Nigeria, testing Buhari’s will

Not a few Nigerians who voted for President Muhamadu Buhari as President, are presently worried over the prolonged state of distress in several areas of national life. Here is a man who enjoyed the rare privilege of high rating in office even before standing for election; courtesy of his record of a previous stint on the national stage as Nigeria’s military head of state between 1983 and 1985. It is to the credit of his Spartan disposition to both personal life and public conduct that many Nigerians considered him the choice for reversing the dwindling fortunes of the country, if voted into office as president. They had, therefore, hoped that with such antecedents he would tame the system with a magic wand.
Since his advent as the country’s democratically elected president (now in its tenth month) much of such expectations are yet to materialise. Rather in some areas of the nation’s life things are even getting worse by the day with the general populace wondering whether such dip in fortunes would last just for a season or longer.
It must therefore be challenging to many of such citizens as they may be wondering why even with PMB things can get this far. Indeed for some of them, hardly has the state of affairs in the country changed for the better since the inception of the present administration. So much they would say, for an administration that came into office with the promise of change.
Typical instances of stark privations in the quality of life of the people are rife. For instance, in the power sector Nigerians are lamenting the agonies associated with rising power tariffs in the face of dwindling power supply. Shortage of petroleum products and the attendant fuel queues have bedeviled the country as an incubus, which has defied all efforts to exorcise, leaving the country men and women unable to distinguish between the policies in that respect between the immediate past government and the present one. For those with a taste for the imported and exotic goods and associated life style that cannot be sustained with the naira, the craze for the dollar drove its exchange rate for the local currency to an unprecedented price of N400 per US dollar.
On the security front, however, good news has been the lot of Nigerians with the steady advances of the gallant armed forces and police in their efforts to clear out the ravages of the insurgents from Nigerian soil. Also heart-warming is the story from the police end over the abduction saga where the daring efforts of the men and officers changed the picture in the spine chilling child abduction story linking Bayelsa and Kano states. But for deft diplomacy of the police, it would have been another messy chapter in the nation’s history.
Meanwhile, unforgettable is the yet to be unraveled conundrum of budget padding which hit the Buhari administration like an unexpected broadside in a sea battle between warships. A less than discrete look at the national scene will read a flip flop picture of the state of affairs.
The conundrum to many Nigerians is that all of these are happening even with a Buhari on seat. Some are even asking what would have been the case if he were not on the stage. Trust Nigerians to be asking where is the Buhari of 1983 to ’85.
As a relief to them, the recent arrests and arraignment of some key officials of the previous administration should be a pointer that after all the Buhari factor is not all vanished. That is why it should
Yet the truth of the matter is that the situation is not about Buhari. Rather it is about Nigeria, with different actors playing different roles as suit their individual fancies.
It is not in the character of miscreants to change from misconduct only by the advent of a strong willed leader. It is even possible that the reputation of a leader as strong willed one, can even attract spontaneous belligerence and resistance for him. Such is the scenario which Buhari may possibly be facing from Nigerians who are nursing sundry expectations, from him.
In the light of the foregoing, Nigerians should not lose hope as the whole scenario is just a playout of what the country of Buhari and the rest of us have descended into. That is why the arrest of a ‘big man’ for ‘chopping government money’ makes headlines and pits the president as a wicked man. Meanwhile, as at when the crime was being committed by the ‘big man’ he may have been considered untouchable.
It is against such a backdrop that hope exists that afterall the Buhari Spartan will may still be useful even in the present dispensation. All that is required is a new paradigm of leadership where his will is modulated by a new spirit of leadership. And as has been stated earlier on this column and in several other fora, the starting point remains a drastic reform of the public sector, which the president is unfortunately a bit slow about.
The fact is that PMB inherited a compromised country which needs to be fixed, just as it was in 1983. The same scenario inspired the 1966 coup plotters, to strike even though they mismanaged the outcome out of inexperience and launched the country into a protracted and costly crisis.
With his return to office and power, Buhari has only one task which is to demonstrate to Nigerians that the expectations they have of him are still valid. Can Nigerians still trust his Spartan will to act in tune with propriety?