Does Buhari truly understand Nigeria?

A senior citizen once described the love between Nigerians and President Muhammadu Buhari leading to his victory at the polls in 2015

as a blind date. To this elder, the love story is akin to a black market purchase, whereby the groom does not know the bride and the bride does not really know the bride. Their knowledge of each other is restricted to scant images of the periods of courtship, which cannot truly reveal the real person behind the mask.

But one postulation the commentator added to his position was that whereas the bride and the groom would seek to understand themselves after wedding, Buhari and Nigerians would not seek to understand their lack of knowledge of each other despite the wedding.

Going by developments since 2015, the postulation of this elder appears prophetic. The president believes he understands Nigeria, a country, in his estimation is full of the poorest of the poor; a country battered by corruption and corrupt tendencies; and a country with battered economy and dilapidating security situation.

On account of his diagnosis, Buhari invented his three pronged dosage of issues meant to cure his beloved country. He told the citizens in 2015 that he would focus mainly on the economy, insecurity and corruption.

He launched out to treat his beloved patient with prescriptions including the Social Investment Programmes which encapsulates the Conditional Cash Transfer and the NPower programme, the ERGP and Trader Moni.  He believes that the administration of those prescriptions would remove the tag of the poverty capital of the world hung on his beloved country.

He also believes that relocating the command headquarters of the military to the centre of insurgency activities in the North East would cage the Boko Haram fighters who have since linked up with international likes.  He also showcased some brave corruption fighting agency which was not afraid of bulldozing its way into the sacred homes of top judges in the land. The anti-graft set up by Buhari grabbed the opponents of the administration by the neck, and ran after alleged looted funds. He fast tracked the implementation of the TSA (Treasury Single Account), which had enlisted some 160 agencies under the previous administration and continued with policies including payroll-cleansing IPPIS, and the Bank account verification under the BNV.

With the above measures, Buhari expected that his returns in four years would be bountiful and that by the time he would seek the re-endorsement of his compatriots for a mandate that would retain him in office till 2023; the job would have been made easier.

The expectation was that he would have rein in the thieves and looters, recovered the looted funds and return broad smiles to the lips of Nigerians who were once rated the happiest people on earth.

Three years plus in the saddle, the returns appear not to be adding up, the President appears to be struggling to convince that looters and corrupt persons are on the prowl, while the security situation appears to be returning to pre-February 2015 scenario. That month, the military forced the hands of the Goodluck Jonathan’s government to postpone the election and was able to push back the insurgents who were said to be in control of some 14 local governments. After February, the insurgents were comfortably pushed back to allow the conduct of the year’s elections.

But the president on the campaign train recently has only been repeating his 2015 lines; looters and the corrupt are around, beware of them.

But Nigerians have heard all that repeatedly and it’s appearing like a broken record.

You will think that the President on campaign train would only be reeling out his achievements on the key 2015 campaign promises, while seeking the mandate to consolidate.

But like the commentator above said, Buhari does not understand Nigerians and Nigerians are now showcasing the effect of the 2015 blind date.

Whereas some of the policies introduced by the President are some of the dosages needed to cure the ailments afflicting the nation, many of the prescriptions look too tokenistic to take the nation and citizens to greater heights.

If Buhari truly understands Nigeria, he will know that his country has moved from the $46 billion GDP economy to $568 billion in 2014 and now $510 billion GDP.  He will know that big deals will rescue the nation at this time far beyond the N10,000 hand outs in the name of trader Moni and sharing of Abacha loot.

The President with clear knowledge of his country would not only think of giving fish to the poorest of the poor but teach them how to fish.

And if the idea of trading is on offer, you should wonder what N10,000 can buy in an economy whose currency had faced unprecedented devaluation even by his administration.

The President would know that besides thinking for the poorest of the poor, he will also think of creating big businesses that can drag the poor out of their penury.

The $322 million Abacha loot for instance could create at least six potential big businesses in the geopolitical zones, instead of being shared to some traders to sell kolanut, biter kola, candles and cigarette sticks. How many unemployed can a pepper seller employ even if millions of them are reached with the recovered Abacha loot? But with businesses that can create wealth, the returns can be manifold.

Rather than think that possessing big money is a dream that should remain in the pipelines for millions of Nigerians, the government of Buhari needs to lead the way by creating avenues for clean millionaires. Only a thinking that takes note of the poor, the middle class and the rich can elevate a nation from shackles of poverty.