It is no more news that the dreadful 2015 general elections has come and gone for good. In the said general elections; history was made, even as a sitting President (Dr Goodluck Jonathan) was defeated by the candidacy of General Mohammadu Buhari of APC. And in a rear display of sportsmanship,
Dr Goodluck Jonathan congratulated the winner of Presidential race (Muhammadu Buhari), even before formal announcement of the winner. This singular act earned Dr Goodluck Jonathan “the Father of Modern Day Politics in Africa”. Also, his sportsmanship was believed to had averted looming violence.

Thereafter, the nation witnessed historic transition of government at the central, from PDP led government to APC led government, on 29th May, 2015. Nigerians home and abroad were full of expectations for the fulfilment of many promises made by APC during 2015 electioneering. The citizens are more enlightened and are ready to engage their leaders by asking questions, when it is necessary to do so.

With full consciousness of anti-corruption stand and change mantra of Mr President, Nigerians were then curious to know the cabinet members. Immediate appointments that were made by Mr President, were said to be one sided and generally believed to favour northern extractions. After many months of waiting, lists of ministerial nominees were sent to the Senate of the Federal Republic in two batches, for screening and subsequent confirmations. The names that made the list disappointed a popular school of thought that believed that only “saints” will be considered.

Throughout the period of waiting for official constitution of Federal Executive Council, the APC led Federal government did not have a clear policy(ies) in place, the economy was in a way directionless. This coupled with global drop in crude oil price had negative effect on our economy.

Eventually the ministerial nominees were screened and confirmed by the Senate, though in a controversial circumstances for some of the nominees. Thereafter the Cabinet was constituted by Mr President in November, 2015. It was believed that the Ministers were busy with preparation of 2016 Appropriation bill (budget), shortly after their swearing in, hence, they were unable to achieve much in 2015. The 2016 Appropriation bill proposal was later presented with funfair by the President, in December, 2015, shortly before our Lawmakers went for December break.

In early 2016, the Ministers were busy with budget defence at the National Assembly while the economy suffers from lack of government policies for direction, low crude oil price, scarcity of fuel, poor power supply etc. At last, the most controversial appropriation bill (budget) in the history of Federal Republic of Nigeria was passed by the National Assembly and the President's assent to the budget came weeks after horse – trading, between the Presidency and the National Assembly.

The state of the economy is not entirely the making of the government. Global drop in price of crude oil has negative effect on our oil driven economy. We hope the present administration will take required actions to diversify the economy. Also scarcity of forex ( dollar) is as a result of trade imbalance, Nigeria been a consumer nation import more goods than exporting. Mr President stand on ”no devaluation” of Naira is remarkable. Government should look into encouraging local production, to diversify our economy.

APC led Federal government deserves applause in the area of combating Boko Haram insurgents, even as the government at a point declared technical victory against Boko Haram. Although, there are still pockets of attacks but the sect has been tamed in a way. While Nigerians are still expecting total victory against the dreadful sect, another monster group is been groomed which goes by the name “Fulani Herdsmen”. Government and security agencies should urgently do the needful, before the group metamorphosed to another monster.

In the area of fight against corruption, I guess it is too early to assess the government. Although there were numbers of high profile probes and prosecutions, but little or nothing has been achieved. It is very unfortunate to note that our prosecution agencies rush into prosecution without appropriate investigation of the case(s). That is believed to be one of the reasons for incessant amendment of charges after commencement of trials. No wonder, some people term most of the high profile prosecutions as witch hunting.

Within the last one year, little or nothing was done to improve power supply, though, this administration inherited poor power supply. Vandalization of of oil installations do not help the situation, even as the nation once recorded zero power generation for about 3 hours. This development speaks volume of our power generation. There is need for Ministry of Power to collaborate with security agencies to curtail vandalization of oil and power installations. Investors should be encouraged to invest in power. Also, Disco companies should not play on intelligence of Nigerians. Give us quality power supply, then we will gladly pay for it.

Fuel scarcity was another phenomenon that bewitched us within the year under review. Our over dependence on importation of fuel and scarcity of forex brought this upon us. Government is now making effort to fixed our refineries. Private investors should be encouraged to invest in refining of our crude oil locally. Though Dangote is working towards that, but more investors should be encouraged.

Nothing tangible was achieved on education, health care, unemployment, agriculture, etc, in the past one year. But with recent signing of budget into law, we hope in days to come, to see the manifestation of the change Nigerians voted for.

http://olalekanlawalblog..nl/2016/05/a-year-counting-journey-so-far.html?m=1