Buhari’s New Year broadcast

THERE were ample reasons why Nigerians should look forward to President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year broadcast. They had endured one of the worst Christmas/New Year seasons in their history. Workers in most states were virtually starving and despair was written on many faces. The fuel crisis of the past few weeks had made life difficult for millions while herdsmen’s rampage continued to cause untold agonies in several states. A word of hope was badly needed. In his address, the president dwelt extensively on infrastructure, outlining his administration’s planned road projects across the country. In particular, he expressed the arguably incontestable belief that train services would stimulate economic activities in the Federal Capital Territory and other parts of the country and provide residents with an efficient and safe transport system. To this end, he noted that 12  railway sub-stations around the capital, over a 45.2-kilometre route, would serve as a catalyst and a pull factor to the economy of the area, while the Light Rail System would  reduce traffic congestion and carbon emission in line with the administration’s policy on climate change.

The president also commendably articulated the administration’s embrace of the dialogue option in addressing the Niger Delta issue, while expressing the government’s determination to tame the spate of kidnapping in the country.  As he noted, “with regard to rampant cases of kidnapping, we are taking immediate short-term measures to combat this new evil creeping into our societies. Tighter police methods and swift and severe punishment for those proved to be engaged in kidnapping are on the way. With respect to the Niger Delta, government is still engaging responsible leadership of the communities to help in identifying and addressing genuine grievances of the region. Our clean-up programme in collaboration with the United Nations is making satisfactory progress.”

However, the  address  was, on the whole, far from satisfactory. For instance, although the president acknowledged the pains of the people caused by the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, he failed to outline workable solutions. He said: “I am saddened to acknowledge that for many, this Christmas and New Year holidays have been anything but merry and happy. Instead of showing love, companionship and charity, some of our compatriots chose this period to inflict severe hardship on us all by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity across the country. The consequence was that not many could travel and the few who did had to pay exorbitant transport fares. This is unacceptable given the fact that NNPC had taken measures to ensure availability at all depots. ”

It was indeed very curious that, as the Minister of Petroleum, the president failed to anticipate and catch the saboteurs that he complained about in their game. In reality, however, the government and not Shylock fuel marketers was to blame for the fuel crisis. At the onset of the crisis in November, the Federal Executive Council chose to play politics with the pains of Nigerians, ordering the Minister of State to end the crisis in 48 hours instead of taking proactive steps to address the crisis. Again, if Nigerians expected the president to address the herdsmen’s menace, they were in for a shock. Although the herdsmen-killers, rated fourth worst on the Global Terrorism Index, had committed atrocities going into the New Year, the presidential broadcast did not mention them. Thus, while no right-thinking Nigerian could begrudge him of his  offer of “thanks to the armed forces, the police, other para-military forces and traditional authorities who are working round the clock to ensure that you and I go about our normal business in reasonable safety,” the president’s averment that his government remained “determined to protect all Nigerians in line with our election pledge and promises” did not ring true.    In fact, it sounded spectacularly false.

But it was in his approach to the most pressing issue in the polity, namely the clamour for the restructuring of the country, that the president shocked and disappointed Nigerians the most. He said: “I have kept a close watch on the ongoing debate about restructuring. When all the aggregates of nationwide opinions are considered, my firm view is that our problems are more to do with process than structure. We tried the parliamentary system: we jettisoned it. Now there are shrill cries for a return to the parliamentary structure. In older democracies, these systems took centuries to evolve so we cannot expect a copied system to fit neatly our purposes.” As events since these pronouncements have shown, the president could not have been more wrong in his analysis. Amid the barrage of criticisms directed at him,  leaders from the Southern states and the Middle Belt, representing four out of the six geopolitical zones in the country, took the president to task, wondering why he felt that  the nation’s founding fathers were wrong in their embrace of a system that cohered perfectly with the global best practices in federal states. Eminent personalities from the North-East also took him to task.

Restructuring, in case the president is still in doubt, is not essentially about opting for a parliamentary or presidential system. It is about allowing the zones making up the country to take charge of their own affairs. This was the basis on which the Nigerian nation was run even in colonial times. For failing to acknowledge this fact, President Buhari’s New Year address can only be regarded as a travesty.