- Your party is clueless – Angry citizens
- 2017’ll be tougher – Onovo
As the year 2016 grinds to a close, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has appealed to Nigerians to expect the positive results of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s efforts in the first half of 2017.
He said, in an exclusive chat with The Point that the economy’s recovery process seemed to be slow because the administration was building the economy from the scratch.
Odigie-Oyegun noted that the primary concern of the President, and indeed, the party, was the welfare of Nigerians, adding that, in seeing to their welfare, there was the need to build from scratch, a completely new and virile economy.
He said, “We are very conscious of the current deprivation, but we want to assure Nigerians that, before the middle of next year, they will begin to see signs that the things President Buhari has started will begin to yield fruits.
We have a past administration that totally destroyed our nation and we have to totally rebuild it. If you bring down a house and want to start rebuilding it, it is more difficult
than when you pick a flat piece of land for a new structure
“We have a past administration that totally destroyed our nation and we have to totally rebuild it. If you bring down a house and want to start rebuilding it, it is more difficult
than when you pick a flat piece of land for a new structure.
That is the challenge, but the President and the party are working to ensure that, from next year, things will be much better.” But Odigie-Oyegun was quick to add that the party was not promising total recovery in 2017, saying, “I would not say things would normalise in your words, because no country can attain that state where everything would be perfect. But by next year, we would begin to see the fruits of President Buhari’s actions and things would be much better.”
The APC chairman said this just as public affairs analysts and other stakeholders have said that complaining about a battered economy, 19 months after taking the reins of leadership, does not present the APC as a party, which has the right minds to drive sustainable development.
According to them, 19 months into the first tenure of the Buhariled administration, none of the promises made to Nigerians, save the fight against corruption, believed in some quarters to be lopsided, has been fulfilled.
They argued that, rather than enjoy the fruits of a sound economy as promised, the administration has only succeeded, so far, in making millions of Nigerians despondent
and hundreds of thousands of businesses comatose.
While noting that some of the promises made to Nigerians by the current administration were somewhat tall orders, there was a consensus that some could have been achieved if only the government had them well thought and planned out before assuming office.
A former president of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Maxi Ohuabunwa, gave the administration a below average mark, saying that “the anti-corruption war is on, security is one-sided and the economy is down.”
Ohuabunwa, who noted that the President was focusing on three areas – security, economy and job creation – said that, while there were other areas in dire need of attention, the administration could be said to have done well with security and corruption.
He said, “If we look at security, effort is being made to contain the Boko Haram insurgency in the North, and it is clear that progress is being made. But in the rest of the
country, the security situation has not improved in terms of armed robbery, kidnapping, assassination and so on.
“So, I would say that the government has only done one part, but in terms of maintaining internal peace, it is still work in progress. And on anti-corruption, there has been no conviction, just as we hope the fight would be holistic,instead of a one-party affair.”
Other respondents, however, bemoaned the fact that the administration seemed confused, saying it lacked a clear direction on how to get out of the difficult situation the country had been pushed into.
A prominent chieftain of the APC in Lagos, who pleaded anonymity because he intends to contest the chairmanship of a local government in the forthcoming local government poll, carpeted the Buhari administration over what he termed under-performance.
He told The Point that, he and many others who supported the APC and Buhari in 2014/2015 were now regretting their actions, because they had disappointed Nigerians.
He said, “It is a big disappointment. We supported the President and APC, believing they would make a difference, but the opposite is the case. We can no longer hold our heads high in our areas now, because our party and our President have disappointed us beyond
comprehension.
“I am not surprised that people now call our party ‘All Promises Cancelled’, as a result of our inability to fulfil at least one of the major promises made to Nigerians. Even the anti-corruption war had long been derailed the moment Buhari could not prosecute Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy to conclusion over the many allegations levelled against them.”
In his assessment, a former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, Capt. Tunji Shelle, noted that President Buhari and the APC were just doing “what pleases them.”
He observed that it was more disturbing that they did not want to be corrected or reminded of what they promised Nigerians or should even do.
“For now, I am actually on sabbatical. I have said that I don’t want to comment until a new Nigeria evolves. Buhari and APC do not want to be corrected or chastised.
If one talks now, they will say they have not been given enough time to put their acts together. So we want to give them time. By this time next year, we would be able to
give a proper assessment,” he told The Point.
In the same vein, the current Chairman of the PDP in Lagos State, Moshood Salvador, dismissed all the campaign promises of President Buhari as “empty promises.”
He said that it was now clear that the President and his co-travellers in the administration were clueless, with no idea of what governance was about.
“Talk of how to apply policies or formulate policies, you can see they are confused. So they don’t need to tell you that they cannot satisfy any of the promises. We only pray to God to help us manage them for four years before we throw them away,” he said.
An executive director in one of the high flying banks in Nigeria, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, regretted going all out to campaign for APC in the last presidential election.
He said, “Everything that is happening currently in the economy and especially in this sector, shows that they lack direction.
“I have been ashamed to be active on facebook now because of how aggressive I was during the campaign. I don’t think next year will be better unless there is a magic.
Even if the president reshuffles the cabinet, it is the same clueless people that will choose for him.”
The major promises Top on the list of the fantastic promises the APC made to Nigerians
was reducing the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, which was sold
prior to the Buhari Presidency at N86 per litre, to N45 per litre.
On the contrary, however, in less than 15 months after taking over, the administration increased the pump price of a litre of PMS to N145, about 59.3 per cent hike and about 322.2 per cent increase on the price promised Nigerians.
Another promise made was the payment of N5, 000 as stipend to about 23 million Nigerians monthly.
This was to be fashioned after the United States’ social security stipend for the unemployed. Unfortunately, however, that has remained a promise, yet to see the
light of the day.
The administration had since openly told Nigerians that it would not be able to implement
that policy, citing paucity of funds as the reason behind the volte face. Buhari and APC also promised Nigerians that primary school pupils in all public schools across the country would be eligible for one free meal, which would include fruits, every school day. But to
date, no single pupil in any public school across the country has been given a free meal, many of those who spoke to The Point observed.
The President promised to strengthen the naira and stabilise it against other foreign currencies.
Unfortunately, rather than strengthen the naira, it has continued on a free fall since he assumed office.
Shortly before May, 2015, the naira exchanged for less than N200 to the dollar. But today, it exchanges for almost N500 at the parallel market and about N400 at the official
market.
This has not only made life unbearable for average Nigerians but has also led to the hike in the price of almost every commodity in the country.
Talk of how to apply policies or formulate policies, you can see they are confused. So they don’t need to tell you that they cannot satisfy any of the promises. We only pray to God to help us manage them for four years before we throw them away
The Chairman, Shokam Motors, Alhaji Kameel Adeniyi, said, “President Buhari also promised to revive Nigeria’s four refineries and build more within one year in office to stop the importation of refined petroleum products.
“Today, not only do we depend on imported refined petroleum products for local consumption, none of the refineries has been put in proper shape for optimum production of refined petroleum products.
He added, “Oyegun should not deceive Nigerians. On the economic front, over three million jobs have been lost since the present administration came on board. This is
contrary to the promise of creating three million jobs every year.
“Rather than create jobs, Nigerians who were gainfully employed before the advent of the Buhari presidency have continued to lose such jobs in droves.”
