[b][/b]After the bruhaha that followed President
Muhammadu Buhari 100 days in office by the
ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
Nigerians believe the time has come for
President Muhammadu Buhari to fully settle
down to deliver on his electoral promises and
ensure good governance in the country. In this
report, GEORGE OJI, ROTIMI FADEYI, OMEZIA
AJAYI and UBONG UKPONG spotlight areas of
critical and immediate attention for Buhari to
focus on.
President Muhammadu Buhari just completed
his first 100 days in office as a democratically
elected President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Ideally, the event should have been used
by the President and the ruling All Progressive
Congress, APC, to show case the works and
achievements of the President within the period.
What Nigerians witnessed rather unfortunately,
was media controversies, which pitched the
ruling party against the opposition People’s
Democratic Party, PDP. While the PDP called for
evidence-based progress report of the dividend
of the Buhari administration in the past 100
days, the ruling APC expended greater energies
telling Nigerians that President Buhari did not
commit to any specific achievements within his
first 100 days in Office.
The event was further marked by accusations
and counter accusations over the
mismanagement of the nation’s economy within
the period under review.
For instance, while the opposition PDP insisted
that Nigeria’s economy witnessed the worst
growth within the first 100 days of the APC
government, the ruling party claimed that it
would have had enough resources to deliver on
its electoral promises to Nigerians, safe for the
massive looting of the nation’s treasury by the
PDP government it succeeded.
Now that the epochal and symbolic 100 days in
office has come and gone, Nigerians do not want
to be further regaled with bulk-passing stories.
Nigerians expect the President to now sit down,
put his acts together and begin to deliver on his
electoral promises, which were the basis for the
change they voted for.
Enough of the blame game between the PDP
and the APC
Nigerians voted for change during the last
general elections. Arising from that, the belief of
every Nigerian is that the change must result in
good governance, different from the corrupt and
clueless one perpetrated by the past PDP
government. Nothing more is acceptable.
Here are some of the areas Nigerians would
want the President to concentrate his energies
on to ensure he delivers on good governance.
Insecurity
For Nigerians and indeed international
community, the problem of insecurity ravaging
the country remains one of the biggest
challenges that President Buhari would have to
contain with, if he must have anything to call
achievement in his administration.
Having inherited a country plagued with security
problems, citizens do not seem to have patience
with Buhari’s approaches to handling the
problems after 100 days in office, which negate
their bargains before the election.
Buhari and APC, had promised to tackle
insecurity, especially the Boko Haram
insurgency, but it appears that Buhari does not
seem to have achieved reasonable successes yet
in tackling the security challenges in the country.
Upon his assumption of office, Buhari
marshalled out directives, policies and strategies
with the first being the relocation of the Military
High Command and Control Centre to Maiduguri,
Borno State, the heart of the insurgency as well
as dismantling of military checkpoints.
These followed a total resurgence of the
insurgency, as, after a very long bomb blast
holiday across the country; his administration
witnessed its first bomb blast on May 30, a day
after he was sworn in on May 29. And from that
moment, till date, bombings and attacks by Boko
Haram had persisted.
For a long time before Buhari’s Presidency, the
military had reduced the Boko Haram to mere
thieves, with its leader, Abubakar Shekau fleeing
into hiding, and was quiet, while speculations
about his death rife.
The group stayed all those times without a
leader, but only few weeks ago, the President of
Chad, Idris Debby, announced that Boko Haram
had a new leader replacing Shekau, and that the
new man is so much yearning for dialogue. Few
days after, Shekau spoke that he was still alive
and around and that he never had any
replacement.
Thus, with three months of Buhari’s
administration, it appeared that the Boko Haram
was making some reversals and Buhari has the
challenge of stopping these reversals and must
ensure stable successes in the theatre.
The challenge of resettling the Internally
Displaced Persons, IDPs, and rebuilding the
destroyed communities must be given priority to
prevent the attendant conflicts.
Experts have recommended that government
must being the processes of rebuilding
communities destroyed by terrorism in the
North East so that displaced Nigerians could
begin to return home.
It has been discovered from available records
that there are presently 27 official Camps
coordinated by NEMA where internally displaced
persons were being camped, comprising the 16
camps in Borno State, four in Adamawa, four in
Yobe, one in Edo, one in FCT and one in Plateau
State.
Concerning the over 200 girls of Government
Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State,
abducted since April 14, 2014, from the school
by Boko Haram insurgents, who are still in
captivity, Buhari must find them and early too.
No excuses whatsoever would be accepted by
Nigerians over the controversial abduction of
over five hundred days ago, because the
President assured that he had what it take to
bring them back, a basis for his victory at the
polls.
Having assumed power, it is about 100 days now,
but there has been no tangible efforts or
information about the missing girls.
For about one 100 days now into Buhari’s
administration, the Chibok schoolgirls, which
Jonathan could not find and rescue before
leaving office have not been treated as a priority
issue by the APC and Buhari as promised during
the campaigns.
