FUNMILAYO AREMU, VINCENT KURAUN, JOHNSON BABAJIDE, SUBAIR MOHAMMED, BOLA BADMUS, HAKEEM GBADAMOSI, KOLA OYELERE, JOHNKENNEDY UZOMA, IDAHOSA MOSES, MICHAEL OVAT, ISAAC SHOBAYO, report on the reactions of Nigerian to the eight-year administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
As the curtain draws on the eight-year administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, reactions from different parts of the country have shown that it may not have been the type of governance they envisaged eight years ago when the government took over the reins of power.
While some Nigerians were quick to knock the presidency in some sectors, others applauded the government saying Nigeria has progressed or taken a leap and urged other Nigerians not to rule out some of the achievements of the administration.
While some Nigerians scored the Buhari-led administration high in infrastructural development, many others faulted the judgment, choosing instead to mark it down in some critical areas like energy, health, education, security and other critical infrastructure that can galvanise economic development.
Some Nigerians said the government has added to the myriad of problems confronting the country such that eight years would not be enough to solve some of these problems, especially insecurity that has degenerated and economic depression that is worsening on a daily basis.
Some Nigerians, however, are of the opinion that the current administration has laid the foundation for a prosperous Nigeria, challenging the incoming administration to build on some of its policies and improve on them where necessary.
Prominent Nigerians and experts who shared their views on the Buhari government and how well it has fared in the last eight years have different ideas about the government and/or it’s performance.
According to the leader of Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the government the performance of the government has been nothing but abysmal. Chief Adebanjo said the present state of the country clearly shows that Buhari has not, in the past eight years in the saddle, been working for the betterment of Nigeria but for the entrenchment of the Fulani and their expansion.
The elder statesman declared that the only achievement the president had attained was throwing support for herdsmen for the destruction of the non-Fulani, through his Fulanisation Agenda, for them to take over Nigeria, which he said Nigerians were all witnesses to.
Adebajo added that Buhari has done nothing better, saying that all other achievements being credited to his administration were “just begging the issue.”
“We are all witnesses to it. What has he done better? He came and put Fulani herdsmen in place for the destruction of the non-Fulani; that is all. That is his achievement as far as I am concerned. All other things said about his achievements are begging the issue.
“He made sure he pursued the Fulanisation agenda in the country, ensuring displacement of people from their homes by the Fulani who are from all parts of Africa because he believes they have no home and must, therefore, come to take over Nigeria. All other things he does is just camouflage. That is his best achievement,” the Afenifere leader said.
Speaking further, Chief Adebanjo said Buhari further demonstrated his lack of concern for Nigeria through his recent outburst that he would relocate to Niger Republic after leaving office if Nigerians decide to give him trouble in his Daura home in Katsina State, recalling that the president made sure that approved the construction of a railway line from Abuja to the Niger Republic.
“And that is it, he made sure that there must be a railway line from Abuja to Niger Republic and he made sure that Rotimi Amaechi built a railway station there. And he has told you all along that if you give him trouble in Nigeria, he will go to the Niger Republic.
“This shows that the way he has been working in the past eight years is not for the betterment of Nigeria but for the entrenchment of the Fulani and their expansion. That is his concern, every other thing does not concern him,” Adebanjo said.
The immediate past Secretary General of pan Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Chief SehindeArogbofa, told Sunday Tribune that despite all the problems Nigeria goes through, democracy exists. He observed that Nigeria takes two steps forward and three steps backwards. He also opined that the promises of the administration were not matched with actions.
“For example, Nigerians are very optimistic about the promise of tackling corruption. But with indices available, it appears that corruption is eating Nigeria more than what it was before Buhari took over. He promised to fight corruption but where is the corruption he fought? He keeps saying he is not corrupt but as a leader, when you’re surrounded with corrupt people, what can we call that?
“When at the initial stage he appointed just those who are very close to him, especially in major key areas, is that not corruption? The EFCC is just scratching the corruption indices. From his own point of view, he did the best he could but Nigerians are disappointed in him,” he said.
