This may sound like valedictory verses to President Muhammadu Buhari. Yes, the man from Daura deserves every sweet word from the wordsmiths as he steps aside as the 15th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after serving for two terms of eight years in office
In his recent interview, he said he will retire to his Daura home and his people are waiting eagerly for his home coming after years awayNo doubt, his fanatical supporters back home in Daura have a lot to celebrate. The president has turned Daura to a place that is home to institutions and facilities you can be proud of at any major cities across the country.
Anyway, this is not the major aspect of Buhari administration that we want to dwell on regarding our outgoing president. You will recall in some of my articles in the past that I wrote about the possibility or otherwise of Buhari emerging as a visionary leader at the end of his tenure.
Although like any human being or leader, Buhari should be seen as a leader who encapsulates the yearnings and aspirations of his people even though he took some decisions in the course of governance that portrayed him as tribalist and most times, his procrastination ideology caused disconnection between public policy decisions of his government and the citizens.
Again, his avowed philosophy of converted democrat as postulated in his public life could be viewed as mere rhetoric as his fascist tendencies manifested in some of his actions, especially during the recent CBN new note redesigning imbroglio.
Mr President, didn’t allow institutions to drive the country but portrayed himself as the utter ego of the country. While Mr President’s list of errors can’t be exhausted, it’s time to look at certain things that he did right that every eye can see. Apart from the fact that he was able to reduce the spate of attacks and killings by Boko Haram in the north east and relatively reduced the growing tensions across the country unlike how it was in 2015 when the seat of power, Abuja was constantly under siege, Buhari should be commended for his ability to speak in the language that these miscreants understood..
. Mr President should also be applauded in the area of anti-corruption crusade. Available data by EFCC, ICPC and the police force show that he recovered more looted fund and actually secured more convictions during his tenure.
On infrastructure and economy, I have written some articles in the past about this but it’s important for me to remind my teeming supporters that building a nation is a journey, it’s not a destination. Even as we speak, advanced economies in Europe, America and Asia are still work in progress. But for them to attain their present status, they applied one common sense by building strategic infrastructure like roads, rail system, Ports, Airports, power, Dams ,Transport logistics to prepare their countries for industrialization.
This was what served as springboards for industrial revolutions that took place in Europe, America, Asia and other parts of the world several years back.
Nigeria has continued to suffer strategic infrastructure shortages to power her economy despite the fact that we are one of the leading exporters of hydrocarbons in the world spanning several decades.
We have witnessed different phases of oil windfalls, from Udoji era in 1973, to 1990 Gulf War windfall to Abacha era and lately, Goodluck Jonathan government.
It must be noted that, Nigeria as a country refused to invest in her future by refusing to build infrastructure to power her economy over the years and this has continued to place the country at disadvantage position amongst her peers in the world. How do you explain this that during Gowon era when the country experienced oil boom, it was the period the country exported oil in commercial quantity in addition to proceeds from her exports in Agriculture. Rather than the country deploy the huge proceeds to build infrastructure in order to power her economy for prosperity, Gen Gowon for instance conceived Udoji award to civil servants across the country. In my view, it was an economic blunder and that singular action of government led to hyper inflation. To me, such fund should have been deployed into building strategic infrastructure that would have powered our economy beyond pedestrian level then rather than embarking on charity that eventually brought suffering which we are experiencing till date.
Another opportunity came during IBB. Money was wasted on peace keeping and diplomacy in Liberia and Sierra Leone which did not translate to any benefit for the nation afterwards despite huge financial resources and human fatality recorded during ECOMOG peacekeeping operations.
In all, we have wasted several billion dollars from hydrocarbon sales despite need to fix strategic infrastructure like power, roads, railways, dams, Ports, airports and many more. The complete neglect of these all important infrastructure has continued to push the country downward in her poverty index rating in the global world.
What do you expect when a country is unable to fix her power problems despite huge investment owning to endemic corruption and misappropriation of resources?
