AGAINST the promises made by the All Progressives Congress [APC] political party and its then presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, ahead of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, the governing year of May 29, 2015 – May 29, 2016, their first in office at the federal level and in majority of the states, was a waste. Well almost. They promised much good but delivered much pain. But what has happened in the first year could just be what we see pasted in the neighbourhood gym where we go for exercise or workout which proclaims very boldly: NO PAIN, NO GAIN. The difference between pain and gain in the gym is that your fate is virtually almost totally in your hands even if you have a trainer. For that of the nation your fate is almost completely in the hands of those that you have supposedly elected or chosen to provide direction and guidance for the rest of society through policies and programmes and their personal conduct. And the absence, or to be more charitable, near absence of coherent policies and programmes in the last one year has translated into the present pervading backbreaking hardship, excruciating pain and acute privations afflicting a majority of families, individuals and businesses..
The privations being suffered by Nigerians right now may not on their own be unprecedented as you are wont to hear in certain quarters today but I verily suspect that the situation was made worse when juxtaposed against the background of the many promises of good life made to Nigerians by the APC and its henchmen in 2015, on condition we give them the chance to take over the mantle of leadership from the fumbling and wobbling and ‘rudderless’ [APCs own word] administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]. My anxiety is that the new year has set off in a less than inspiring way. On May 29, President Buhari addressed the nation as part of his first year anniversary. His address was flat, bland and uninspiring. Like one year before, at his inauguration, that speech then was also dull and flat. But some Nigerians were carried away by the zinger of l belong to nobody. The intoxicating euphoria of change was still pervasive and our people including those who should ordinarily be sober refused or neglected to ask questions about the president’s political, economic and social plans and how he intends to deliver them.
The fact that the president was not interrogated from the onset [recall that he avoided the presidential debate] led to a situation where the country had to endure one year of one man’s rule at that man’s whim and caprice. Apart from taking eternity to nominate ministers, the president effectively usurped the functions of the office of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN]. He went all over the world saying with oracular finality that he would not allow the realignment or devaluation of the Naira. In like manner he claimed that there was no subsidy in the premium motor spirit [petrol] imported and sold across the country. If you were old enough during Buhari’s first outing as a military dictator, you probably noticed a throwback to 1983/1984/1985. If this dispensation had not been the so-called liberal democracy, Buhari would probably have reintroduced counter trade or trade by barter as he did then. Just before travelling to London to attend to an arching ear, the president admitted that in spite of himself he had given in to those who canvassed a loosening of the official grip on the value of the Naira.
In spite of convincing Buhari to let go on his preferred model of command and control management of the national economy, there are still many dangers lurking in the corner. And the country risks losing another year which, if it happens, will add to our misery. Let us start from the known. We have consistently canvassed the imperatives of deregulating the downstream sector of the oil industry. And we said in this column early in the life of this regime that it had been a missed opportunity when the government refused to deregulate the sector on assumption of office at a period it enjoyed huge goodwill. When the administration finally acted last month, its action turned out to be tentative and half-hearted and its motive scandalous. Instead of deregulation the regime imposed a petrol tax on hapless citizens simply because it said it was broke. Price fixing will not excite potential investors in that critical area of our economy. Already the government is threatening those who are keeping in view [KIV] licences to build refineries issued to them donkey years ago, to either use them now or have them revoked. The needful has not been done so the investors will continue their sidon look. Some people glibly talk about the Dangote refinery coming up in the Ibeju-Lekki axis of the new Lagos. Dangote is not a father Christmas and so the products of his refinery, even if he uses subsidized foreign exchange from our commonwealth to build it, are for the export market. So for us to benefit from it we must be ready to pay the global price. Beyond imposing this new tax on petrol the government needs to formulate and publish its policy for that sector so we do not lose another year to uncertainty.
Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor cuts a pathetic image. He probably is the CBN governor only in name. His obviously pathetic situation will come at a further price to the nation. He is incapable of acting without taking a cue from the words or the famed but fading body language of Buhari. As we write this post it has only now been announced that the details of the proposed flexible foreign exchange policy announced weeks ago will only kick in next week. The market [read investors] hate uncertainty. And under Emefiele uncertainty rules.
The excuse for the long delay was consulting with critical stakeholders. Balderdash! You first announce a policy and then you begin consultations. Suppose the so-called critical stakeholders reject the policy option will the government be willing to drop it? When the CBN banned deposit money banks from accepting foreign currency deposits from domiciliary account holders last year [a policy that obviously impacted negatively on the economy], did it first consult with stakeholders? If the CBN is allowed to continue announcing policies for which it is not ready to implement, the institution will force us to lose another year.
The on-going trial of the president of the Senate Bukola Saraki over alleged corruption is another potential disrupter of possible recovery activities in 2016/2017. There is still no love lost among the contending forces for the control of that House. The instability in the Senate is taking a toll on the productivity of the National Assembly [NASS]. Saraki is a proud and arrogant man. He is not regarded as a Fulani man but you can notice in him the allure to flaunt a Fulani bonafide. If he is to go he is unlikely to go quietly. It will be foolish to dismiss as empty the threat by the opposition PDP to take over the office in the event of the fall of Saraki. June 9 marked one year since the proclamation of the 8th NASS and during that period our lawmakers have passed in the main only money bills – supplementary appropriation bill and the 2016 budget. If lawmaking is the primary function of NASS you can then score the performance of the parliament during the year under review. And this is happening in a country where we still have in our statute books a law that allows a token fine for a man convicted of stealing billions of pension funds.
Congrats Osita Okechukwu
Please accept my goodwill and felicitations on your recent appointment as the director-general of the Voice of Nigeria. But you will do well to remember that you hold the office on behalf of all of us from the South East who have been branded 5 percent supporters of President Buhari. In the context of other appointments in the agencies under the ministry of information, your office looks and surely smells like a 5 percent reward. I will get a shortwave radio so I can follow your activities in your internal exile. Meanwhile, say me well to Diaspora Nigerians.

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