#DemocracyDay: 18 years of democracy, 2 years of Buhari’s govt

Tomorrow, it will be exactly 18 years since Nigeria returned to representative democracy and two years since the commencement of the Muhammadu Buhari government. As the Federal Government sets to celebrate what has become an annual event, Sunday Tribune crew sought the views of Nigerians on the journey so far.

In what has become an annual rite, the Federal Government will, on May 29, celebrate what has largely been known among Nigerians as the Democracy Day, a day set apart to celebrate the country’s return to civilian rule after decades of military incursion into its politics.

While views have been divided on the significance of the date and the credibility of the country’s democracy, with many Nigerians insisting that with the kind of democracy currently in practice in the country, the 1999 experience could only be merely described as a return to civil rule, year by year, the country’s democracy had continued to outgrow its description as nascent.

Eighteen years, four presidential elections and four sessions of the National Assembly down the line, Nigerians still continued to hold different standpoints on the country’s democratic credentials and the its benefits to the teeming masses.

Similarly, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, which started in 2015, following his victory in the March 28, 2015, presidential election, will be two years in office, with Nigerians also divided on the performance of the government.

In the following interviews, Sunday Tribune sought the views of different categories and classes of Nigerians on the 18 years of democracy and two years of Buhari government.

Buhari has performed well on anti-corruption, security —Amure
Mr Fola Amure, a lawyer, believes that the Buhari government has performed well in the areas of security and anti-corruption. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI brings excerpts.

Buhari government met a lot of problems on ground and in that kind of situation one will be very mild in assessing the performance of his administration in the last two years.  He came in at a time the economy of the country was in near collapse; workers were not paid salaries in many of the states. They were owed between one to six months’ salaries. There was a lot of pilfering within the kitchen cabinet of former President Jonathan who Buhari took over from. At the last count, we know the numbers of homes, banks, offices and private residence that dollars, pounds and Naira had been recovered from.

The economy has collapsed; we had the security situation very precarious. So, based on this background, I will score Buhari high on security and his campaign against corruption. Today, the Sambisa forest has been captured though we still have some pockets of terrorists but Buhari has won the war.

Again, the introduction of Treasury Single Account (TSA) has helped to expose so many atrocities of some government officials. It is very difficult to meet the expectations of the people but he has tried despite his health challenges. There is high price of food items everywhere across the country but with the call for diversification from oil to agriculture, food would soon be in abundance.

However, it is difficult to measure Buhari’s government in just two years but he has put in his best in terms of security and corruption and I believe when all these are adequately tackled, every other thing will follow.

He has performed abysmally—Ambali Ige, entrepreneur
To me, President Muhammadu Buhari has performed woefully since he assumed office; people are now striving so hard to make ends meet in the country now. There’s no money in circulation.  Even the so-called haves are not finding it easy. Workers are not getting their salary as and when due at both states and federal levels, thus making it difficult for money to go round. There’s unequal distribution of wealth, as politicians get free money while business owners find it hard to be in business.

There are some changes both positively and negatively. We now know corrupt people but they are not conclusively prosecuted. In short, it’s not a kind of changes we expected.

‘Nigerians expect Buhari to turn stone into bread’
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, Mr Saka Yussuf, speaks with DANIEL AKEJU on Buhari’s midterm scorecard.

People expect the president to turn stone to bread. What he met on ground was a country on the verge of collapse. He said during his campaign that if Nigeria did not kill corruption, corruption would kill Nigeria. He has taken giant strides to rid the country of corruption. The country was so bad that every sector was filled with corruption. People wormed their way to get things done. By fighting corruption, all other things will move forward. It a total fight against corruption, not one-sided as labeled in some quarters. He has reiterated it times without number that they should expose any of his party members if he won’t go after such person.

Nigeria is leading a fake life, a life that we borrow money to subsidise our living. We are indebted to the IMF and World Bank and thereby they impose conditions on us, which are detrimental to the wellbeing of the economy. This man said he is not going to subsidise our way of living. Let us live our normal life. I can assure you that in a very short period, we will get out of the current economic challenges. Some countries have passed through the situation we are in today and necessity is the mother of invention. So, we will get out of it.

Buhari has been a failure —Nduka Okibe
My opinion is that Buhari has been a failure. He came into power with a lot of expectations from people. The people wanted a better Nigeria. So many Nigerians thought that his coming to power would change many things and that was the reason many Nigerians supported the change mantra he came with. But from 2015 to 2017, we have not seen anything different. In fact, things are changing for the worse. When we analyse what is going on, you will see that we are not better off than we were before 2015”

Has the government met the expectations of Nigerians?