Nigeria has been suffering over the years from lack of infrastructure to power her economy that will put the country on the highway to economic progress. Government upon government have been mouthing it ,but the story has continued to remain same until the arrival of President Mohammadu Buhari, the hero of infrastructure in Nigeria.
Buhari was resolutely committed to change the Nigeria story. He is an incorrigible person so the fear of Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade was the beginning of wisdom
There was paucity of fund to pursue his vision to build strategic infrastructure as he set out for serious governance in 2015. The story has been, It’s either the fund accumulated as excess crude account were squandered or wrongly applied or looted but he was undeterred on his voyage to serve humanity and make history as a visionary leader.
We know it is difficult to serve in Nigeria because Nigerians are generally impatient. They wanted instant results of governance and no time for story .
Though Buhari had issues with his health barely few month on assumption of office; that did not stop him from his dreams for Nigeria as soon as he became better and agile for the work of governance. He says the only way to address the socio economic problems of Nigeria was to embark on massive modern infrastructure and to achieve this he needed human and financial resources. To achieve the manpower aspect, a lawyer turned builder, the former governor of Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola was on hand. He did not only give him Minister of Works portfolio, he also gave him Housing and Power to superintend. Buhari needed a tested and trusted hand to oversee these three ministries and there emerged, the super minister,
Babatunde Raji Fashola as the arrow head Buhari then proceeded to borrow funds to execute his many projects which can be seen across the country today.
I have said it severally that there is nothing wrong borrowing to fund infrastructure because there has been outcry by certain individuals against borrowing but I can understand some of the views might be reasonable while others are frivolous. Even the best critics are saying we shouldn’t allow our children to inherit debt. It must also be understood that for our children to inherit anything first ,there must be a nation and if our children have no infrastructure to inherit, then ,I’m afraid, we shall be passing empty nation to them and this is not progressive thinking. We must understand how industrialed economies that we talk about around the world attained their present status.
The reality is that we have spent over 62 years to filter away our golden moments. We wasted all our receivables during oil windfall ,by refusing to save or invest for a rainy day like Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries. Unlike how past leaders in Nigeria borrowed fund for consumption, while large percentage of the fund ended up in private pockets, Buhari kept on borrowing to fund strategic infrastructure in power, ecological projects, Rail system, Strategic roads constructions, and rehabilitating new ones across the country, Ports infrastructure ( Lekki Deep Seaports and Blue Economy infrastructure), Airports Terminals, Fertilizer plants, upgrading medical facilities across the country. He also created more universities and improving of universities infrastructure. These projects are visible everywhere across the country.
I can go on and on without end! President Buhari, spread the building of infrastructure across the country, from the East, so much to smile about especially with the just completed Second Niger bridge and arrays of rehabilitation and construction works in the South East.
One wonders why this benevolence did not translate to electoral victory for Buhari or APC in the Soutb East. In the South West, the story is same. Obasanjo and his routine successors played politics with Lagos-Ibadan expressway for years without success. Same as Shagamu-Benin-Ore road. Even Apapa Tincan where FG rakes in fortune daily, for years ,they couldn’t fix the roads but Buhari came and delivered the projects.
What about Lagos-Abeokuta Road ,and Lagos Shagamu Road ? Trust Buhari, the hero of the new Nigeria, his presence was felt everywhere. In the South South, East-West roads, that had gained notoriety became Buhari;s headache. All FG intervention agencies including NDDC, felt the harmer of Buhari for underperforming despite huge resources deployed over the years.
In the north central, the story is the same ,in the north west ,its same and north east where the deadly Boko Haram are now surrendering in droves. Buhari didn’t stop in extending his infrastructural magic to that region
Whatever ,anyone may say about Buhari and his government, be it positive or negative, the man Buhari is the architect of modern infrastructure which has eluded Nigeria since independence and the absence of modern infrastructure has continued to put the socio-economic destiny of the country on a wrong trajectory.
.Otunba Sola Olatunji, Chairman of Ikale Heritage Development Association writes from Lagos