….also published in Daily Trust
As the imminence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s return is being
speculated, it highlights the need for him to conduct a comprehensive review of
his administration’s performance now that more two years of its four-year
tenure have already passed.
This is particularly imperative amid mild but potentially
divisive controversy over the extent of the Acting President Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo’s commitment to maintain the momentum built by President Buhari
particularly in anti-corruption polices and measures. Admittedly, though, even
before the President’s departure, there has already been a sense of disappointment
among a growing number of Nigerians over the turn of events under his
presidency, which fuels controversy over the extent of his personal portion of
responsibility for the disappointing situation.
President Buhari
Anyway, though President Buhari has been away for quite a while
on health grounds, he is nonetheless hopefully in a more relaxed mood now
to monitor the performance of his administration back home from Abuja House in
London where he has been staying and receiving medical treatment. Also, though
he is currently under no legal obligation to monitor government operations back
home, yet, as an ardent follower of the media, he now apparently has more time to
spare for following events through the media, hence he is now presumably in a
position to assess the performance of his administration not on the bases of
officially prepared reports and figures, but in the light of the daily
experiences of the ordinary Nigerians, which the media cover all the time.
After all, since his departure, there have been some quite controversial
events that could be seen as indications of a gradual but persistent
relapse. For instance, there have been very questionable acquittals of
some public figures facing serious corruption charges, and some unnecessarily
long adjournments of serious corruption cases involving some privileged
individuals, which are seen as a prelude to their eventual acquittals.
Obviously, whether these instances are mere coincidences or not, they raise
reasonable suspicion of possible compromise by the Osinbajo led-government,
especially considering the apparent signs of compromise that the prosecuting
counsels concerned began to betray during the proceedings.
Likewise, there have been instances of apparent favouritism in
the Acting President’s handling of some corruption allegations against some top
government officials, as in the ongoing scandal involving the Minister of
Health, Prof. Isaac Adewale who, on alleged corruption charges, suspended the
Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Prof. Usman Yusuf
who in turn, however, denies the charges and instead accuses the Minister of
witch-hunting him for his adamant refusal to cooperate with him (i.e. Minister)
to perpetrate and perpetuate thievery of public funds at the NHIS.
Also, the steady but persistent loss of momentum in the ongoing
war against Boko Haram terrorists as a result of which they appear to have
regained the audacity to increasingly carry on indiscriminate suicide bomb
attacks killing so many people and causing extensive destruction of properties,
is yet another indication of the Acting-President’s alleged laxity and failure
to maintain the substantial progress achieved in the war on terror since the
beginning of the Buhari administration.
There’s also the issue of dissatisfaction among Nigerians with
the performance of most of the current members of the Federal Executive
Council, which explains the growing call to dismiss the poor-performing among
them and reshuffle the Council.
Therefore, while Nigerians wish President Buhari a quick
recovery, he should, in anticipation of resuming office in due course, God
willing, leverage his apparently long spare time to independently review the
performance of his administration so far, identify the strategic challenges
that undermine its potential to perform better, note down the observations he
has been presumably gathering, prepare and keep appropriate reform policies and
corrective measures ready for immediate implementation once he resumes office.
He should also summon up renewed courage and imbibe a reinvigorated
commitment to pursuing these reform policies and measures bearing in mind that
he will necessarily have to go against the selfish interests of many of his
political allies in the first place before his political opponents for him to
be able to live up to the legitimate expectations of the ordinary Nigerians who
voted for him counting on his reputation and integrity to enjoy better living
conditions under his presidency.
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