Buhari not in touch with current reality —Afenifere

Ayo Adebanjo

Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has decried President Muhammadu Buhari’s gloating on infrastructure his administration provided for Nigeria, saying it was another indication that those in the corridors of power do not seem to be in touch with the present reality in the country.

President Buhari on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, said people, especially those from the South West, could have been trekking from Lagos to Ibadan but for the intervention of his administration especially on rail and road projects.

Buhari had stated this when he received in audience a delegation from Kaduna State, led by the Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Bamalli, and the state’s Deputy Governor, Hadiza Balarabe, at the State House, Abuja.

Acknowledging the primacy of road, rail and power in the growth of a business or country, the president said that this was why his administration focused on the development of infrastructure, pointing to Abuja-Kaduna and Ibadan-Lagos lines.

“The people from South West can tell better because between Lagos and Ibadan by now, if we hadn’t done what we did, people would have been trekking because the road was not there, the rail was not there and there was so much insecurity,” Afenifere quoted President Buhari.

But Afenifere, while appreciating President Buhari on the resuscitation of Lagos-Ibadan railway, in a release signed by its spokesperson, Comrade Jare Ajayi, quickly said it was a height of an unpardonable exaggeration to say that without it people in the South West would have been trekking.

The pan- Yoruba group submitted that the number of people using the rail transport was very small, saying it was so small compared with people using the road that not many felt the impact when it was not available.

“In any case, assuming without conceding that the rail transport is so significant in the life of the people as painted by Mr President, what about several other routes in the South West that have no rail system,” Afenifere said.

So, why has the government not provided rail transport in all these areas so that people would not have to trek? And on the road that the president lamented its absence, whose responsibility is it to provide the road; is it not the government?” it queried.

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The pan- Yoruba group also decried the outburst of the president at the 6th Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit in Doha, Qatar, on the same Tuesday where Buhari who was represented by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, disclosed that his administration was now “embarking on different initiatives, projects, and policies to enhance the performance of the oil and gas sector.”

The group said Nigerians were hardly impressed by such disclosure, querying: “Why is the administration just embarking on these initiatives when it has just about 14 months left in office?”

Afenifere further queried why the prices of petroleum products be all-time high now, while the refineries were not working, among others if the government truly believed in the pivotal roles oil and gas played in the lives and economy of the people, declaring that the reality on ground forced one to doubt the sincerity of the Buhari’s administration in its policies, vision and claims.

“If the government truly believes in the pivotal roles oil and gas play in the lives and economy of the people, why should the prices of these commodities be all-time high now? Why are the refineries not working? Why not license modular refinery operators so that the commodities can be widely available? Afenifere queried.

“The reality on ground forces one to doubt the sincerity of the administration in its policies, vision and claims,” it declared.

Speaking further, Afenifere dismissed the optimism by President Buhari that he would be “leaving a legacy for a united, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria” by the time he completes his term of office in 2023, saying such also flies in the face of the present reality going by the rate of inflation, rate of unemployment, the level of mistrust and ethnic clashes not to talk of the unprecedented insecurity being experienced in various parts of the country now.

“How can we describe Nigeria as prosperous when 74 per cent of its earnings go into debt servicing, the electricity supply is less than six hours in a day, new businesses are not springing up and cost of living is rising daily?” the group further queried.

According to Afenifere, the rosy picture being painted by Buhari is very much invisible and hard to believe given “the shrinking economy, comatose agricultural practices (due largely to terrorists’ activities and inchoate policies of government), low morale among security agencies and chaotic democratic dispensation in the land.”

It would be recalled that President Buhari had affirmed his intention to leave a prosperous Nigeria for his successor while speaking at a dinner for the 2022 Committee of Business, Political, Media and Civil Society leaders in Abuja recently.

He went further to say that his successor will inherit “a strong, repositioned agriculture-led, diversified home-grown economy, stable democracy and revamped armed and security forces.”

Bola Badmus