With Nigeria’s transfer of power, from Goodluck Jonathan to All Progressives Congress’ Muhammadu Buharu, the question is what sort of challenges the newcomer faces and how he would tackle them. Jonathan’s presidency was shadowed by failure to rein in Boko Haram – a north-eastern based terror group that has claimed scores of lives and forced hundreds of thousands to flee Nigeria.
Buharu’s reputation for his no-nonsense and anti-graft stance became known during his 20-month stint as a military ruler, before he suffered an Ibrahim Babangida-led palace coup d’état in 1985.
His brief presidential record at the helm, coupled with his popularity (also among the bottom half), leadership skills displayed during his days as a military commander, exemplary behaviour and symbolism subsequent to that, scored Buharu votes. His three previous attempts, to take the crown, fell flat. In 2010, for instance, the now-72-year-old general was pipped by the same Jonathan before managing to eventually turn the tables this time round. And so lie the many challenges, noted Sunday Trust editor Theophilus Abbah, an investigative journalist based in Abuja.
“Nigerians are very optimistic, they’re very happy that we have a president who has the image of an anti-corruption fighter, a man of integrity, a man who is popular with the masses, a man that is very (driven). He is actually facing a lot of challenges. First and foremost, we have a problem of (crude oil) scarcity. We’re the number one oil-producing state in Africa and yet we don’t have petrol or fuel to use. It’s a very serious issue,” Abbah said, also noting Nigeria’s dire power scenario. “Then, we have the issue of Niger Delta militancy. It died down during the (Jonathan) era because of the incentives. If he doesn’t continue with the incentives, we don’t know what would happen.”
Added to fuel scarcity and the question of Niger Delta, Buharu’s other pressing priority would be paying civil servants regularly, Abbah pointed out. According to Nigerian media, it is not uncommon for government workers, in different states, to go for months unpaid. Some states and the federal government have been playing a blame game over unpaid salaries. States attribute non-payments to falling allocations from the top but, on behalf of Abuja, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has turned around and blamed them of not prioritising wage expenditures.
Boko Haram also looms large on Buharu’s to-do list as he begins his five-year term, explained Abbah. In fact, the group killed 29 people just this past weekend despite tough talk from the new leader. That adds to the toll that is already in the order of thousands of people. The group’s reign of terror has caused an estimated 150,000 people to flee Nigeria for Niger. Nigeria’s other neighbours Benin, Cameroon and Chad have also opened their doors fleeing Boko Haram’s terror while many more victims, who escaped killings, were internally displaced.
Since Buharu, like Boko Haram vigilantes, belong to Islam, there are expectations that the new leader would be able to put an end to the terror. Right there is the point of confusion. Firstly, Abbah explained to Cii listeners, there is no link between Boko Haram activities and Islam. Anyway, since when does following the same religion a factor?
“The issue of Boko Haram… is beyond religion because, look, Islam does not support what Boko Haram is doing. Islam does not support the destruction of cities, the destruction of power plants, killing of innocent persons. Islam does not support the raping of women. Islam does not support the raping of children (or using them) to fight wars. And, General Buharu has made it very clear that Boko Haram is not mainstream Islam, what they are doing is criminal,” Abbah told Cii listeners. The answer is intelligence, he added. Not only does the federal government have to equip its soldiers properly but also has to be strategic and find ways to counter Boko Haram’s indoctrination or recruitment fruitless and know how these vigilantes operate in order for its war to bring them down to win the day.
After all is said and done, Abbah noted that the view on the ground is that Buharu is able and is the man for the top job because he has the experience and is au fair with the oil-rich political and socio-economic landscape as well as the security issue. “He should be able to tackle them. There are opportunities for him to tackle them, to handle them properly, and Nigerians know that it’s possible to handle these difficulties,” the Abuja-based journalist said.
By ciibroadcasting
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