“In the area of security, he came in making Nigerians to believe that he would tackle insecurity. Beginning with the Chibok girls, we were all ecstatic that within four weeks of his assumption of office, all these girls would be brought back. But it was so painful, very painful and I can understand the trauma Nigerian women are going through after which they found most of the Chibok girls are now mothers with two or three children.
“Do we talk about the marauders who kidnap people on a daily basis demanding ransom? But thank God for the governors of the South-West led by Rotimi Akeredolu, who introduced Amotekun. And despite that, look at what happened in Owo about a year ago during church service, where some illegal immigrants, heartless individuals murdered people in the church and escaped. So, where is the security the Buhari government promised the people?” he queried.
Similarly, Chief Arogbofa declared that in the area of the social welfare of Nigerians, Buhari did not do well.
“What of unemployment that is on the rise? Education is in a shambles and medical facilities, where are they? This is why we have this ‘Japa’ syndrome. All the medical personnel leaving the shores of Nigeria, where were they trained, and why can’t we improve the quality of our education?” he asked.
Also speaking with Sunday Tribune, President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, YerimaShetimma, scored President Buhari low in his fight against corruption, insecurity and on revamping the economy, saying he has performed below the expectations of Nigerians.
He said: “In 2015, during the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari, the expectations of Nigerians were very high but he has not met these expectations.
“He campaigned promising to tackle corruption, insecurity and to revamp the country’s economy. But as I speak today, we cannot pinpoint his major achievements in all these areas I have listed that we can all be proud of as Nigerians.
“In terms of fighting corruption, the anti-graft institutions that were established to fight corruption are enmeshed in corruption and are considered the most corrupt institutions.
“The EFCC has become a dog that can only bark and one cannot vouch for its integrity and the sincerity of the purpose of its leadership. If the head is rotten, then you should expect the body to be worse. That is the situation we have found ourselves in today.
“On youth employment, we only see his achievements through rhetoric, analysis and data before the public but in reality, we cannot say he has truly created employment for the teeming youth population of the country.”
He added that the growing insecurity is enough to show that the president has not done enough in creating employment for the youths as many of them are into armed banditry and crimes because of lack of employment.
He further revealed that “In the North-East, in 2014, all we saw were issues of bandits and other minor security challenges but today, in the North-East, North-West, the North-Central and South-East, there are loads of security challenges.”
Shetimma also pointed out that before 2015, Nigeria only had the issue of Boko Haram to contend with, but today, the country is battling armed banditry and communal clashes, issues of gunmen, IPOB in the South-East and kidnapping in the North-Central and that “the security situation is worse than the way he met it.
“In the economy, the exchange rate of dollar to naira is high with galloping inflation. Look at the amount of debt we have incurred in the last eight years. These are worrisome,” he submitted.
The former chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Kano state chapter, Bishop Ransome Bello, told Sunday Tribune that assessing the eight years administration of Buhari would be based on the three prominent areas he promised to address which are insecurity, corruption and economy.
He disclosed that although the president has done his best, he has not succeeded in the areas he promised to tackle.
He said: “I must give it to him, he has done his best. However, his best may not have been enough, based on the judgment of most Nigerians, but from what we have seen so far, I would not agree that he has made success in the three prominent aspects he promised to address.”
According to him: “We must be very frank, it is not possible for a person to be in power for eight years and not do anything. He has done something in the area of transportation, infrastructure and security in the North-East.
“But the security has become worse across the whole country. although he has done something, the question is whether that something is enough to give him a pass mark. If one checks our lifestyle, the economic benefits of where we are right now compared to 2015 when he took over, everybody can attest to the fact that things have become worse.”
The bishop made it known that he would not regard this administration as one that has succeeded based on the promises made. He added that “should we talk about the value of the naira which has crumbled, or the value of commodities, insecurity? Comparing the security issues we have now with how it was in 2015, are we safer now? The answer is no! Are we better off now, economically compared to 2015? The answer is no!” he said.
The chairman of the three socio-cultural groups in Benue State; Mzough U Tiv, Ochetoha K’ Idoma and Omi Ny’Igede, IorbeeIhagh, while sharing his thoughts with Sunday Tribune on the outgoing administration, described the eight years of President Buhari as wasted years with no positive impact on Nigerians.
