Nigeria’s recent election produced a winner, but victory for incumbent Muhammadu Buhari has generated little enthusiasm in a country
performing far below its potential. The poll in
Africa’s most populous country was marred by a week-long delay, sporadic violence in which dozens died and allegations of vote-rigging.
What was supposed to have been the largest
election in Africa’s history — with 84m
registered voters — turned out not to be
because of a dispiritingly low turnout of 35 per
cent. The result is being challenged as a “sham” by the loser, Atiku Abubakar, in a dispute that is
likely to rumble on in the courts for months.

The Nigerian people deserve better than this.
Democracy has to mean more than a poorly run
election every four years. With his renewed
mandate, it is now Mr Buhari’s task to rebuild
faith by running a dynamic and successful
administration and by building the institutions that can lay firmer foundations than in his
previous term.

The omens from his first four years in office are
not good. During that time, the former military
leader ran a lacklustre administration with no
obvious sense of direction. There was no
coherent economic strategy of the sort being
attempted by the likes of Ethiopia, Rwanda or west African neighbours Ghana and Senegal to
produce the rapid growth needed to haul tens of
millions of people out of poverty. It is an
indictment of its leadership — both military and
democratic — that the continent’s biggest oil
producer should have more people living in absolute poverty than any other country in the
world.

Mr Buhari’s priority this time must be to set out a
coherent agenda, implemented by technocrats
rather than ideologues, to turn things round.
Nigeria desperately needs to create a level
playing field for business in which access to
foreign currency, permits and other requirements is both predictable and rational. His
much vaunted crackdown on corruption must
go beyond taking action against a few minor
officials. Some big scalps would help. More
important still is to implement systematic
changes — whether by reforming institutions, using technology or by removing arbitrage
opportunities — to create a more transparent
environment. People should prosper in Nigeria
based on what they know and how much value
and employment they can create, not by their
connections.

On security, Mr Buhari’s first term was also less than successful in spite of repeated declarations of victory over Boko Haram. There is credible
evidence of a renewed threat in the north-east in
the form of a breakaway Islamist group.
Nigeria’s army remains ill-equipped, both literally
and institutionally, to take on such a challenge. Too often, its armed forces — which have
committed human rights abuses of their own —
have been part of the problem rather than the
solution.

There has been some success in taming
insurgency in the oil-rich Delta region, where real
grievances about economic exclusion have
bubbled over into sabotage of oil installations.
But Mr Buhari must do more to offer lasting
solutions to the violent clashes between pastoralists and sedentary farmers that have
erupted in the country’s central belt and beyond.

Nigeria should be Africa’s economic motor. Too
often it looks more like a country teetering on
the edge. In his second presidential term, Mr
Buhari has a chance to silence his critics. With
decent policies and effective implementation, he
can stop the rot and lay the basis for a better future. If he can do that, he can yet salvage his
reputation. If not, he will go down in history as a
general who should have stayed in his barracks.[/quote]https://www.ft.com/content/568682b6-401e-11e9-9bee-efab61506f44

very true

Buhari life wey no get direction,how d govt wan get direction

It has direction to jail opponent

Tell that to AREWA and Muslim Yoruba...let them be on their own while the rest of us...

The eternal curse on the rest of Nigerians is the fact that whoever the lilliterate almajiris feels is a good leader, is what they are going to impose on the lesser populous and politically non challant literate segment of the society. How long this would be tolerated would determine the duration of the current backwardness the country is facing.

Any progressive voting would be feudally and blindly countered by votes from such states as Kano, yobe, Jigawa etc... Whipping you in line with their leadership vision and ideology, What a shameful political incapacitation.

Cluelessness of the highest order.