welve months ago, President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as the President and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He came to power following the decisive victory of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC over the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP and its candidate, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The victory ended the 16-year reign of the PDP. President Buhari campaigned on a promise to fight Boko Haram terrorism and secure the whole country, fight corruption and develop the economy to the point that it creates jobs for the teeming unemployed. Garba Shehu The campaign message caught on very well with most Nigerians, against the desperate efforts of the Jonathan administration which deployed incumbency as tool for its own campaign. They literally threw the kitchen at candidate Buhari. The government media were used against the opponent. The private media sold their outlets to a free- spending government pouring out venom, hate speech, libel and defamation. The public treasury was personalized and its content poured into a campaign that shared out money for weapons purchase to fight Boko Haram terrorism into the pockets of party leaders and their campaign staff. The Army which served as the glue that held the country as one through the years was compromised to such extent that they claimed not to be aware that a former General in the Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari had a secondary school certificate. Of course the certificate resurfaced shortly after he won the election. President Buhari came to office amidst massive hope and expectation at home and abroad, that here at last was a leader who would stop the slide and lead Nigeria to progress, development and the realization of her destiny. The mood all over Nigeria, the continent and the world at the time he took over was euphoric. In line with the promises made, Nigeria under Muhammadu Buhari has begun to show that it will be a radically different country than one the world had become used to. Here is a proof of that: Promise of Transparency and Accountability A promise kept by the President is of a government that not only preached but also practiced transparency and accountability. The President and the Vice President made public their assets as declared before they took office on May 29th. For the first time in the annals of our Executive- Legislative relations, this country had all ministers nominated screened and passed without any casualty. What is important is that not a single incident was reported involving exchange of money in bribery of parliamentarians. The President’s first budget, the 2016 appropriations bill was passed, even though after some delays, without the usual bribery allegations that attended the passage of budgets. The Senate and the House under their current leadership must themselves be proud of this happening at this time. While still on the budget, the President must take credit for the exposure of a particular kind of fraud, the padding of budget, itself a known and ongoing practice until the whistle was blown by diligent ministers and parliamentarians. For once, the country has a budget, the 2016 appropriations bill that is rid of added billions ending up in the pockets of officials. By putting these changes in place, the government has established a model for transparency in public expenditure. Implementing the Treasury Single Account,TSA The President has been trying to right the many wrongs things he inherited, especially in terms of securing government revenues which leaked or were out rightly diverted to private accounts. President Buhari didn't invent the TSA. What he did is to bring political will to bear on its implementation. By this, government has a snapshot at any given time of incoming revenue and expenditure following the centralization of government accounts domiciled at the Central Bank. At the last count, the President said he had saved the country money in excess of three trillion Naira which would otherwise have been wasted or shared out to officials at the end of the financial year. Minimum Government The President kept his promise to reduce superfluity in government administration by cutting down on the number of ministers, ministries and government departments. The delay in the coming of ministers was first to reduce the number of ministries, and then set a new set of ground rules to stop the theft of government resources through systemic leakages. Boards of directors will come only when the President is satisfied that agencies of government are brought in line with existing ministries structure an

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