The government has not met the expectation of Nigerians. We expected that by now, we will have a genuine fight against corruption. A situation where corruption is fought without any recourse to party affiliation but what we see now is that those who are close to the president or the government are free from trials and sometimes considered as saints, but the ones who oppose the government are harassed by the EFCC on a daily basis. That is why many politicians and critics of government are joining the ruling APC in droves so as to be free from prosecution.

The Buhari government has not fulfilled its promise of change. Instead, the government has worsened an already bad situation. Nigerians are hungry; they expected that the coming of Buhari would strengthen the economy and block the leakages of corruption and these would have translated into the poor masses having more food on their tables but the reverse is the case now. We have seen nepotism rise to heights that we have never seen before in Nigeria. A situation where the president appoints his relatives into sensitive positions is not the change Nigerians expected. A situation where herdsmen who are from the North go about killing people at will without the president making any strong comment against it but seems to be incapable of stopping them is not the kind of change Nigerians expected.

A situation where a measure of garri that was sold at N250 and N300 is now sold at the rate of N1,200 and N1,300 is not the change Nigerians expected.

He has not failed Nigerians  —Tunde Raheem
It is my view that the president has not failed Nigerians in spite of the recession, which is perceived to be a global phenomenon. As he promised, he is inclined to desire to salvage the country from the problems he inherited and work for the well-being of the citizenry.

He had the ingenuity to achieve the goal, but, as a tree does not make a forest, most of what surrounds him, to put things in shape, lack the sanctity for nationhood a except the few patriots.

Why democracy is not working 18 years after —Igbo leaders’ secretary
JUDE OSSAI speaks with the secretary of the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) and deputy secretary, Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT), Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, on the eighteenth anniversary of the return of Nigeria to civil rule.

How do you assess the nation’s democracy in the last 18 years? Does it call for celebration?

There is nothing to celebrate about as Nigeria is tottering on the edge of precipice. We do not have a democracy. We do not have a functional constitution. The military constitution is not working. Soldiers of fortune who have removed military uniform and now in agbada together with their civilian accolades have held Nigeria hostage for decades. If Nigeria does not urgently restructure into six regions this year, the country may not survive. The only hope is that after Nigeria has been restructured into six regions, we will now plead with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to remain calm because Nigeria deliberately inflicted wicked polices on Eastern region until secession gained currency and the window is now closing on Nigeria’s survival. The people who destroyed Nigeria are soldiers and they are now in their late 70s and 80s. They shaped  Nigeria and designed it the way they liked and it is not working. Three of them held a meeting in Minna, Niger State, three weeks ago. Another one from Taraba State announced to the world, when the Chinese brought loads of dollars to pay for one of his oil blocks. That means he has so much money that he does not know what to do with it. Nigeria is divided while Nigerians are hungry, bitter and confused.

What is your take on President Muhammadu Buhari’s mid-term anniversary?

The Buhari administration is a total disaster. Though the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was a bad dream, the All Progressives Congress (APC) government is a nightmare. The PDP was uninspiring. They stole all our money and shared among themselves. But the APC administration is leading Nigeria to Armageddon. With the PDP, we were worried about corruption and mismanagement. But with the APC government, everybody is crying, everybody is worried about the very survival of Nigeria. We have never had it so bad. President Buhari is probably the only person in the world who does not know that nepotism is the worst form of corruption.

How feasible is a Nigeria president of an Igbo extraction?

Ndigbo have no interest in Nigeria’s presidency. If you watch critically, you will see that some Igbo want Biafra, while others want restructuring. About 40 per cent want an independent state of Biafra and 60 per cent want a restructuring of the country. They want our good old Eastern region back. Chief Alex Ekwueme is not canvassing for Igbo presidency as you asked. He wants Nigeria restructured into regions. All Igbo leaders and elders want six regions or nothing.

If you were in Buhari’s shoes, how would you tackle corruption and other vices militating against the country?

Corruption is as result of unitary structure. When the country is restructured into six zones, corruption will be reduced to the barest minimum.   Other vices will also be reduced. If I were in President Buhari’s shoes, I will restructure the country and resign to write my name in gold. The problems of this country are wickedness, oppression, unworkable unitary constitution,  born to rule mentality and self-centredness of the political  elite.

