We are still waiting for change

On February 28, 2015, history was made as for the first time – and still the only time Nigerians elected an opposition presidential candidate. On May 29, 2015, Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in and almost immediately, some things started to get better. Some said it was the body language of the President putting things in place; the fear of Buhari was the beginning of wisdom.

Power generation increased, the ‘dead’ refineries started working again. For most Nigerians, change had really come. Then, it crashed. Things took a nosedive. Fast forward three years and it’s now the same old story.

There was so much expectation, even if we do not talk about the campaign promises which at that time, I felt will not be achievable for the promises were just too much -for a government that rode to power on the platform of ‘change’,  little has changed in three years. Yes, it has succeeded in changing some things but much more could have changed.

The budget still has not returned to the January-December calendar. Refineries are still not working at ‘optimum’ capacity and sometimes comatose. We are still importing fuel and paying subsidy on it. The incredible aberration of exporting millions of barrels of crude and importing millions of liters of petroleum products still remain.

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The education sector still remains in tatters with an alarming figure of out-of-school children. The CBN still substitute Naira allocations for Dollar earnings, serving as their own Bureau de Change and printing new naira notes every month which weakens the Naira, drives up inflation and is a major cause of our economic woes as espoused by ‘Renaissance Economics’.

This is not what Nigerians voted President Buhari for. Nigerians brought him in for more than these. The measure of governance is not just by what is  achieved but also by how much could potentially be achieved.

We have seen our expectations crumble and our hopes dashed. It is a sad reality.

Adeyemi Ahmed Abiodun.