Ihagh, a retired Comptroller of Prison and the President General of Mzough U Tiv worldwide, scored the administration of the outgoing president low in some major sectors such as security, education and health.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune in Makurdi, the chairman said: “In the area of security, I will score him low because the security problem we are having now was not this bad when he came into office. Some of us supported him in 2015, thinking that he would use his military experience to tackle the security problem but it became worse under his watch.
“Another problem is the Fulanization agenda which gave the Fulani the right to embark on the occupation agenda. At the time he assumed office in 2015, he said he belonged to everyone and belonged to no one, but the experience of the past eight years has shown that he belongs to his Fulani people.
“Take for example, all those killings across the country, in Yoruba land, Igbo land, Benue and other parts of the country and ask yourself, has Buhari for once called these people to order? So, it was purely his agenda to ensure that Fulani occupied the whole country.
“Part of his agenda was the population census. We told him that the moment he succeeds with the census, his people (the Fulani) who have forcefully chased people away from their ancestral homes and occupied the place will be registered in those places and will automatically become owners of those places.
“Until you allow all the displaced persons to return to their ancestral homes, a census cannot be done. For instance, in my country home, the Moon council ward in Kwande Local Government Area for the past seven years, the Fulani have occupied the place having chased away the people and destroyed their houses and public institutions and have occupied the place.”
In the area of education, Ihagh believes that President Buhari has not done well and should be scored low because there were frequent strikes in the tertiary institutions and the fact that the eight-month salaries of lecturers have not been paid despite the agreement signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). He also revealed that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, made the situation worse because of his lack of conflict management skills.
He also spoke on the problem of brain drain in the health sector, noting that the president could not fix the hospitals and boost the morale of the healthcare workers.
Nevertheless, he opined that the only area where the president fared slightly was in the area of infrastructure, although he did not extend it to the federal roads that pass through Benue State.
“For instance, the federal highways that pass through Makurdi/Otukpo, Makurdi/Naka/Ankpa and the one from Yandev to Katsina-Ala down to Wukari are all eyesores. People spend several hours on those roads when they should not have spent more than one hour.
Also speaking with Sunday Tribune, the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), the apex sociopolitical youth group in the South-East geopolitical zone, described the eight-year administration of Buhari as an example of bad leadership that gave license to terrorists to kill at will.
The group said that it is quite unfortunate that a democratic system of government that should bring joy and happiness to its citizens would bring sorrow, death, hardship, killings, hunger and ethnicity to Nigerians who were deceived by the change mantra.
President General of COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem, said that Nigerians will not forget in a hurry how the price of kerosene changed from N50 to N1000 per litre within a space of two years.
He said: “They will not forget in a hurry how cooking gas changed from N70 to N850 per kilogramme, how petrol changed from N50 to N350 per litre.”
According to him, the list of items which prices were affordable before are now unreachable to the common man is endless.
He stated that Buhari’s administration brought killings, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, ethnicity, food scarcity and insecurity as democratic dividends to Nigerians.
The youth body posited that Nigerians who are alive today deserve to be issued certificates of survival after these long eight years of hunger, corruption, killings and hardship.
He observed that for the first time in Nigeria, Nigerians were turned into refugees in their own country as a result of killings by herdsmen and insurgency in the nation.
He claimed that Benue State alone has over two million IDPs chased away from their homes by terrorists, Borno State has over 1.5 million Nigerians in IDP camps, Kaduna, Niger, Yobe, Katsina and Adamawa states have also received their share of the insurgency brought by the present administration.
For Professor Kamilu Sani Fagge of the Department of Political Science, Bayero University Kano (BUK), the assessment of Buhari‘s administration is a mixture of positives and negatives.
According to him, when he assumed power, one of the serious problems facing Nigerians was the issue of Boko Haram and other crises like insecurity. However, his government was to some extent able to hold the bull by the horns, even though it did not address the issues totally.