How do you see the split in pro-Biafra movement?

There is no split or division in pro-Biafra movement. A situation where 99 per cent are for IPOB while 1 per cent is for other pro-Biafra agitators, do you regard that as a split movement?

Buhari’s health has affected governance —Agunloye
Dr Olu Agunloye is a former Minister of Power and Steel and the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2016 governorship election in Ondo State. He speaks on the two years of Buhari government.

Buhari is not medically well; this has affected his score card. Even some of the things we all anticipate that he would be able to do, he has not been able to do them because of the health issue and the focus is how he gets well. So to me, I don’t think it’s a fair deal to assess a person who, if you agree with me, has not met up the people’s expectation and certainly he has not met my own expectations and I am willing to give it to him that it is because of his ill health.  When you are not physically well, so many things come into it and we are not sure whether the team he put together is a good one. We are not able to determine whether the people around him are on the right track with him; we are not sure whether his pursuit to fight corruption is not being undermined by the same people that you want to use to fight it.

So, he has not been able to meet Nigerians expectations but one must put it in the right perspective, the man is not well physically and if you are not well, you cannot come out with your best and cannot meet the expectations of the people. So let us pray for him to come back in good shape and let him now put in his best. He has not been able to put in his best at the moment.

Buhari has met expectations —Funso Amos, computer centre owner
By Biola Azeez

To a large extent, Buhari has met expectations of Nigerians in terms of tackling security challenges which have hitherto been our major problem as well as solving the problem of fuel scarcity.  Also, local farmers now enjoy better unlike before. They now make more money from their efforts on farms.

Secondly, on his promise of change, I give him 75 per cent. The abducted Chibok girls are being rescued alive while other areas of insurgency are being tackled and even reduced now.  Internal crisis among people have been reduced to the barest minimum. He is also winning the anti-corruption war.

I can’t see much that Buhari’s govt has done —Gabriel Oladele, civil servant
I don’t think Buhari has performed well.  Our expectations were high but we can’t see much that has been done.  Do we now have constant electricity, regular supply of water, good roads to travel on or better economic climate to thrive? Things are harder for people than before now. We have not been able to fully experience the fulfillment of the promised change. Though we can partly see it in the area in security, we pay more for fuel now. Many people are complaining of unemployment and corruption still persists. But in all, I will still say God bless Nigeria.

‘It’s been 2 years of more bitter than sweet’
OLAYINKA OLUKOYA speaks with Bolaji Adeniji, Ogun State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Buhari half-term scorecard.

The two years of the current administration has been a mixed bag, but more of the bitter than the sweet. Nothing much to celebrate in two years as major sectors of our national life remain deeply challenged. If we benchmark the expectations of Nigerians and the massive promises Buhari and the APC made against the delivery in two years, then it’s nothing to write home about. The administration is flawed; policies are alarmingly inconsistent and inadequate.

The economic team is uninspiring and governance has remained tentative and rudderless. The fight against corruption which seems to be the big focus of the government is quite flawed, one sided, ineffective and more of media drama. Nigerians are largely disappointed and are still asking if this is the change promised.

There is no democracy in Nigeria —Ayo Obe
Former president of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Ms. Ayo Obe, a lawyer by profession, who chairs the Board of Trustees of the Gorée Institute (Senegal) and is Co-Vice Chair of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, speaks on Nigeria’s democracy at 18. BOLA BADMUS brings the excerpts:

How can you assess Nigeria’s democracy in the last 18 years in terms of how the country has fared?

I think it would be wrong to say Nigeria has been enjoying democracy since 18 years, because all that happened in 1999 was a return to civilian rule. I don’t think anybody in his right mind would say we have democracy. And I say as we are standing here now, we are seeing that we do not have democracy. It is a very difficult task particularly in a situation where neither the people who are vying for power nor many of those who are voting them into power are democrats.

What are you saying in essence?

It’s just work in progress; it’s work in progress.

What would say have been the gains then?

What we understand is that people have constitutional rule, but in the situation that we are today where courts make orders and the Federal Government does not obey them, then we have to say we have problem.

But normally, one of the gains of civilian rule under the constitution is that the rule of law prevails. It is not a matter of just waking up and making an emergency decree under the military dictatorship. It ought to have been the major gain that we are to enjoy but as we are seeing now in the case of some people, the rule of law is not being obeyed.

Who do you see as losers in the situation we are in now?

