A timeline of Buhari’s government, his wrong policies and how he’s leaving Nigerians angrier than he met them
“The countless man-hours that will be spent at petrol stations today, will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so. – GMB,” Muhammadu Buhari, then the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), tweeted on March 2, 2015. It was 26 days to the historic 2015 Presidential election that saw him defeat an incumbent for the first time in Nigeria’s history and raised the hope of many young Nigerians to birth change.
The countless man hours that will be spent at petrol stations today, will reduce our productivity as a nation.This should not be so. – GMB
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) March 2, 2015
His communications team must have drafted different versions of that tweet and carefully reviewed each of them before eventually settling for the one that was tweeted at 6:44 pm while millions of Nigerians stood in queues at filling stations for hours to buy fuel.
We take a close look at the negative effect of some of the policies of the Buhari’s administration, how they are multiplying misery and leaving Nigerians angrier than the former general met them in 2015.
At the time Buhari shared that tweet on March 2, 2015, fuel scarcity was biting hard, a litre of petrol was N87, the presidential election had been postponed and Nigerians were eagerly awaiting the coming of the ‘Messiah’. Little did they know that, like a prophet, the former General was only speaking into the future with the tweet that has now been retweeted over 3800 times.
The tweet like the many other speeches of Buhari and his campaign promises raised surreal hope and confidence in the ‘reformed democrat’. They were sure he was bringing change as he had promised. Eight years on, public trust and confidence in Buhari have evaporated. It didn’t just diminish; he has been losing it from his first year in office and now he appears to have squandered whatever goodwill is left with the hardship wining and dining with millions of Nigerian households.
Eight years in the saddle, everything written in the tweet aptly describes the Buhari administration. From Ikorodu in Lagos to Agbor in Delta state, Kabba in Kogi state, Oba in Anambra and Sabon Gari in Kano, millions of Nigerians have been wasting man-hours in the queue for more than three months. The only difference between 2015 and now is that the hardship being faced by Nigerians has ascended to an unprecedented height. Nigerians are now queuing at banks and ATM terminals to get unavailable cash while also queuing for hours to buy fuel at N185 per litre, those who can’t stand the queue pay as high as N350 – N500. It’s unprecedented in the country’s history.
In the heat of the 2020 EndSARS protest, just four days before soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, I wrote: “of what use is riding on the collective goodwill of the people to make history and then squander it all before their eyes? Many Nigerians have continued to wonder.”
I went further to give him the benefit of doubt and an opportunity for redemption with three years left in his government. “Yet Muhammadu Buhari still has an opportunity to take decisive action and repair his legacy. It is entirely up to him.”
Two years on and about three months to the expiration of his second term in office. Buhari has chosen the path of infamy. Chaos, outrage and confusion are spreading across the nation like wildfire. It has never been this bad, many members of his party who have been muttering in the past have been speaking out since December 2022 when the hardship started biting hard.
Under Buhari, there’s hardly any misfortune the Nigerian state has not experienced. And millions of Nigerians, most of them between 18 and 25 years, believe they have been scammed by the man young Nigerians mischievously call Sinzu.
Forex and Import Ban
Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) decision to ban 41 imported goods and services from accessing forex in the official foreign exchange market in the country put pressure on the black market where importers of the banned goods were forced to source forex. Who bears the brunt? Ordinary Nigerians. The policy led to a hike in the prices of goods as traders passed the extra cost of buying forex in the parallel market to consumers, triggering soaring inflation.
In 2019 when the policy was implemented, Nigeria’s local rice production according to KPMG makes up about 57% of the 6.7 million tonnes consumed annually, yet the government banned the importation of rice without first boosting local production to exceed consumption. Where was the 43% deficit expected to come from? If the policy was not a VIP invitation to hardship, we don’t know what else qualifies.
The basic economics of demand and supply say that if the demand for goods and services remains high and supply falls, prices will go up due to the high demand. Nigerians are still struggling with the aftermath of this decision. In 2022, the quantity of milled rice produced in Nigeria was estimated at 5.4 million metric tonnes, and consumption is expected to have also increased as the population grows.
Border closure
The closure of land borders in October 2019, as part of measures to enforce the forex ban on 41 goods and curtail the smuggling of goods such as rice and textiles to boost domestic production, further worsened the country’s economic crisis. It remains one of the crudest decisions any Nigerian government has ever taken. At the time the ban was lifted in 2022, it had caused colossal damage, prices of goods have hit through the roof and Nigerians are still battling with the effect of that policy.
Long wait to form a cabinet
It took Buhari six months to form a cabinet and when he finally did, he assembled the usual suspects, forcing Nigerians to ask why it took so long to assemble the regulars. The decision slowed down the wheel of governance and subjected Nigerians to hardship.
Petroleum minister
Buhari has no business being Nigeria’s petroleum minister. And whoever is managing the ministry ought to have been fired long ago. Buhari right? He ought to have fired himself.
Naira notes redesign
While we can all agree that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with redesigning the Naira as the CBN has argued, like many other policies of the Buhari government packaged with good intentions, the government’s love for banning everything without considering the peculiarity of the Nigerian society and its effect on the populace, has made the decision one of the biggest undoing of the Buhari regime.
Nigerians have witnessed the change/redesign of Naira notes in the past and it wasn’t chaotic as we’ve seen with the recent redesign of the N200, N500 and N1000 notes. Nigerians are spending up to nine hours in the ATM queue and customers are collapsing in the banking halls just to withdraw a maximum of N10,000. Banks are shutting down operations nationwide and those who haven’t shut down have asked their workers to dress down to work over attacks on their facilities and staffers. It has never been this bad. Even the President’s men agree.
Need we mention how rising insecurity across the country is increasing the number of abandoned communities due to banditry, shattering the dreams of young people, forcing young Nigerians out of the country and turning the social media pages of young and old into memorial pages with daily reports of killings and missing people?
With about three months left of the Buhari government, Nigerians are now angrier than he met them in 2015.
When he came to power in 2015, Nigeria was 78th on the list of 146 happiest nations in the world and one of the top 10 in Africa. Seven years later, in 2022, Nigeria was ranked 118 out of 146 countries in the World Happiness Report. Nigeria is also not among the top 20 happiest African countries.
Everywhere you turn, anger, outrage and repulsion are spreading. Even in the core North where Buhari enjoys a cult-like following, his influence is waning, and it will take a lot to undo this damage.
We doubt there’s anything left up his sleeves to bring back smile to the faces of Nigerians. We can only wish that he can undo all of these damages, just like the popular Yoruba adage, “Oosa bi o le gbe mi, se mi bi ose daa mi” (the deity that cannot aid one, should rather leave one the way it found one).
Taking license from the lyrics of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s 1977 album – Sorrow, Tears and Blood:
Everybody run, run, run
Everybody scatter, scatter
Some people lost some bread
Someone nearly die
Someone just die
Police dey come, army dey come
Confusion everywhere
Them leave sorrow, tears, and blood
Them regular trademark
In this case, someone didn’t nearly die or lose some bread, a lot are dying and losing a bakery, everybody in running and confusion reigns supreme everywhere.
Buhari has multiplied sorrow, tears and blood in eight years, it will take a lot to undo this colossal damage and neither the President nor his party the APC can be trusted with the task of redemption and restoration.
