Buhari’s promises of change: How well has he fared on jobs, electricity & corruption?
On the back of vows to fight corruption and insurgency in Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as successor to President Goodluck Jonathan a year ago. Buhari made history as the first challenger to defeat an incumbent since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999.
But how well has he fared in delivering on his promises of change to voters? We evaluated key promises to change sectors of the economy that directly affect citizens’ daily lives.
Corruption
Promise: “Revenue-producing entities such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only.”
Verdict: Not achieved
President Muhammadu Buhari (right) listens to the president of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim speak during an Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May 2016. Photo: AFP/Frank Augstein" />
Buhari made this promise in a debate at Chatham House in February 2015. He has since implemented the “Treasury Single Account” for a number of entities after both the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations failed to do so.
The Treasury Single Account is held at the Central Bank. Before government bank accounts were scattered and some entities were reported to have up to 45 different ones. Officials would use the revenue to open fixed deposit accounts and have interest accrue while projects suffer.
However, in September 2015 the accountant-general of the federation announced the exemption of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other entities, such as the Nigeria Railway Corporation and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, from transferring their funds to the Central Bank. The reason given was that these were profit-oriented government business entities. Therefore, all revenue-producing agencies in the country do not yet have one set of books as Buhari promised.
Declaration of assets
Promise: “Publicly declare my assets and liabilities and encourage my political appointees to also publicly declare their assets and liabilities.”
Verdict: Not achieved
Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu released details of Buhari’s assets last September when his asset declaration form and that of deputy president Yemi Osinbajo was handed to the Code of Conduct Bureau for verification. The president’s assets included five houses and livestock such as cattle, sheep, horses and a variety of birds.
So far, only two political appointees in this dispensation have declared their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau - the director-general of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah, who was appointed under the Jonathan administration as well as the executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Waziri Adio.
National security
Promise: “Ensure that under my watch, no force, external or internal, will occupy even an inch of Nigerian soil.”
Verdict: Mixed progress
President Mohammadu Buhari speaks with the Chibok schoolgirl who was freed in May 2016. Photo: AFP" />
The president then strengthened Nigeria’s relationship with partner governments in the Multinational Joint Task Force, comprising Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
To the south, the oil-rich Niger Delta is in the middle of another crisis. The Niger Delta Avengers, a startup ethnic militia, are destroying pipelines at will despite a heavy military presence in the area.
Spilt crude oil floats in the Niger delta at Bodo, a village in the oil-producing region of Ogoniland. PHOTO: AFP/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI" />
Nigeria’s minister of environment, Amina Mohammed, took up the role after stepping down as a special adviser to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. Under her watch, the government has started a programme to clean up oil pollution in the Niger delta.
The clean-up campaign was officially launched earlier this month in Bodo, Ogoniland. Buhari was supposed to unveil the commemorative plaque but cancelled his visit.
However, the UK newspaper The Guardian reported that it will take some 18 months to start full remedial work.
Employment
Promise: “Target the creation of 3 million new jobs a year through industrialisation, public work and agricultural expansion.”
Verdict: No progress
In the first year of Buhari’s presidential term unemployment has shot up. In May, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that theunemployment rate has risen to 12.1% in the first quarter of 2016 when it was at 8.2% in the quarter that Buhari was inaugurated.The number of unemployed has increased by nearly 4 million between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.
The number of unemployed has increased by nearly 4 million between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.
April-June 2015
Jan-March 2016
Fully employed (40 hours/week)
55,693,723
53,977,958
Underemployed (20-39 hours)
12,208,823
15,023,327
Unemployed (1-19 hours)
3,087,719
4,436,07
No job at all
2,445,840
5,049,207
There doesn’t seem to be a concrete plan in place to turn the situation around. In Buhari’s Democracy Day speech on May 29 he only announced that a national women’s empowerment fund was going to provide N1.6 billion in microfinance loans to women.
Electricity
Promise: “The APC government shall vigorously pursue the expansion of electricity generation and distribution of up to 40,000 megawatts in four to eight years.”
However, only one new plant is under construction, the Azura thermal power station, which was started under Jonathan in 2014 and is an independent power plant. It will add 450 MW in its first phase.
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