ANALYSIS: ARE BUHARI'S CRITICS JUSTIFIED?

  

– President Muhammadu Buhari is being criticised for the worsening economy

– Buhari’s supporters have replied that his administration is on course to change Nigeria

 – Are his critics justified?

The critics of Buhari are not relenting. They are saying the president has not achieved anything since he assumed office in May 29, 2015. They are saying that almost one year in office, the promise of change his party touted at the campaigns has become a mirage. Indeed, the debate over the president’s and his party’s performance has torn the country apart.

While Buhari’s detractors have increased their criticism of the president and his policies, Buhari’s supporters have insisted the president is the best thing to have happened to Nigeria since independence.

While the debate is raging about the president’s ongoing tenure, it will be worthwhile to stand outside of the ‘roforofo’ fight to access the merit of the argument between these warring groups. While the critics and supporters of the president hold firmly to their positions, a dispassionate analysis of issues at stake will lay the issues bare for a more unbiased assessment.

Those who criticize the president have based their argument on what they perceive to be his failure to fulfill campaign promises. The first was what they called the deceit by the ruling party to pay unemployment allowance of N5,000 to Nigerian graduates are in the labour market.

They have also criticized the president on the worsening economy occasioned by the fall in naira which has been completely emasculated by the dollar. That state of the economy and the free fall of the naira have given the president’s detractors enough armour to heckle him. The president’s critics have also accused him of being a globetrotting president. They said he travels too much to the detriment of his presidential duties at home.

In defense, the presidency had hit back at critics for being ignorant of the benefits of the president’s duties abroad. In an interview, the president’s spokesperson had highlighted the benefit of the president’s frequent travel. He said the travels will yield dividends in the not too distant future.

An interesting dimension to the criticism of the president is that it has become difficult to know or separate genuine critics from those driven by political vendetta. Indeed, many of the vociferous critics are said to be supporters of the last administration still hurt by the defeat of former president Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.

That election, which pitted the incumbent President Buhari with Jonathan, was fiercely contested. Obviously, the Peoples Democratic Party is still hurt by the defeat. The continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu championing the breakaway group, IPOB is also one sore point for the critic.

They have drawn comparison between what they call the dictatorial military administration of Buhari when he was a military head-of-state in 1985 and now as a civilian president. But Buhari does not seem to mind his critics as Kanu is still in jail in violation of a court order for his release. In his media chat in January, the president had insisted that both Kanu and Dasuki, who was also implicated in the now famous Dasuki gate corrupt trial, will skip bail if released.

As I am writing this piece, the naira is still weak, the queues continue to grow longer at fuel stations and there is drop in power generation that has left the entire country in darkness. Another major concern of Nigerians is how the war against corruption seems to have run into a hitch with the bench and the bar in an unholy alliance to kill the war before it even starts.

There is a feeling of dejavu as we have begun to see the usual adjournments and injunctions and legal technicalities that had derailed previous attempts to stamp out the war the scourge of corruption. While the critics of the president cannot just be dismissed as noise makers, I believe Nigerians must be patient with Buhari and his administration.

For one, the president inherited a bad country. For sixteen years, Nigeria was run down by inept administrations. I believe it will take more than one years and even four years to restore broken institutions. 

However, President Buhari and his team must also know that most of Nigerians understand the difficulties he currently faces in his bid to put our country on the path of prosperity. He must work harder to assure Nigerians that the change he promised has not become a mere campaign rhetoric. In my view, President Buhari is working hard to change the country as he has promised. One can see this in his resolve to fight corruption.

The restructuring of the NNPC and the fight against Boko Haram are re-assuring. He needs the cooperation of Nigerians to get it right. Buhari is not a failure, I believe Nigerians will begin to see the dividends of Buhari’s effort.

Things are hard right now and we all know why. But is there light at the end of the tunnel?