He added that “his tenure came with the agenda of anti-corruption and at least in the first four years of his administration, we saw an attempt at addressing the issue of corruption to the extent that the country’s ranking in corruption globally came down for a while.
“You can also give it to him on the aspect of the spate of infrastructural development that sprang up in many places like that of the second Niger Bridge, construction of good road networks here and there, the proliferation of institutions in some places, these are some of the positive achievements one can say his tenure had achieved.
Professor Sani, however, added that there are so many negative aspects of the administration that would never be forgotten.
“A new dimension to insecurity emerged; kidnapping for ransom, IPOB, political violence, assassinations, among others.
“The issue of corruption also became a wildfire; it is now being perpetrated with impunity to the extent that it has blunted the little success his government was able to achieve.
“The most serious drop of President Buhari’s tenure in the last four years is the debt incurred. It will be recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was able to seek debt forgiveness from Paris Club, there and then, the Federal Government made a promise not to venture into borrowing huge amounts of loans again, but the reverse is the case,” he said.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune in Benin City, the Edo State capital, the immediate past Commissioner for Information and Communication, Chris Nehikhare, said that the country under President Buhari is worse off today than it was eight years ago.
“I am disappointed at the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s administrations because, from all available indices, he has not done well.
“Our naira has been seriously devalued and security is zero because it is worse than the way he met it; corruption is worse than the way it was in 2015 when he assumed office. He lacks compassion for Nigerians. Though he may have tried his best, it is not good enough for the country. So, I will rate him at 30 per cent,” he posited.
For Kola Edokpaiyi, Speaker of Talakawa Parliament, a human rights organisation based in Edo State, the administration of Buhari has not done enough to liberate the country from its precarious situation.
He said it is very obvious that in the areas of security, education and economy, he has performed below expectations.
“Our economy is in a state of disequilibrium and instead of the country moving forward, we are going backwards in all ramifications,” he said.
According to Honourable Eghosa Ogbemudia, the Buhari-led administration may not have done 100 per cent well, but he has done well in the area of security and non-interference with court election decisions.
Ogbemudia also agreed that the president has done relatively well in the provision of road infrastructure and the fight against corruption.
On his part, Nelson Oyenbuike said under President Buhari, Nigeria has seen the most ambitious legislative programme in its history, adding that several landmark bills have been passed and amended.
“The Buhari administration has extended more support than any other administration in the area of bailout packages to state governments, so that they can meet their salary and pension obligations, especially in the face of dwindling oil revenues,” he stated.
The National Vice President of Igbo sociocultural organisation, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Damian Ogene-Okeke, said that Nigerians did not achieve anything positive throughout President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office. He said the only achievements recorded are pains and sorrow.
Chief Ogene-Okeke, further stated that Buhari has no tangible achievements to point out throughout his stay in office but had instead decided to impose his success on Nigerians.
According to him: “In the first term, nothing of great importance can be pointed out as his achievements, same as in his second term.”
He told Sunday Tribune that the Buhari administration did not bring any new thing to the governance of the country, adding that “he failed in his campaign promises to Nigerians. What Nigerians gain as dividends of democracy in this present Nigeria are pain and sorrow; scarcity of naira old notes and the introduction of the new notes, rise in forex, increase in prices of petroleum products, kidnapping, killings, armed robbery, banditry, Boko Haram and activities of those that are called unknown gunmen across the country.
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) also declared that the eight years of Buhari’s administration have taken Nigeria backwards and has reversed its fortune, saying it is retrogressive and regrettable.
The National President of the Forum, Dr BitrusPogu, said the expectations of Nigerians were high in 2015 and that the myriad of challenges facing the country would fizzle out with President Buhari in power, adding that eight years down the line, Nigerians are still battling with the same problems.
He disclosed that “the eight years are retrogressive because all the indexes that I know, whether economic, security, enhancement of democracy and governance went backwards and shifted from the norms.
“In terms of insecurity, Boko Haram is still in place and people are still being killed more than when the president took over in 2015. Things are just getting worse all the time. I was in Jos, Plateau State, some days ago for a church programme and the pastor told us that they buried over 80 people who were killed by terrorists often referred to as gunmen, so insecurity is still staring Nigerians in the face.