I am not going to say these are the losers, because everybody that is considering himself to be the loser is somebody who still has powers in his hands and the issue is that he has demoralised himself into thinking that there is nothing he can do; that when he was offered electoral choices, instead of saying I am going to vote for this person because I believe this is the right person, they say well that person isn’t going to win so I am only going to vote for a person who is going to win. I think it is self-defeating and you perpetuate a wrong system, whereas sometimes what needs to be done is a real shake-up of that system.

But they say democracy is the rule of majority.

It is not only the rule of the majority, democracy is more than just the rule of the majority, and it is also about respect for rights. There are certain minimums; there cannot be tyranny of the majority. That is why the minority will always have rights even in a democracy. But I think what we ought to recognise is that when we are trying to build a democracy, if the majority is being misled, we need to make efforts to inform ourselves as a majority.

There are too many things we make assumptions about, we fall for too many lies, we only have to open WhatsApp, somebody would have prepared a list to show how a particular section of the country is being treated or marginalised or one section is being favoured and so on. So when the real story comes, it is always impossible to separate the truth from fabrication, so I think we need to do better job of informing ourselves.

What role would you expect the masses to play in this regard?

We only talk about the masses; in reality each one of those masses is a person and that is one of thing that participating in the ‘BringBackOurGirls’ Movement has thought me. You know, I could just have said ‘oh 276 girls were kidnapped and they were just being part of the masses,’ but because of being on their case for three years now, I can say that each of those 276 is a person with her own story, her own family, her own hopes, her own desires, her own concerns, her own faith, her own experiences, and I think that if we just think that the masses are all undifferentiated, we will learn that we would not be able to understand them. Each person is entitled to his own individuality, he is entitled to have his own decision and that is he decides to vote for this and not for that.

Ahead of 2019 elections, what do you foresee would happen?

I don’t have anything to conceive. I mean it was extremely arrogant and if I may say foolish for the president’s spokesperson to come out and say he is going to contest in 2019. He was elected in 2015 to do a job, has he done it? That is what I want to know, it’s when I get to 2019 that I would ask whether he has done the job he was elected to do. If he hasn’t done the job he was elected to do, why would he come and ask me to vote for him again? He didn’t run for office in 2015 to actually ask that the things that I would do, I need eight years for them. He ran saying I would do these things in the term that I am running for. So, as far as I am concerned, I am not ready to hear about 2019, but those who want to run for power, they should be organising and mobilising now if they want to take power from the ones that are there now. They would be able to say this is where these people went wrong; this is how I can do better. But if it is just about my turn, no.

What is your take about calls for the restructuring of the country?

What does restructuring mean? I mean people use the word, they don’t know what they mean. Yes, in short a layer of government that has regions. I want you to stand here and tell me that in this Nigeria today, you can abolish any of the states that have been created. Let’s be realistic.

Maybe through dialogue

Even if you dialogue, nobody wants to abolish the states that have been created. So, people who talk about wanting to have regions are actually talking about adding yet another layer of government to the three that we are already carrying on our head.

So, to me, restructuring in those terms, what does it mean? You have the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria in which all the states in South- West have come together, you have other groupings too. So each state wants to cooperate, they can come together and cooperate, nothing stops them. But the fact that cooperation efforts are not so easy tells something about the idea that you can’t abolish those states and start fixing them all as one region. So that’s one issue about restructuring.

But if we are talking about the Exclusive Legislative List, it needs to be adjusted to remove some of the powers from the Federal Government along with the money that goes with them and return it to the states. That I can see, because that to me is doable. The talk about restructuring and so on, I don’t see it happening because turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

Areas Buhari govt must address—Okoye
Mr Festus Okoye, a lawyer and delegate at the 2014 national conference, speaks with MUHAMMED SABIU on the two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

What can you say is the success of this present administration?

Well, I think we have made some tremendous progresses, because Nigerians have high hopes for the present government but the health challenges of the president might have been a cog in the wheel of progress. Nonetheless, in the aspect of security, the situation has been wholesome, the same with corruption. But I feel the government should change its tactics and strategies in fighting corruption. Yes, in terms of stabilising the polity, the government has done well also, because prior to this time, the country was going down. But the ordinary Nigerians are facing serious economic challenges, which I feel the government must address.

What are these challenges and the areas you feel the government must address?