Security sources have continued to doubt the
claim, even some politicians, y were very careful
not to call it a fraud and incur the wrath of the
people who could not stand such
pronouncement as human lives were involved.
It is therefore a big challenge ahead of the
President to ensure that these girls are found
and sanity restored to the country.
Recovery of looted funds
Shortly after taking over government from
former President Goodluck Jonathan, President
Buhari had vowed to recover about $150 billion
which he said was stolen from the country by
government officials who abused their offices in
recent past.
Specifically at his maiden meeting with the state
governors on June 23 at the Presidential Villa,
Buhari who had earlier lamented that he
inherited an empty treasury, said his
administration would stop all systemic leakages.
Buhari maintained that the days of impunity, lack
of accountability, and fiscal recklessness in the
management of national resources are over
saying that the situation was worse than what
happened in the Second Republic
The President had earlier before the meeting
with the state governors lamented that he
inherited an empty treasury and debts running
into millions of dollars
Buhari had said, “there are financial and
administrative instructions in every government
agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in
the past. Honestly, our problems are great, but
we will do our best to surmount them”
He declared that the payment of national
revenue into any account other than the
Federation Account was an abuse of the
constitution.
The President said what had been going on in
many agencies and corporations, particularly the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,
was clearly illegal
Buhari regretted that the impunity, lack of
accountability and financial recklessness in the
management of national resources by the past
administration threw the country into a situation
that is worse than what happened in the Second
Republic.
“We will try and put the system back into the
right position. What happened in the 2nd
Republic has apparently happened again, and
even worse, but we will restore sanity to the
system,”
The President also declared that the payment of
national revenue into any account other than the
Federation Account was an abuse of the
constitution, soliciting the assistance of foreign
countries to recover the stolen fund.
When he met with President Barack Obama,
during his four- day official trip to the United
States, Buhari had pleaded for assistance to
recover the $150 billion stolen money from the
country. Obama pledged to assist Nigeria in its
economic growth as well as in the area of
security by providing technical support to
overcome insurgency in the North East region of
the country, particularly the menace of Boko
Haram sect.
Ministerial appointment
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to an­
nounce his cabinet members this month as he
promised Nigerians.
It was only last month and after Nigerians waited
for about three months with bated breath Buhari
made some key appointments to pilot the affairs
his government.
While announcing the appointment through his
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi
Adesina, the President named Babachi David
Lawal as Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, SGF and Abba Kyari as his Chief of
Staff.
The President also named Colonel Hameed Ali
(rtd) as Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs
Service; Kure Martin Abechi as Comptroller-
General, Nigerian Immigration Service; Senator
Ita Enang as Senior Special Assistant to the
President on National Assembly (Senate) and
Suleiman Kawu as Senior Special Assistant to the
President on National Assembly Matters (House
of Representatives).
However, the reactions that trailed the
appointments showed that many Nigerians and
groups particularly from the Western and
Eastern part of the country were not satisfied
with the appointments, arguing that it does not
reflect Federal Character.
As the President is expected to announce his
cabinet members this month, he had earlier
disclosed that his administration would bring on
board people of high integrity, upright and of
high moral standing. This many believed has
delayed the appointment of ministers and the
setting up of his cabinet as Buhari is said to be
looking for the kind of people that he can work
with to realise the objectives of his
administration.
However, with the body language of the
President, there are opinions that people that
would be appointed to the cabinet may be his
contemporary, people he had worked with
before.
Although the appointment of members of his
cabinet is expected to be made this month, the
earlier appointments into key positions in his
government had generated a lot of controversies
as many Nigerians particularly from the Western
and Eastern parts of the country said they were
in favour of the North and that the principle of
Federal Character was not reflected.
The President through his Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said nobody
can fault the fact that those that had been
appointed are competent and that their
appointments were based on merit. He however,
explained that the President was aware of
Federal Character and that the appointments
would be balanced by the time he made more
appointments this month.
Adesina said: “Nobody can fault the fact that the
persons appointed were appointed on merits. In
terms of the spread, the President has
prerogative to appoint and he knows there is
federal character. I am sure that there will be
balance in the future. These are still early days.
At the end of the day, we will have a balance. By
the time more appointments are made, it will
balance out. The President is trying to get the
very best of Nigerians, key positions and no key
positions should not be the issue”.
Probe of the oil and power sector
President Buhari has already beamed
searchlight on the oil sector in the country
particularly because of the fact that the country
derives most of its revenue from oil, promising
that his administration was committed to reform
the oil sector and tackle widespread graft and
waste as well as streamline the nation’s oil and
gas sector to boost revenues and get Africa’s
biggest crude producer on a firmer financial
footing.
As a first step, Buhari had already made
sweeping changes in the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, by dissolving the
board while Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu was
appointed Group Managing Director, GMD to
replace Joseph Dahwa.
Also at the maiden meeting with state governors,
Buhari made cleaning up of the oil sector a
priority when he set up a panel made up of four
governors to look into the accounts of the NNPC
and to find out why billions of dollars in oil
revenue were allegedly not paid into government
coffers.