“Nigerians voted for President Buhari in 2015 with the belief that he would bring his experience as a retired general to bear and arrest the situation within a short period, but the experience today is not palatable. It is getting worse every day. Imagine the number of people killed last week in Plateau State within a space of 24 hours.”
Dr Pogu added that “there is also a record of impunity in terms of obeying court orders. When you look at this area, there is no improvement. The Minister of Justice has done so many funny things here and there. They have passed judgments that even the common man on the street cannot understand. How do you give a ticket of a party to somebody who didn’t even purchase a nomination form?
“When you look at the electoral process that is supposed to produce somebody that will succeed them, it is also a sham and a disgrace to the country that despite our years of independence, we are still struggling to conduct credible elections. In terms of credible elections, we are supposed to be a shining example to other African countries, but we are not,” he said.
Dr AdetunjiOgunyemi, a lawyer, public affairs analyst and Associate Professor of Economic History at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, disclosed that Nigerians should feel relieved that the Buhari-led administration will soon be coming to an end and prayed that Nigerians never experience this kind of leadership again.
He said: “I think Nigerians should heave a sigh of relief that Buhari’s government will end in eight days, for having survived two things in the hands of the president. One, he has sharpened our frontlines and increased inter-ethnic tension. Two, he has increased into a very high pitch a nepotistic treatment such that people have had an unfair advantage for federal appointments and it is against Section 14 sub-section two of the constitution. Three, Nigerians hate themselves more now than they did in 1999. So, he has been a highly divisive figure in Nigerian history since independence.”
Ogunyemi said the economy has become almost completely ruined under Buhari’s tenure.
“During Buhari’s tenure, we have had a time that our economy has become almost completely ruined. May this kind of government not happen to Nigeria again, because, when we talk of inflation, it is now more than 22 per cent. The National Bureau of Statistics said it is 22.22 per cent. Talk of unemployment, it is more than a third; 33.3 per cent of Nigerians who are completely jobless. Not that they don’t want to work, they are qualified, but they don’t just have jobs.
“When you are talking of debt sustainability ratio and run the numbers, the capacity of Nigeria to sustain its debt profile. The debt profile of Nigeria is now 90 per cent of the total current revenue. In other words, we spend N9 out of every N10 we earn on servicing debt. We don’t have the capacity to pay the principal and how much are we owing? About N77 trillion. How much did we owe before he came in? we were owing only about N15 trillion. Now we are owing approximately N77 trillion. In terms of capacity to pay back our debt, this government has ruined Nigeria’s opportunity. That is why I am saying may this government never happen to us again,” he said.
He, however, gave accolades to the government in the area of infrastructural development mentioned of some of the achievements in the area like the completion of the second Niger Bridge, the proper running of the airports, railways, construction of roads, among others. He however said he would knock the government for not completing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway even though they weren’t the ones that started the project.
Associate Professor at the Federal University, Kebbi State, Dr Victoria Faleke, who also spoke with Sunday Tribune about her thoughts on the administration, did not share the saviour sentiments Nigerians had about Buhari in 2015 because she witnessed his rule as Head of State in 1983.
For her, the Buhari-led administration is a flop and one of the worst administrations in the history of Nigeria.
“The Buhari-led administration, as far as I am concerned, is a flop, one of the worst administrations in the history of our dear country. His administration is an insensitive one that popularized crime, all forms of vices, economic turndown, insecurity, sectarian crisis, tribal sentiments, nepotism, bad roads and incessant industrial actions, especially in our education and health sectors if not all the sectors. What’s more? It is an administration that recorded a high rate of death, the exodus of many Nigerian youths, one can go on and on,” she said.
A consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, Professor ‘Kunle Olawepo, observed that the Buhari-led administration inherited a myriad of problems from the previous administration and got an overwhelming endorsement based on its campaign promises.
He also stated that “In my view, insurgency in the North-Eastern part of the country reduced significantly but this was replaced by the spread of same to other parts of the country, especially North-West, North-Central and South-East, Kidnapping for ransom became the order of the day and ethnic militia at some point almost became the authorities in some parts of the country with numerous killings in a manner that was not previously known or experienced.
