Buhari: Why 100 days is important

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 : NIRAN ADEDOKUN
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Niran Adedokun
I should start with a few clarifications: I am not a pathological critic of President Muhammadu Buhari. As a matter of fact, I would rather not be called his critic. True, I have never been his fan, but as President of Nigeria, I hold no other sentiment but well wishes for Buhari. Nothing would gladden my heart than for us to, at the end of his first four years, be able to congratulate ourselves for the revival of the country.

Now for that to happen, every one of us has a role to play. What is considered to be the unceasing criticism of this government is therefore the fulfillment of my civic responsibility as a Nigerian who loves his country and wants the best for it. I hope this assuages the minds of uncritical supporters of the President who imagine that some people are sworn to picking on him.

On July 2, 2015, an article appraising the first 30 days of President Muhammadu Buhari in office was published in this column. Before the end of that day, I got what is very much a stinker from a reader who felt offended by my stance. The man, apparently an expatriate, sent me an email in which he went on about the unfairness of assessing the government after 30 days; how even developed countries would wait for 100 days and how he suspected that I was commissioned by the “inglorious opposition.”

But for the suggestion of inducement, I would have regarded this intervention as the legitimate feeling of a reader, but that insinuation blew a fuse and I told him so, explaining that contributions like mine are what make democratic societies grow. Since then, two months have blown past and we are at the 100 day mark that people like this reader set for a reasonable assessment of any administration!

Unfortunately, the President and his party are shifting the post again. A piece by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu Garba, summarily told Nigerians how unfair it would be to judge the President in 100 days, disowned documents (purported to have emanated from Buhari’s campaign office) making a covenant of accomplishments within 100 days with Nigerians.

While not disputing the fact that 100 days is indeed a long period, he explained that the government “inherited enormous problems created by the tainted Peoples Democratic Party administration …” and went ahead to list a few ways in which the young administration has impacted positively.

Then on Monday, the All Progressives Congress through its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that Buhari did not promise to do anything within his first 100 days in office.

According to him, “Buhari never promised to do anything in 100 days… when you are running a campaign, all kinds of literature will emerge from all sorts of groups but there are only two documents that you can judge a party with: That is the constitution and the manifesto of the party…”

Which is where I disagree with the APC and the Presidency? Unlike they infer, an assessment of the first 100 days of the administration is not necessarily a judgment of the government. As President Barack Obama of the United States said when he first took office in January 2009: “the first 100 days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first 1,000 days that makes the difference.” What is important is that you start, give the people a sense of direction and speak to them about where you are going? Not even the worn out excuse of the rot left by the previous administration cut ice any longer. Governments are elected to solve problems and rather than dwell on the challenges that make progress difficult, you should provide viable alternatives such that you can render periodic accounts. And that brings me to the origin of the first 100 days as a landmark for preliminary assessment of governments.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the United States of America in 1933, he faced a more difficult situation in the Great Depression. According to historian, Anthony Badger, in the book, FDR: The First Hundred Days: “When Roosevelt took power on March 4, 1933, many influential Americans doubted the capacity of a democratic government to act decisively enough to save the country.”

Records indicate that at this period, banks were shutting down, depositors were losing their life’s savings, and businesses were running out of enough cash to keep going. At least 25 per cent of American workers were unemployed. There was hunger all over the land. It was considered a catastrophe.

But when he was sworn in on March 4, 1933, FDR said in his inaugural speech: “This nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require”

He marched words with actions. Within his first one hundred days, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu records that: “… he pushed 15 major bills through Congress. The bills would reshape every aspect of the economy, from banking and industry to agriculture and social welfare. The President promised decisive action. He called Congress into special session and demanded “broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.” The success attained by FDR in 100 days became a worldwide milestone for leaders.

Another reason why the first 100 days is important is the believe that the President is still able to have a good hold of the legislature within this period as altercations between both arms of government are common and usually become an impediment to the delivery of good governance. Secondly, in environments like ours where scheming for elections four years down the line start in earnest after the conclusion of one, politicians do not have the luxury of time to be slow and steady.

Unfortunately this administration has not even started on that front. It has lost every opportunity to consummate a healthy relationship with the National Assembly, which is ironically led by the same APC. In addition to that, the government has not put the structure that will drive the vehicle of governance in place within 100 days. This is in spite of the monumental level of unemployment, insecurity, corruption and social economic disillusionment in the land and the messianic hope retained in the Buhari administration.

Last week, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that unemployment rose by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2015. The stock exchange has not seen much stability over the past few months while inflation in July remained at all-time high of 9.2 per cent. The government has in the period talked tough about its war against corruption but you cannot say that the war kicked off in spite of the boggling accusations being bandied around. It is gratifying to hear of valiant incursions into the territories of insurgents by our armed forces, but tens of people are still being killed by Boko Haram weekly and we are not closer to finding the girls kidnapped from the Chibok community 16 months ago than we were three months back. We have seen a lot of personnel, some of the long overdue but efforts must be made to build strong institutions rather than individuals, just as government must return to the table of equity and fair play for every part of the country.

This administration will be deceiving itself to think it has so much time on its hands. Soon, politicians will pick up their games and it would be impossible for any serious business of government to take place.There is so much Buhari’s administration can do to redefine Nigeria’s future in the next four years but there is hardly any time to waste.

As former American President John F. Kennedy was once quoted as saying: “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days . . .nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin,” President Buhari needs to start now!

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President Reagan laid a solid foundation for his successful government