It is no news that Nigeria now has a brand new government – a government that has promised to bring change to all the lapses in her predecessors’ tenure. We can remember how the APC government rode to power on the wings of ‘Change.’ Now we all await the change that spread throughout the country during the campaign like a virus. The big question is, “will the new government ever bring the change that we all want?” It’s been thirty days in office but what do we see? The country needs urgent attention; the people are desperate to see the change that was promised during the campaign. It has been thirty days and we are all still looking into the sky as the followers of Christ in the bible did while he was ascending into the heaven.
However, it is not the case that we expect all the promises to have been accomplished within these thirty days, besides, it would be simply too weak to judge a government of four years by its performance within just thirty days. Rather, we expect that it would have hit the ground running and we would have begun to see the first stages of many of the things it promised to put in place. Instead of blaming the dark our new government should light a candle.
We commend President Buhari for his strides in the fight against insurgency. He quickly moved the military command center to Maiduguri to intensify the fight against Boko Haram and he has also visited Chad and Niger for talks on handling the terrorist group. This has in no way not stopped the insurgency, although he did promise to eradicate the insurgents within two months in office. This at least somehow shows that he at least has a clue of what should be done on that front. But here is the limit of our commendation.
We have not forgotten how we were promised during that fantastic campaign that on assuming office the president would immediately declare his assets to the public; this would also give room for others to follow. But only now are we being told that the results cannot be made public except by the Code of Conduct Bureau. Did we not all know the number of houses and cattle that Mr. President had during the campaign? Should declaring his assets now become such a herculean task? After all, the late president Umaru Musa Ya’Adua broke the record of asset declaration.
More so, we are worried that the president, who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to make decisions as regards key offices. This is, as can be expected, preventing the administration from taking off. It seems also that he plans to be in charge of the Office of the Petroleum Ministry and to start with, he has also dissolved the Board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). We wait with bated breath to see how well that would work out.
Another indication that change might be a long way off is the indecision of Mr. President on appointing a Finance Minister. We can see the effects of that within the past thirty days, as both foreign and domestic investments have witnessed an unprecedented decline. The effect of this has also been terrifying and crippling in the money and capital market sectors. So far, the stock market has lost over #238 billion while all share indexes fell by 849.87 billion Naira since June 19.
Furthermore, the recent drama in our eighth National Assembly also shows that not only does Mr. President needs to brace up; the party also needs to put their house in order. If the last National Assembly members did not leave behind any good inheritance, then the new National Assembly should not break our hearts by starting off on the wrong foot. The new lawmakers must see the attitude of their predecessors as a shame that must never be brought upon Nigerians again. If wardrobe allowances need be cut, so be it. The legislators should also agree in one voice on whoever will lead them. This is not what Nigerians voted for. The country is in dire need and requires lawmakers who are genuinely committed to their cause.
If the government after thirty days is like this, then we are not optimistic about the next four years. A month ago, Nigerians would have thought that more grounds would have been covered by now. Hence, both the President and the new lawmakers should understand that the country is in dire need of the change that they were promised. It is not too early to call our ‘change-makers’ to order and remind them of the promises they made to Nigerians; the ride to change must be a smooth one.