“Corruption also thrived unabatedly, especially in government circles and the paramilitary/security organizations. Also there were issues of abuse of fundamental rights and disrespect for the rule of law and some court rulings too were disobeyed outright.
He also agreed that there were a few infrastructural achievements, “the most notable ones arguably being the completion of the second Niger Bridge and also the rice production ‘revolution’ which helped significantly in cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown; these two stand tall and shall surely outlive the current administration.
“But again, youth unemployment and absence of social security thrived like a festering sore and increased astronomically. The continued depreciation of the value of the naira is another cause for concern as many businesses could not survive the choke. Industrial disharmony, especially in the health and education sectors of the country reached new heights under the watch of the outgoing administration too for matters that could have been sorted out without strikes,” he stated.
A cleric, Reverend Tamaraebi Siloko of the New Life Baptist Church, Abuja, corroborated the claims of many Nigerians that the administration did not deliver as promised.
According to him: “The Buhari administration, generally speaking, did not deliver what it promised. Now they are ending by putting the country into more problems by borrowing.
“They have done a little work on infrastructure, but mostly uncompleted. The only one that we can say they have done well is the second Niger Bridge which the previous administration started before they came on board.
“In the area of education, our educational system is worse than ever. Our health system is going down every day. I was at the hospital where someone I know was rushed and the hospital rejected the patient because they have limited bed space. The hospitals are not well equipped.
He also noted that during this administration, the war against corruption is very selective as corrupt members of the ruling party had their sins forgiven.
Professor Segun Ajibola, former President and Chairman of the Council of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), said the Buhari’s administration tried its best to improve what it met on ground.
According to him: “Buhari’s administration has done its bit in attempting to improve the status quo, but the administration was also confronted with several problems that are global in nature.
“There have been challenges from the global environment. We have had countries at war which affected some bilateral and multilateral trends, we have the problem of global inflation which has led to imported inflation in the country, especially highly import-dependent countries like ours.
“We have also had cases of the crisis in the global oil market, which has often affected foreign exchange earnings. As a country, over the decade, we have not succeeded in economic diversification, so there is still over-reliance on the oil sector, especially for foreign exchange.
“The stability in the global oil market has affected that which has also affected our foreign exchange reserves and with that, our high import-dependent nature for basic needs like food, medical consumables, spare parts, among others. So, because of that exposure to the foreign exchange market, it has affected the exchange rate.
“And when the exchange rate is affected in a highly import-dependent economy, it affects every other thing, including the poverty rate. So, we have seen that manifesting. There is also the challenge of insecurity.”
He, however, rated the government high in infrastructural development and submitted that a lot has been achieved in that dimension.
An oil and gas analyst, Bala Zakka, told Sunday Tribune that the outgoing government performed below the curve considering the perception Nigerians had of the president in 2015 and his performance in the last eight years.
He said: “We have less than two weeks for the exit. In situations like this, we compare the perception and the performance. Personally, the performance was below expectation and below the curve, but I am very happy with so many lessons that have been learnt. Looking at the various sectors now, this administration has not performed well in the area of insecurity, whether we talk about social security or security of investments.
“Social security in my context means issues that have to do with the security of lives and properties. And to a reasonable extent, there was an aggressive move to check and bring Boko Haram under control. But while that focus was there, splinter groups came up. Some replicas of Boko Haram came up.
“Then when we look at the springing of bandits and terrorists across the country, that was serious because it affected food security, because at some point, apart from cattle rustling and those who were now kidnapping for ransom and taking people into the bushes, so many of our youths that decided to be contented in the villages probably because they knew that urban areas were congested, they may not get jobs, insecurity, kidnapping chased them away from their farms. And to that extent, it has affected food security.
“When we talk about the area of energy, the government didn’t also do well. In the last eight years, I don’t think Nigeria has been able to generate electricity. I don’t have the statistics, but some people say we have experienced more than 100 collapses of the national grid.
