change, a fresh lease. APC read the dashboard cleverly. Change was the inevitable terminus. APC offered hope to a people in despair. It offered a shoulder for the alternative social actors; the women, children and a growing beleaguered army of unemployed and underemployed youths.
And pronto, the people got their wish. In 2015, Bola Tinubu, Muhammadu Buhari, Bisi Akande, John Odigie-Oyegun, Atiku Abubakar among other power mandarins in the APC had their way. But 10 years in the saddle, has anything changed? Yes and No. Change has happened, both punitive change and pleasurable change. To effectively evaluate the performance of the APC government, it is apposite to contextualise this analysis within sectorial compartments.
APC promised to deal ruthlessly with insurgency in the North East which by 2015 had spread to Abuja and parts of North Central region. Looking back now, it is hard to say that the APC government has scored fairly good grade in that regard. Instead, the APC government has unleashed a more dastardly and pervasive plague of insecurity on the people: the Fulani gunmen (herdsmen?). They have killed more people than Boko Haram, ISWAP, ISIS among others. And worst of it all, the government pretends they are not a problem. What the APC government has succeeded in doing is to democratise terror across the nation beyond the north east. The Fulani gunmen are now everywhere, from north to south, killing, kidnapping and breeding pain.
The APC government has been accused of fighting corruption with the dual face of Janus. One face sees corruption among the opposition and the other face looks away from corruption among APC folks and their fans. This seems true. The introduction of the whistleblower policy only gave the anti-corruption crusade a fleeting kick. No more. But APC has come to epitomise the worst variant of corruption: nepotism. The Buhari government, for instance, served the nation a broth of nepotism more than any government in the nation’s annals. When Nigerians thought they had seen the worst graft under the PDP, APC offered a hybrid of corruption and greed.
APC was unwavering when they pledged, post-election in 2015, that they would restore the nation’s sagging economy. Ten years after, the economy has suffered a cocktail of afflictions made worse by the sheer incompetence of the Buhari government, first by Buhari’s lack of political will to take and implement key economic decisions and second, by the raw incompetence that ran through his cabinet; a cabinet that took him six months to cobble but which turned out a choir of ill-prepared and poorly auditioned singers. The Buhari government so far remains the worst in terms of macro and micro economic management. The matter is made worse by Buhari’s lack of understanding of modern economic dialectics and his inability, or lack of humility, to engage the services of those who know. Surrounding himself with a clannish tribe of ‘yes men’ did not help his cause.
Yes, the PDP government made a mess of the economy by its primitive plundering and despoliation of the treasury but the Buhari administration showed up with an even worse therapy to ease the pains. It showed incompetence of the type never before witnessed in this clime. A government that kept on whining and blaming its own obvious incompetence on its predecessor was not what Nigerians wanted. It was not what the economy and its peculiar challenges needed either.
Ten years of APC government has caused the nation more pain than the 16 locust years of the PDP. If in doubt, take a trip to the nearest market. Prices of goods and services, including so-called home-grown goods, have nosed up. Inflation is real, truly.
But no matter, there’s still hope. Team Tinubu can still spin a surprise by making up for the deficit of yesteryears. Truth be told, Tinubu has in two years demonstrated the courage to lead. He brought home the reality of a nation that has been living a false life. He made Nigerians aware that their economy has become a huge mess long before his arrival at Aso Rock. He undertook reforms that the PDP ought to have commenced since 1999 but pretended that all was well. The times are hard these days but it’s all because PDP failed to implement in 16 years the real economic re-engineering that ought to have promoted a culture of local production of goods and services, a carry-over from the military.
It’s convenient to blame Tinubu for the woes of the moment. He’s the President and the buck stops on his table. But it will be unfair to heap the whole charcoal of fire on his head. The military, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari should all share in the blame. No democracy develops without economic growth which leads to economic empowerment of the people. And you cannot create real economic growth through importation of goods and services. It’s half time for the Tinubu government and the opponent seems to be at advantage. The challenge is for Tinubu to make good use of every moment in the second half. Nigerians expect better deal from him.
However, in the midst of the pains and failings of politicians, the worst democracy is still better than the best military dictatorship. At least, the politicians still allow us to freely talk and vent our frustrations. We must all make this democracy work.
