Buhari

By Soyombo Opeyemi

“I believe we also need prayers in this country. Why is it now that we have a President Muhammadu Buhari that is committed to good governance and accountability that we are confronted with paucity of cash? Why has the price of oil chosen this momentous time to plummet to this level? Even if the new government achieves complete diversification of the economy, will it fructify overnight, in one, two or three years? Why should it be at this time that we have a highly conscientious and honest central government that we should have this kind of financial situation as a country? So we need prayers in this country.”

The above extract is from my piece, “Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: The Amosun Intervention”, published in the papers in November, 2015.

In an earlier article titled, “Buhari and Federal roads”, published in July, 2015, I observed that “It would seem an understatement for President Muhammadu Buhari to speak of inheriting an empty treasury. I think we should thank God that the President even met a treasury at all. With the monetary bonanza, bazaar and lottery that characterized the electioneering of the ruling party in the last general elections, we should be grateful to the almighty that both the purse and its contents had not disappeared altogether.”

As at the time of that publication in July, 2015, no one knew the magnitude of corruption of the previous government actually attained the unimaginable proportion of its officials sitting at a round table to share among themselves monies meant for all Nigerians. By then revelations about the arms scandal were yet to come to the fore.

I used to observe during the locust years that while the previous governments at least pretended to fight corruption, the Jonathan administration openly embraced it, in fact, with both hands! That damning assessment was based on what everyone could see at the time: the “killing” of corruption reports including fuel subsidy scam, official protection accorded the corrupt officials (sometimes against investigation), conversion of the country’s cash cow, the NNPC, to slush funds and the election bazaar mentioned above.

Have all these facts receded from the memories of citizens so soon? The Nigerian economy has now become a football match in which every compatriot usually assumes the role of a coach. Suddenly, every Tom, Dick and Harry has become an economist, taking to the guillotine the Buhari administration.
These trying times are actually the best period for political opportunists to engage in mobilisation of mass hysteria on poverty in the land, as if privation suddenly dropped from Mars or Jupiter to Nigeria.

Was it President Muhammadu Buhari that forced oil prices to crash in the international market? Is it Buhari that is sponsoring the militants blowing up oil and gas pipelines such that production plunged from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.6 million, worse at the time oil rose to some 50 dollars per barrel? Prices crashed yet you had little or nothing to sell and when prices began to rise, you still had little or nothing to sell. What magic will then bring money to your pocket?

Another vacuous claim of political opportunists, some of them in the garb of economists, is that Buhari has no economic team and direction?

What direction does a mono-economy need other than diversification? Do we need to import economic experts from Mars or Jupiter before we know that the solution to the current economic difficulties is diversification, investment in the real sectors of the economy – agriculture, (agriculture, agriculture!) mining and manufacturing?

There are no quick fixes. From time immemorial, economists have never agreed among themselves on economic choices. There are consequences for any economic decision you make, for instance, between regulation and liberalization. But there is no disputation as regards the results of a production-based economy, which is what Nigeria needs now. We need to produce, produce and produce rather than the mindless importation we are accustomed to. This is what will engage the unemployed youths and raise the standard of living of the populace.

And this has been the emphasis of the Buhari administration. We must all return to agriculture, mine the solid minerals in the bowels of our land and restore the manufacturing sector. Unfortunately, you cannot get results in all of these overnight. Every business has a period of gestation. If we failed as a nation to invest in all these when oil sold at over 130 dollars per barrel, how much investment are we capable of making now when oil is about 30 dollars per barrel? Of course, it is not as if the Federal Government is not doing anything to stimulate economic activities and reduce poverty.

I can testify to the efforts being made by the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in ensuring that the School Feeding Programme of the Buhari administration kicks off this September when children resume school. Thousands of school vendors are being recruited and trained by the Ministry of Special Duties headed by Barr Leke Adewolu. The vendors are equally undergoing medical tests to be sure our children get the very ‘best of service delivery’. I understand President Buhari has already set aside billions of naira for this scheme and other social schemes that are simultaneously being rolled out in all the states of the federation. These will boost economic activities at the local level and raise the standard of living of the masses.

We must not allow political demagogues, economic revisionists and anti-democratic forces who are wolves in sheep’s clothing to change the narratives, as they have been doing in recent times in the media. We know all those that brought Nigeria to its knees economically. We should direct our anger to them while we encourage the new government of President Buhari to take us on the road to recovery.

We should not expect magic but we can trust God for miracles. The previous governments sowed the wind and we all are now reaping the whirlwind. That path to recovery may not be an easy one but with Buhari’s single-minded commitment and passion for accountability, the road to economic recovery will be shorter than imagined.

As he has been doing, President Buhari should continue to listen to Nigerians from all walks of life, who offer genuine pieces of advice, not those who wish to score an offside goal against the current administration and set the masses against the government. We should not allow those that brought us to this sorry pass to score cheap political points, subvert the system and undermine the current democratic dispensation. Vigilance is the price of liberty. We all should give our unalloyed support to the present government and play our part in order to restore the glory of Nigeria.

Soyombo Opeyemi, Special Assistant on Media to Ogun State governor, sent this piece via [email protected]