“That means a lot because some industries are depending on the nature of their production, if there is light out unexpectedly, their production batches at that time will go to waste. In medical institutions, some operations require an uninterrupted power supply. It is clear that they didn’t do well, because a country of over 200 million proplr relying on less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity meanwhile, we have strategic industrial sectors, strategic commercial sectors and domestic sectors, relying on less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity, you don’t need anyone to tell you that you will never become industrialised.
“And when you want to rely on other sources of energy like generators, we know the cost of diesel. So, many of them could not afford it. Even petrol is expensive. And that is why people like me will never support the removal of subsidies.
“For the health sector, the resident doctors are on strike. We are now talking about the mass emigration of Nigerian medical practitioners. If the conditions were to be good, would they be leaving like that? I also want to say as far as the health sector is concerned, they didn’t do well.
“In the educational sector, we know how within this government, there was a deliberate move to break and destroy the unity of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and any government that will use its machinery to deliberately shut down and break some of its strong institutions, that means that government is not futuristic, visionary and is bereft of information or ideas that will lead to the advancement of education and technology.”
A lawyer, Mr FolaAmure, said President Buhari’s achievements in the past eight years are difficult to assess as nothing tangible can be mentioned.
He said only people in his political party will believe that he has achieved so much in the area of infrastructure in some parts of the nation, whereas it should have been spread across the country.
“Insecurity has affected economic production and is at its highest in the history of this nation, abduction of school children, kidnapping and so on. Buhari’s government has no answer to stemming the trend.
“The monetary system is replete with huge borrowing, increasing inflation, unemployment, hunger and nothing to justify the huge borrowing. Nigeria as big as it is cannot boast of an airline of its own.”
Dr Ridwan Lawal, Senior lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Lagos, told Sunday Tribune that President Buhari’s administration is the worst government in the history of the country in the area of education.
According to him: “In terms of the welfare of the academic staff and educational system as a whole, this is the worst government in the history of the country. However, we hope the incoming government led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu will replicate some of its success in the Lagos State system at the federal level.
Mr Anthony Dibie, a businessman who also scored Buhari’s government low said: ”The Buhari government scores poorly from my perspective considering the economic malaise Nigeria finds itself in today and seems to get worse each day. Inflation is at an all-time high of above 23 per cent which they say is official but the real inflation is almost double that.
“Look at how the introduction of the new notes was handled poorly. One would have expected that this government would do things differently but here we are.”
Reverend Olumide Olasunkanmi Israel, while speaking with Sunday Tribune, praised the government for its efforts as it is not easy to build on a bad structure. He said: “Buhari’s government is not a bad one because it is not so easy to build a structure that is already destroyed.”
Focusing on the foreign policy of Buhari’s administration, Mr Collins Carnice told Sunday Tribune that “the Buhari administration made worse the problem he met on ground. His foreign policy objectives weren’t in line with the essence of building our economy.
“He started with a wrong policy of no importation when he knows we can’t survive without foreign products. He should have settled agricultural adjustment and infrastructural development to be sure we can produce what we need most before adopting his policies of domestic product consumption. That alone led to so many negative impacts on other sectors of the political economy.
“So, I will say Buhari failed to fulfil his campaign promises of positive change. He gave us a positive change with an increase in poverty and corruption,” he said.
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The hashtag ‘Idan’ is the latest Nigerian street slang that has been trending on social media for…
Murphy Afolabi: 7 things you probably don’t know about late Nollywood actor
Nigerian sensational actor and filmmaker, Murphy Afolabi, reportedly died on Sunday, barely 24 hours after…
WEEK BRIEF: 10th NASS’ power tussle, Seun Kuti’s assault on police… other top news
THE ongoing tussle for the principal office positions of the 10th National Assembly by the top members All Progressives Congress (APC) has…
SPOTLIGHT: Dennis Bergkamp, ‘non-flying Dutchman’ blessed with unrivalled skill, technique
Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp, born on May 10, 1969, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is widely regarded as one of the…
Ph.D graduation of a Hausa-Yoruba Nigerian in America
Last Saturday, I attended the PhD graduation of a treasured mentee of mine by the name of Abdulbasit Kassim at Rice University in…
