In the nation’s capital, Abuja, tragedy was averted at Wuse Market when a woman was almost lynched by an irate youth for attempting to sweep the front of her shop with a broom. This, they insisted, offended their sensibilities, as the broom, a symbol in the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s logo used by the party in literally sweeping the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) out of power, reminds them of the failed promises of the party.
The story is not different at Mpape as well as Mararaba – one of the most densely populated suburbs around Abuja – where overzealous youths are ready to lynch anyone that uses the slogan ‘Sai Baba’, which was used by the President’s admirers before and immediately after the polls.
Narrating his ordeal, a job seeker who escaped being lynched told our correspondent that but for timely intervention of well-meaning Nigerians in the area; it would have been a different story.
“My brother, I couldn’t believe what I went through in the hands of motorcycle riders when I jokingly said ‘Sai Baba’. They are disenchanted and the mention of ‘Sai Baba’ could send you to the grave in an area like Mararaba. There is anger in the land”, the job seeker who simply gave his name as Chidi recounted.
Indeed, discontent, displeasure, dissatisfaction, disgruntlement, uneasiness and disquiet are the most common words to describe the feelings of Nigerians towards the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Eleven (11) months since assumption of office, Nigerians are yet to see the real change they voted for on March 28, 2015, as the situation has gone from bad to worse.
While some of the President’s ardent supporters have urged Nigerians to give the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government more time, pointing out that Rome was not built in a day and that 11 months represents only 22.9 percent of the 48 months tenure of the administration, his critics say the present economic hardship occasioned by a spiralling slide in crude oil prices, lingering fuel crisis, naira depreciation, rising inflation are clear indicators of bad omen and direct offshoots of maladministration.
Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter, and almost 90 percent of its export earnings are tied to oil. Sixty percent of the population lives in extreme poverty, youth unemployment is close to 80 percent and on top of that the nation is bedevilled by insurgency, lingering fuel scarcity, epileptic power supply, amongst others.
Some of the unfulfilled APC campaign promises include ending Boko Haram within three months; creation of a social welfare programme of at least N5,000 that will cater for the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens; payment of N5,000 stipend to unemployed Nigerian youths; one free meal per day for public primary school pupils; revival of Ajaokuta Steel Company, amongst others.
A political analyst who spoke to a reporter of BusinessDay on condition of anonymity, said the current economic situation buttresses the argument that the APC government was either ill-prepared for governance or overwhelmed by the challenges.
This, he pointed out, explains why the government kept blaming the Jonathan administration for hardships faced by Nigerians at assumption of office.
“In the face of hardships faced by Nigerians, Buhari’s handlers have come to realise that criticising Jonathan doesn’t sell. There is a limit to which they attribute all the blames on Jonathan. Nigerians are tired of excuses and they want to see action”, he said.
However, pleas to Nigerians to give the present government more time to deliver on its campaign promises by Information Minister, Lai Mohammed and APC National Leader, Bola Tinubu have fallen on deaf ears as civil society organisations have started mobilising against the government.
For instance, the Campaign for Democracy has given the President up till April 6 within which to address Nigerians on the cause of the acute fuel shortage across the country or risk a mass protest.
President of the group, Ifeanyi Odili, in a statement issued in Abuja, called on Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, address the nation on why his administration had subjected the citizenry to serious hardship as a result of the current fuel scarcity.
He said: “The CD has began a senstization of Nigerian masses towards a defiance act whereof Nigerian workers will be asked to sit at home pending the solution to the problem because they are now trekking kilometres everyday to the respective places of work across the country.
“This is unacceptable; hence, civil disobedience has become inevitable because since the price of fuel soared beyond the reach of average Nigerian there has not been cogent reason given by the presidency on why Nigerians can no longer access it.”
Another civil society group, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, lamented that the present had yet to adopt any economic policy that could save the nation’s currency from further slide against the major international currencies.
PLAC Executive Director, Clement Nwankwo, therefore, challenged federal lawmakers to be alive to their responsibilities of checking the executive.
He described the failure of the President to devalue the naira as a serious economic blunder that will further make the nation’s currency weak against the major foreign currency.
He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari, said he was not going to devalue the naira but everybody in this country, everybody in the World has devalued the naira. If you go to a supermarket, it is not the value of naira that you buy a particular product four or five weeks ago that you will buy it today, the price would have changed.
“In effect, the currency has been devalued. The foreign airlines are not selling tickets in naira. They will insist that you buy it in dollar or you will pay at their devalued rate, which is the black market rate.”
“This President is way behind. What happened when the president keep on saying that he would not devalue the naira is that he is destroying the naira further because people are just speculating on the value of the naira, deciding on their own devalued rate and applying it in the market some as much as 100 percent.
“If you want to rent a house that was built in 1980 and the landlord is telling you the value of the naira, he had increased his rent.
“Quite frankly, I think this should not get into desperation and frustration in the population. People are really worried on where this country is headed. This president needs to pause and think about where we are.”
Nwankwo said, going by realities on ground, Buhari’s economic policy for now was “warehousing naira and nothing more.”
He lamented that Buhari’s repeated stance against devaluation of the naira in the face of glaring economic recession, has been, on daily basis, injuring the nation’s currency.
In a swift reaction, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, argues that the blame should not heaped on the Federal Government alone.
According to him, the economic blueprint of the present government focuses on boosting the local manufacturing sector, agriculture, employment creation aimed at stimulating the manufacturing sector.
“The harsh economic situation is not a creation of the Federal Government. States and local governments should take the blame when they fail to pay salaries and provide other social services expected by the citizenry”.
As the present administration clocks one year in office on May 29, analysts say what Nigerians want from the government is not excuses or buck passing but delivering the holistic change promised Nigerians in the build up to last year’s general election.