I think the government should address the spiral poverty in the country by introducing some intervention mechanisms to cushion some of the side effects. Another thing government should roll out a comprehensive economic policy and not what is doing like design policy that would take care of the present times. What I meant is there should not be fire brigade approach. Nigerians have chosen democracy as the best form of government. So ,they have the right to enjoy it and any attempt to scuttle it would be resisted.

Buhari’s govt on course  —Baba, Kaduna State’s Commissioner for Women Affairs

What can you say about the two years of President Muhammadu Buhari?

The president has done a lot in the area of security. We are living witnesses to the series of bomb blasts in some parts of the country, especially the North-Eastern part.  The Boko Haram held the North-East states hostage. But with the coming of Buhari, all these security challenges have gone. People now move about freely.

More importantly, the rescue of the Chibok girls is another success story. We are optimistic that the rest of the Chibok girls would be found. In the aspect of the economy, the Treasury Single Account has afforded the government the opportunity to recover large sums of money, because hitherto, various government agencies were operating multiple accounts, thereby siphoning funds at the detriment of the people. Now, the government has saved much and it would enable them to create jobs for the youths as they promised to do.

Can you say the government has met the expectations of Nigerians?

Yes. If you look at the APC’s campaign promises, they talked about security and we have seen the impact. They talked about corruption and we have seen how looted funds were recovered from the top ranking government officials. They talked about the economy and if you look at it apart from the TSA, there is stability in the oil sector. They were able to persuade the militants to drop their arms. For a very long time, we have not had of pipelines vandalism from the Niger Delta. It shows the government is sensitive to their plight. The present government is on course. What they need is our support.

Democracy endangered under APC —Orbih, Edo PDP chair
Chief Dan Orbih is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Edo State chapter. In this interview with TAIWO AMODU, he passed a damning verdict on the performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last two years. Excerpts:

Can you give us an appraisal of democracy in the last 18 years?

From 999 when the military left and PDP took over, having won the presidential election and won elections in most of the states, I can say to a large extent that from 1999 to the time that Dr Goodluck Jonathan handed over power to Muhammadu Buhari, I can say that there is nobody in Nigeria that will disagree with the fact that PDP did well to nurture democracy.

Free and fair elections were held even some states where PDP was in government and the results were declared in favour of the opposition. There was nothing like intervention from the ruling Federal Government then. But the reverse is the case now.  I can say confidently that democracy is endangered now. All the elections that have been conducted under the present INEC, votes were allocated to APC.  A case that is very glaring is that of Edo. It was clear that PDP won the election, but they allocated votes to APC. You saw what happened in Bayelsa, there was attempt to muzzle PDP. So, I can say that under the present administration, institutions empowered by the people haven’t been allowed to function.

But talking about the economy, the allegation is that PDP wreaked the economy and that’s why we are in this unsavoury recession. What is your take?

That cannot be true. The claim by the APC-led Federal Government was that the economy was in bad shape. But if you compare the economy, whether under Jonathan or Umar Yar’Adua, if the PDP government was bad, then you can say that APC was worse.  The economy under APC is the worst since independence. Exchange rate has gone to an all-time high. It has never been this bad and for an economy that is solely dependent on oil, on manufactured goods outside this country.  I don’t think that this government meant well for Nigerians. It has become very difficult for the ordinary man to survive. We have witnessed unprecedented corruption under this government. For the first time, we are hearing about grass cutter and misappropriation of our resources.

Look at the budget-analyse it under the APC government and that of the previous government, you will see all sorts of frivolous allocations that aren’t going to touch on the welfare of Nigerians. I think one will be fair to say that PDP managed the economy far better than what we are witnessing now. Don’t forget that at a time of global recession under Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala it was difficult for Nigerians to know that the world was at recession. She was able to manage the economy to an extent that  Nigerians didn’t feel the impact because of the prudent management of the economy and resources. Then, the exchange rate was about N200 to a dollar.

So, what we have today under APC is that people desirous of power took over reins of government without any serious plan of how to manage the nation’s resources. That’s why we have disaster in our hands, because people who cannot manage their domestic economy are now deciding the destiny of a nation.

They promised Nigerians that they would do better than PDP. They promised all sorts of things, but they are now crying that they met the economy in bad shape. I think they should own up that they have failed the electorate and apologised to Nigerians.  The judiciary has never been subjected to attack by any previous administration. I think the greatest threat to our democracy is the attempt to humiliate the judiciary by the arrest and trial of judicial officers and pronouncement of guilt before trial. This will not augur well for our democracy, if the last hope of the common man is subjected to harassment and blackmail.

