Shattered dreams!

Just few days to the first anniversary of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has been scored below pass mark.

At the inauguration of the Buhari government on May 29, 2015, many Nigerians heaved a deep sigh of relief, thinking that the promised changed was in the offing.

Apprehension set in when, after six months in the saddle, Buhari appeared non-pulsed by the challenges of governance. It took him about six months to constitute his cabinet.

The administration has also taken up some policies that have since been described as painful by many Nigerians; decisions that have negatively impacted the well-being of citizens.

The Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, which though has been hailed by many experts, was also criticised by many experts for having been introduced hastily and at a time when the Executive and Legislative arms of government were playing the ding dong game with the 2016 Budget.

The TSA implementation stifled and crippled the system. The banking sector was hard hit. This policy, combined with the Central Bank of Nigeria‘s (CBN) policy on foreign exchange hampered import activities and brought many businesses to their knees. The twin policies worsened the socio-economic situation of the country, nearly driving many Nigerians into taking extreme decisions.

Olisa Agbakoba, a former national president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who though hailed the policy, observed however, that the near-recession status of Nigeria needed more money to be pumped into the system to encourage spending.

“If an anaemic patient came to me, if I were a medical doctor, I would pump blood into him because he needed blood. But if a person with excess blood should come to me, I would drain away some blood from him. So, what I would do depends on the health condition of the patients,” he said.

Although the budget has been passed and signed into law, the effects are yet to be felt, as Nigerians are writhing under the heavy weight of suffering occasioned by constant power outage or no supply at all; water scarcity, fuel scarcity, food and essential commodity scarcity, hyper-inflation, unemployment and job losses, and general feeling of hopelessness over the unfortunate state of affairs in the country.

We cannot agree more with Rochas Okorocha, Imo State governor and chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, that the party “is not managing its victory well”.

We also align our thought with the observation made by Kawu Baraje, a chieftain of the party, that the APC had dashed the hope of many Nigerians with its change promises.

Baraje said, “I belong to the group that is not very satisfied with the performance of the party; not only because the Senate President is having a very serious political issue, but because there are other cases and instances where we are not happy with the performance of our party.

“I am not a prophet of doom, neither am I a political prostitute. Are you happy going to queue up for up to two to three hours? Are you happy that electricity is not functioning well and people sleep in darkness?
“What we are saying is that majority of Nigerians are not happy and we need to make them happy. Majority of Nigerians are suffering and we need to make our impact felt by addressing the suffering of the masses.”

We urge the administration to move fast and restore the confidence of the over-traumatised Nigerians who willingly voted the APC into power. Having lost one year, what the party does between now and 2018 will determine whether it will be given a second chance in 2019. Time, for sure, is running out on the APC.