The administration is also looking into the
Offshore Processing Agreements, OPAs, Joint
Venture and crude oil swap deals while few
companies who have been involved in swap
deals are being investigated by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Already, the NNPC has begun the process of
recovering over $7 billion in over-deducted tax
benefits from Joint Venture Partners, JVP, on
major capital projects.
In a report submitted to Buhari by its new
management detailing its successes so far,
Kachikwu had commenced performance
measurement and benchmarking as well as
value for money review of NNPC and the joint
venture companies covering the period 2008 –
2013. A report indicated that this process may
lead to further cost recovery.
The report said that a reputable international ac­
counting firm has been engaged by the NNPC to
ascertain the exact amount due to government
on the Strategic Alliance Contracts entered by
NPDC, where up to $2.46 billion of government
money is to be recovered.
It also revealed that consequent upon an
extensive investigation of the various toxic crude
oil for refined products swap contracts, a total
sum of $420 million has so far been reconciled
in favour of NNPC and is now due for recovery
from the legacy OPA/SWAP contracts.
Out of the reconciled amount, the sum of $277
million has been recovered in lieu of products
and the recovery effort is still ongoing,
Also in the power sector, there are indications
that Buhari may soon order investigations into
how past administrations spent about billions of
dollars in the power sector without
commensurate improvement in the supply of
electricity.
The President had described the situation as a
national shame which needed to be addressed
urgently in order to take Nigerians out of
darkness because of the poor power supply.
He also expressed concern that government
investments in the sector remained shrouded in
secrecy and had not yielded any fruit over these
years with top government officials refusing to
put exact figures to its fiscal commitments to
electricity infrastructure.
Anti-corruption war
Before the elections, the president, then an
aspirant, had never failed to drum it into the
ears of whoever cared to listen that his major
focus would be to tame corruption if and when
elected as Nigeria’s president.
At Chatham House in London February this year,
Buhari had stated that in the face of dwindling
revenues, a good place to start the repositioning
of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills
that have ballooned under the Jonathan
administration: waste and corruption.
“And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way
with the force of personal example”, he had
pledged.
Although many had bought into his vision, a
development which obviously swayed more
voters to his side, not much has been done with
respect to fulfilling his pledge.
Perhaps, this was why a chieftain of the PDP in
Lagos State, Taofik Gani, recently concluded in a
report that the anti-corruption efforts of the
government have been more of “noise-making
than action”.
He said: “And it is our take in Lagos PDP that
General Buhari may not be serious about
fighting corruption in view of two readily
available evidences.
“First is that Buhari himself cannot defend
himself as incorruptible for the reason of taking
over a democratically elected government in
1983. Two, for being able to contest presidential
elections at four different times, it would take
only a super-rich person to do that.
“He was president, minister of petroleum,
coordinator of Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF. In this
capacity, he amassed wealth, so he should not
over rate himself as being incorruptible.”
According to him, corrupt officials, including
former governors, ministers, and vice president
are still associating with the president. He
argued that if Buhari was serious about fighting
corruption, some people would have fled this
country, but they are comfortable, moving along
with his entourage.
One of the hurdles before the president now is
naming a “corrupt-free” cabinet this month. This
is necessary if he is to deliver on his campaign
promises.
Another hurdle is for him to first remove the
speck of corruption within his immediate
political environment (that is, the APC) before
moving against opposition elements. This way,
many Nigerians would take him more serious
and he would have gathered more support in the
onslaught against the menace.
Reduction of the cost of governance
The point have been made severally in the past
that the present presidential system of
government is very expensive for the nation’s
treasury to sustain. The sources of the costs
include, the high price of maintaining the federal
dual parliament, high cost of running the civil ser­
vice, which does not enable the release of
enough funds to execute capital projects, the
high cost of maintaining politically exposed
persons, including the multiplicity of political
aides to the Presidency, the various governors
and the elected council executives.
Concerning the legislature, many Nigerians
believe that more funds could be saved by
compressing the two chambers of the National
Assembly into one. Another way of achieving the
same purpose is by legislating through part time
sitting arrangement for the lawmakers. Indeed,
the 2014 National Conference members rec­
ommended these two measures, which are yet
to be ratified by members of the national
parliament.
There is also the suggestion for the slashing of
the salaries and allowances of the lawmakers,
including the reduction of the number and
salaries and allowances of the lawmakers’
legislative aides as another way of freeing
needed funds to service capital projects. Same
measures have in addition been suggested for
other political appointees.
With regards to the civil service, analysts believe
that aside from proper auditing of the number of
staff in the federal, states and local governments’
pay rolls, there is also the need to cut down on
the number of the existing ministries,
departments and agencies of the various
governments. This has become imperative
because most of the agencies of government,
particularly at the federal level have outlived
their usefulness.
President Buhari needs to pay particular
attention in these areas in order to free more
resources from the recurrent costs to service
capital projects.

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