The burning question in town both by media practitioners, pundits and ordinary folks, as President Muhammadu Buhari,GCFR, and by extension the All Progressives Congress (APC), hits the mid-term, for the first time in the helm of federal power, after the 2015 presidential election is the fabled Score Card. As usual there are two sides of the coin, those who screamed and scored Buhari below average, brushing aside the material conditions which heralded the election of Mr President. And those of us who mirror what can be dubbed the Buhari Social Revolution (BSR), upon which we scored him above average.
To be precise the general consensus and what is very outstanding is that both sides of the divide, agree that Mr President means well, is a patriot, and transparent. However, like every silent revolution those who scored him low wittingly or unwittingly couldn’t locate the Buhari Social Revolution, which in actual sense is the Rock of Gibraltar for Nigeria’s Resurgimento. Resurgimento in every ramifications as certainty on public affairs is gradually being enthroned, unbridled corruption being tamed, Boko Haram and other forms of insecurity being contained and construction workers returning back to work. It is bye bye to impunity.
Hunger, abject poverty and gross unemployment ravaging the land, is blamed and used to score Buhari low, because a hungry man we are told is an angry man and an idle mind is devil’s workshop says the English sage. Yes hunger is a malaise, but those who play the blame seem not care to remember as one mentioned earlier, who simulated the hunger and woes in the first place. Nor do they credit Buhari with the concerted efforts and enabling environment put in place in the last 24 months to upgrade agriculture and stop importation of food.
Let me caution as well, because we are hungry, poverty stricken and unemployed should not make us to loose focus, complacent, indolent and hurriedly take wrong decision. For between 2009 and 2014, when the bounty oil sales prevailed, even those avengers and agitators for self rule never proffered solutions to halt the locust years. They lined up for hand outs from even contractors who abandoned their projects.
Secondly, the main reason why some scored Buhari low is because of the slump in oil prices, the mono-product and life blood of our economy, which was made worse by the unprecedented looting which stripped the revenue and assets of the last bounty oil season, (2009-2014). Record has it that between these five years oil price hovered around $100 per barrel, which one seeks permission to classify as the Jonathan locust years. In rating Buhari, they forget that he was not instrumental to the slump in oil prices and accordingly our misery.
It is pertinent to mention here that the havoc emanating from fluctuations of oil price in the international market, a market we have no control is the main reason why Mr President is putting emphasis on the diversification of the economy. Diversification is a noble project which will open other sectors to compete with oil as revenue earner.
Thirdly, not to be forgotten of why some rate us low is their animosity on the way and manner some of us who are close to Mr President skewed and hoarded the appointments which could have accommodated those who worked day and night to make the Buhari Brand in the first place possible and visible.
Whereas, one cannot dismiss the allegations; however the truism is that there is still time to use the remaining appointments as a balm to heal the grievance of party members, because it is their due. As the difference between the objective of political party and Christian Association of Nigeria, Jamatu Nasiril Islam or Nigeria Football Federation is pursuit of state power. The appointment is our proverbial dividends of democracy.
Without diversion, therefore those critical supporters of Mr President, left in the cold despite over 2,000 vacancies and those positions unnecessarily being occupied by the ancient regime, are dubbed in some circles Internally Displace Politicians (IDP). From this class of IDP, disciples and natural agitators who over the years have been in Buhari Vanguard are some who joined the army of the critics of the Buhari Social Revolution, which they nurtured and midwifed.
Otherwise, is this not the IDP class, where we can comfortably place Haji Aisha Yusuf, co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG), who recently hauled stones at Mr President? Who can imagine that she will haul the stone of resignation inspite of Buhari’s diligent observation of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by duly handing over the Acting President status to his deputy, His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbajo? One doubts if she could had hauled the stones if she was a member of one of the prominent parastatals – NNPC, Customs, FIRS or CBN Board or even that of Voice of Nigeria? More so when she had worked hard and is highly qualified?
Hear Hajia Yusuf’s outburst, “Let the President resign. If he cannot resign, let the National Assembly do the right thing and let’s have another president. It’s not about President Buhari, it’s about Nigeria and right now Nigeria is suffering and we cannot continue to allow this……”
Most Nigerians like Hajia Yusuf, assume erroneously that democracy is a BANG-REVOLUTION, it is not. Progress made in liberal democracy throughout history have been incremental, slow and steady, so will be the Buhari Social Revolution.
Buhari did not invent the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN) nor the Whistleblower policy; yet he gave them life as effective and potent anti-graft arsenal. If Nigeria is a country where records are kept and timely reported, billions of Naira saved by these anti-graft instruments could have been mind-boggling.
Critics would argue that they have led to retrenchment in the banks, yes every coin has two faces. But let the truth be told, can we actually call what we have banks, when they cannot lend to the real sector, because of outrageous interest rate and other unprofessional practices. Over the years banks make jumbo profits while majority of Nigerians slide into poverty. These are the holes which the Buhari Social Revolution is silently plugging.
How many of the critics of the regime will remember that at the inception of his regime, Buhari instead of pursuing new projects to make name doled out billions for the payment of salary and pensions arrears owed by the state governments? As a pro-people ideologue he said that the workers welfare should come first, as some states were owing for over ten months. As a result, many lives were saved, vindicating the position of the 1999 Constitution that the welfare and security of the people is the primary purpose of government.
The same is applicable to his zeal for continuation of old projects, thereby returning thousands of workers back to work. He from day one mandated his men to make sure that you complete ongoing projects before you award new ones, to avoid abandoned projects. This is different from former regimes who in an effort to show came new projects abandon old ones started by ancient regime.
In the fullness of time, as evidenced in the presidential system of government mid-term matrix, Buhari’s sanitisation of corrupted institutions like the power sector, where unprecedented sharp practices bedeviled the growth of industries, revamping of solid mineral as a new source of revenue, innovation of ICT and new impetus in agricultural production, will manifest appreciable success. These are the hallmark of Buhari Social Revolution.
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