By Tony Eluemunor
How many Nigerians really know their President, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari? Who knows his office hours? Does he put in punishing amount of hours into his job of being Nigeria’s President or does he work for just a few hours? How long do files stay on his desk? How much does he delegate duties to others? What does he do during the long flights of his frequent trips to other lands? What kind of books does he read? Does he, like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, be fully at work, poring through files even while ensconced in the Presidential jet, moving from one far-flung corner of the globe to another?
*Buhari
What is President Buhari’s favourite food? Who are his trusted lieutenants? How diverse are their backgrounds? Does he have friends from all parts of the country, or is he an introversive man of few friends … only those he grew up with? Would this not also make him appear a provincial man, instead of a metropolitan? Yet, would such not be a self-disservice to a man whom soldering has taken to all parts of Nigeria, and professional courses have taken to diverse portions of the globe?
Why would Buhari’s most remarkable unifying statement have
caused a terrible din across the country when he said in that famous quip
contained in his inaugural speech; “I belong to all and I belong to nobody”?
Now, have those who simply refused to believe Buhari then because he did not
fit the bill he made that claimed been disappointed? Or have they been proved
right?
That
golden statement should have united the nation behind any President, but that
magic did not work for Buhari. Many refused to even give him the benefit of the
doubt; they refused to believe that even the man, Buhari, who said those very
words, actually meant the things he let drop from his own lips. That was a
serious charge to make against a man who had just won a nation-wide election.
Trust is the issue here! And when trust is lacking, a leader has lost the thing
he needs the most in his prodigious task
Yet,
that a large number of the populace believed that Buhari was beholden to a
section of the country, is not the focus of this article. My focus is not even
on the man himself and his sense of nationalism or the lack of it. My focus is
on what Nigeria means to Buhari; specifically, does Buhari believe he is the
Chief Servant of Nigerians or he thinks he OWNS Nigeria? Is he the “Prime
Minister”, or the Prime Boss? When he speaks, does he address his bosses, or
does he talk down on his servants? Does he sometimes think that he is doing us
a favour by being our President? Or does he think that he, acting on God’s
behalf, has come to save us, and is taking Nigeria to a better level, not just
another level?
Does
Nigeria’s contemporary history have any lessons for Buhari? Has the national
decline on every index of development meant anything to him? Does the
plummeting quality of Nigerians, about the lowest in the world now, ever bother
him? And does he worry that just within the six years of his presidency, (we
are in a democracy I assume) that he has not improved the Nigerian’s quality of
life in any way?
Has he
reduced the country’s debt? Actually, under Buhari the national debt rose by
N20.8tn in five years – between July 2015 and December 2020, according to data
obtained from the Debt Management Office data. Nigeria’s entire debt burden was
N12.12tn by June 30, 2015. And it has risen to N32.92tn by December 31, 2020.
That is a scandalous 171.62 per cent increase under a government that was
supposed to be more prudent, judicious and frugal than its predecessor
To put
things in proper perspective, the Federal Government has a share of N26.91tn
(83.78 per cent) while the states’ indebtedness stands at N6.01tn or 16.22 per
cent. Worse still, between 2015 and 2020 Nigeria has spent N10.26tn on debt
servicing, an amount higher than the national budget for 2020; N10.8 trillion.
Most worrisome is the increase in debt service allocation. In fact, debt
servicing is almost 3 times more than total allocation to education and health,
combined, in 2021, and it is 13% higher than in 2020. Total allocation to debt
servicing is 24.5% of the total budget. Yet, there is also increased borrowings
which is 12% higher than the 2020 levels, at N4.7 trillion.
What
really did Buhari come into power to do? You may remember that he promised to
end or at least reduce the insecurity in the country? Is Nigeria safer under
Buhari than under his predecessor? The economy? Food security? Despite Buhari’s
stringent, even draconian, measures while pursuing Nigeria’s self-sufficiency
in rice production, how successful has that policy become?
In the
latest food security index, after Buhari’s six years of governance, Morocco, a
desert country, occupies the 57th position globally and leads in Africa.
Algeria follows it, It is followed both globally, then Tunisia and Egypt – all
desert countries. Then South Africa comes up for mention at the 69th position.
Buhari’s Nigeria occupies the 100th position behind 74th position Botswan, 77th
Ghana, 79th Mali, 82nd Côte d’Ivoire, 86th Kenya, 87th Niger, 88th Burkina Faso,
89th Tanzania, 90th Senegal, 92nd Benin, 93rd Togo, 94th Cameroon, 95th Uganda,
97th Angola, 98th, Congo (Dem. Rep.) 99th Mozambique.
Now,
one of the reasons Nigeria’s food security level has plummeted is Fulani
herders’ attack on farmers, especially in the Middle belt and the entire South.
And Buhari should know that the mom and pop family farm is the greatest
employer of labour across the country. It sustains more families than all the
amount of cattle herding in Nigeria a hundred times over. Destroy the family
farms and you would be destroying entire communities. And this destruction is
what the killer Fulani cattle herders have been doing. The second reason is
Boko Haram’s terrorism in the North-East. The third reason is the banditry in
the North-West. Buhari has spoken against the second and the third, I really do
not know if he has spoken against the FIRST, apart from the “pastoralists
versus farmers’ crisis” Aso-Rock euphemism.
Then
recently, the Southern Governors met at Asaba, and the Peoples Democratic Party
and All Progressives Party members endorsed the enforcement of ban on free
grazing of cattle in their states. That was when Buhari chose to speak. And
this President who had promised to belong to all and to none, showed his true
colours. He opposed the ban but didn’t say how he would end the evils of the
herders which rankled the Governors. Kai!
It did
not matter to Buhari that some states have passed the ban into law. It did not
matter to him that he is not the Supreme Court. He did not say he would go to
the Supreme Court to challenge such laws. He simply made a declaration. What
would be the effect of his declaration on the killer herders? Did he think of
it? Or did he actually make it just to embolden them? What did Buhari add to
that speech to guide against sending the wrong signals to the herders?
Does
Buhari know that Nigeria has a constitution? What really is involved in his pet
dream; the Cattle colony, cattle reserves and cattle routes – in a modern
Nigeria? Is a President under the laws of the country or is the country under
the whims of a President?
In
2015, Nigeria which Buhari and APC came to save was 12th in Africa food
security index. Today it has regressed to 23rd. So, why should Buhari and APC
talk down on us instead of being apologetic? Why? Could Dr Henry Kissinger be
right after all; that leaders rarely learn any lessons while in office and only
consume the intellectual capital they brought with them into office? If, so,
how rich is the intellectual capital Buhari brought to office …such that he
even won a re-election? Or, is the electorate actually to blame?
*Eluemunor is a commentator on public issues (danamor641@gmail.com)
Buhari is like Nigeria.
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