Upon the social, Political and economic quagmire of the "wasted" locusts years of the past, heralded the coming of an "UNCOMMON" President to undertake and "UNCOMMON" situation in the annals of our national history in 2015!! Precisely on this day 29th may 2015.
The Government came on the political mantra of "change" which was the electioneering slogger of the APC as a party.
As expected, The government of Buhari created a tripod patterned policy framework and direction in the first term of the government in 2015 which were as follows;
1. SECURITY
2. ECONOMY
3. ANTI CORRUPTION.
In a country where the territorial integrity had been hitherto threatened with absolute conquering & control of about 17local government areas by the Boko Haram terrorists, a country where arm banditry, kidnapping (especially in the south), sectarian violence and herders/farmer clashes resulting in death was almost a norm, it was an herculean task on the shoulders of the Buhari led federal government to not only doused the resulting tension but curb/return the Nigerian state to a state of security, economic tranquility and safety of lives.
In this regard the Buhari has had to facilitate with other related countries in the terrorism war to rejigged the multinational joint military force.(Headed then by Buratai)!! The lost 17local govt were recovered, suicide and regular bombings across the NE states stopped including bombings in Abuja, kano, kadun and kogi state. Although in recent times there has been some new dynamic in the resurgence of violence (not terrorism related) like the "herdsmen killings", " zamfara, katsina armed banditry " killings, ethnicity profiling in Kaduna, communal killings in Ebonyi and cross river which are been tackled head on, one can say that the biggest achievement in security for the Buhari administration lies in it abilities to manage, decimate and bringing Terrorism to it knee.
In recent weeks there has been huge progress in the northwest relatively with bombings of enclaves of bandits, the Herders/farmers clashes tamed at the moment.
2. ECONOMY: The basic fiscal dynamics, indices and deciders of the fiscal direction of any economy needing prosperity are the status of a nation's foreign reserve (FR), the economy product culture of the nation & the country's strength to sustain real growth!!
Coming on 29th may 2015, the Buhari govt unfortunate met a paltry $29b as FR, about $2B in ECA, inherited a state of the nation bankrupt without the capacity of about 32states to meet it day to day state running capacity in areas of salaries payment to it workers and other obligations. With an obvious STAGFLATION economy situation, & with no much in oil crude production and selling (owing the international prices shocks) the economy was at a cliffhanger and headed straight into recession.
It took the extraordinary discipline fiscal dynamics of Buhari in areas of resources allocation with priorities, diversification drive into the non oil sector, revamping the solid minerals sectors, Prudent management of state resources through the implementation of TSA/BVN to curb waste and corruption within, created bailout fund/budgets support windows for States across the political divide, prioritised import substituted products, with emphasis on restrictive ban on selected goods and service that can be handled in Nigeria, embarking on a revolutionary infrastructural drive that's seen the revamping of the rail transport in Nigeria, reconstruction of Major roads and undertaking the "audacious" 2nd Niger bridge head on, Lagos-Ibadan (six lane major road) hitherto abandoned, airport remodeling with run way reconstruction in some case. To make the economy drive become more realistic, the Buhari govt in the last five years has invested massively in the agricultural sector which now for the first time in recent history account for more than 2% of the real GDP. Buhari govt made a deliberate inroad in the Agricultural sector with the revamping of about 14 moribund fertilizer processing factories across the six geopolitical zones of the country, created a special borrower scheme (Anchor Borrower Scheme) for Rice farmers across the country. 36billions released to the Edo state govt to drive the palm oil revolution so that the over annual palm oil import bill of about $500m could be history in the shortest possible time.
All the enumerated above have led the economy on sharp recovering from the recession inherited and position us easily again as the biggest economy in Africa at the moment when others like SA are already officially in recession. A situation that's seen the Nigeria economy attracting the real FDIs, having constant monthly/quarterly growth for about three years running. For the first time in history we are having a 20months positive production management indexes without itch. Our modeled ease of doing business pattern has made us among the top10 business interest destination of the world.
With the second term been built on the ERGPlan (Economic Recovery growth Plan), And with the vice president/Presidential Economy advisory council working round the clock to create a "Post covid19 economic prosperity and direction" there is a bigger and better hope for the country.
3. CORRUPTION: This is the most critical areas the personality and action of the Buhari led govt is usually been accessed!! The President has over the last five years driven a systemic and practical fight against corruption and public funds misappropriation. The EFCC and related anti corruption agencies have recorded massive convictions even against those within the top bras of his political party the APC. Notable among those convicted so far are Senator Joshua Dariye, Rev Jolly Name and recently orji Uzor Kalu(all former PDP Governors but now in APC and are serving senators), more than 500b has been recovered in cash since 2015, more a trillion in assets seizures and forfeitures from corrupt sources and almost $1b recovered in Abacha's loots starched abroad.
In a systemic approach the Buhari govt has reworked the FG procurement laws, implemented TSA, created Projects efficiency unit within the presidency, created the IPPS that's exposed about 80k ghost workers in the FG payroll system that's saving billions into treasury.
PERFORMANCE ECONOMIC HYPOTHESIS.
- The foreign reserve as at today has grown from $29b in 2015 to about $41b.
- Stable FX management that's seen us driving growth at this critical moment of the world PANDEMIC.
- The financial act 2020 that's created space for the informal sectors to become the real drivers of the economy through the embedded many incentives.
- The infrastructural revolution that's created enabling environment and catalysing economic activities across the 36state of the federation.
- The social welfare package like the NSFP, NPOWER, CCT(conditional cash transfer) the NPOWER since 2016 have been paying a 30k monthly stipend to at least 5k unemployed graduates across the 36states of the federation including the FCT.
The biggest weakness as observed in the last five years of the administration of Buhari is in the area of weak media presence of the government. The media apparatus of this govt is doing little to enlighten and bring to bare practical information on the achievement and activities of the government. Thereby giving room to fake and malicious information mongers to dictate the narrative.
Long live the FG of Nigeria
Long Live the AGGN.
By Comrade Haruna Braimoh Gani
(Director of Media And Publicity)
AGGN
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