Do you see agitation for restructuring and self-determination as real threat to democracy and the existence of the country as an entity?

I think the current wave of agitation is driven by the fact that people are fed up that Nigeria as a nation has failed them in terms of meeting their needs. But I don’t think that balkanisation of the nation is a solution to economic progress that is now driving the poor to agitate for restructuring.

I think what we need is good leadership. I don’t think we have a leadership that can drive the nation out of the recession and chart the course for political development. Once we have the right leadership, this agitation will fizzle out. I think the leadership of the nation should address the economic crisis for the progress of the various ethnic groups.

Finally, Nigeria was at the mercy of a terrorist gang, the Boko Haram under the last administration. Do you agree with the success story against the insurgents being showcased by the present administration?

I beg to disagree. From what we have witnessed now, even Nigerians are beginning to ask question about the origin of Boko Haram and the increase in tempo of their activities in the build up to 2015 general elections. To that extent, one is forced to look back and say whether it was politically motivated or otherwise, but I believe in the course of time, Nigerians will know more about the Boko Haram and its activities. Nigerians have been held captive by propaganda of the APC about what they promised they will do when they come to government but there is hardly any day that you don’t hear about Boko Haram  havoc in that part of the country. So, I don’t agree with  their so-called success story.

Buhari’s govt can be rated high on —Oladipo
After a long spell of military interregnum, Obasanjo-Atiku civilian administration took off on May 29, 1999 and the policy thrust of that regime from 1999to 2003 was to revamp the bettered economy inherited as a result of the protracted military leadership. Nigeria was then perceived as very corrupt with huge foreign and local debts. The country was more or less being treated at best as a pariah if not a failed state.

The Niger Delta militants were having a field day in controlling the monolithic source of foreign exchange-the crude oil. Kidnapping and senseless killings were rampant. Manufacturing and production functions were at the lowest ebb. Capital flight and relocation of businesses out of Nigeria to neighbouring countries like Ghana because of collapse of basic infrastructures like power became commonplace.

In order to restore normalcy to the country, Chief Obasanjo used his tremendous skills and experience to re-negotiate the London and Paris loans and successfully obtained substantial debt forgiveness. Foreign aids both technical and financial were flowing into through myriad of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s foreign trips, using his tremendous goodwill he had built over time to launder the country’s image dented by massive corruption and bad governance in all shapes and forms.

In the area of peace and security of life’s and property, there was an appreciable reduction in militia violence in the oil-producing region of Niger Delta but Boko Haram insurgents started to destroy lives and properties in the North-East of Nigeria. This created the protracted problems of displaced people and relief materials to support them.

Boko Haram terrorists became full-blown during Yar’Adua-Jonathan regime between 2007 and 2011. The demise of President Umaru Musa Ya’dua in 2009 led to the swearing in of Dr Goodluck Jonathan as the president of Nigeria and he won election as the substantive president. But Nigerians will recall that the country witnessed the escalation of the Boko Haram terrorists’ activities. Good Jonathan/Sambo’s development agenda was; the widespread allegations of corruptions and unending battle with Boko Haram terrorists did not allow the grassroots and the neglected rural majority to benefit at all. Hence, the Agenda could not come to fruition.

The kidnapping of over 240 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists diverted the attention of international community to Jonathan administration and had toll on the dwindling foreign exchanges to implement to the Development Agenda.

The 2015 general elections saw President Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo respectively being sworn in as president and vice-resident, with a policy based on eradication of corruption and elimination of Boko Haram terrorists and Niger Delta insurgents. While this policy thrust is recording salutary effects, the country has gone into recession coupled with very high exchange rate, high price index of daily need commodities and dwindling purchasing powers. Unpaid wages of workers by various tiers of governments from federal to local governments, mounting foreign and local debt profiles, infrastructural decay: erratic power supply, moribund railway, pothole roads everywhere, food scarcity laced with sky-high prices virtually beyond the reach of common man and incessant invasion of Fulani herdsmen on farmlands and kidnapping and killing of farmers everywhere in the country. These have been the situation of things in the last two years.

On the whole, the mid-term score card of the Buhari government can be rated for its strong character traits of incorruptibility, fearlessness, commitment to the greatest good for Nigerians. With solid economic development agenda for Nigeria, the economic recession being experienced in the country can be halted before it degenerates to economic depression.