Blowing Buhari’s trumphet
By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
In his first televised interview after leaving office, past-president Muhammadu Buhari said that it is Nigerians that should judge the success of his administration or lack of it.
His remark on what his administration did or failed to do was an expansion of what he said on Lai Muhammad’s effort in explaining the achievements of his administration or lack of it while he was in office.
The past President told state house correspondent in May 2016 that, “One of the men I pity is Lai Mohammed. Everyday he is on TV explaining our performance or lack of it.”
There is no Lai Mohammed now to explain the performance of Buhari’s administration. The past President has thrown up the matter to Nigerians to assess his administration based on verifiable facts. Any citizen could therefore venture into blowing the trumpet of the Buhari administration.
Muhammadu Buhari said his administration focused on tackling corruption, strengthening the economy and fighting insecurity. He urged Nigerians to equally reflect on how the country was when he took office.
When he took office insecurity was accentuated by the Boko Haram insurgency and youth restiveness in the Niger Delta. As IPOB engaged in violent secessionist agitation, there were strident calls for Oduduwa Republic in the South West. The emergence of banditry and kidnappings added salt to the security injury.
The Buhari administration tackled insecurity squarely. The armed forces were allocated a large chunk of the nation’s resources to recruit and train new soldiers and retrain those already in service. New military wares were procured for the army, navy and the air force, as the police and civil defence were re-tooled.
The military equipment included dozens of fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships. A batch of 22 procured aircraft was inducted as 17 more platforms including 12 Super Tucanos were delivered.
One outstanding fact about Nigerian military is that it is the only one in Africa that operates Third Generation Tanks. The VT-4, which is in the Nigerian Army inventory, is the most sophisticated Main Battle Tank in Africa.
The massive military procurement of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency made Nigeria’s military number 35 out of militaries of 145 countries in terms of military power ranking in 2022.
Nowadays the security challenge from Boko Haram and its allies is not as pervasive as it was in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states before Muhammadu Buhari became president, although remnants of the insurgents are still lurking out there.
When President Buhari’s administration tookover, economic growth was barely 2.35% in Q2 2015 and oil price was $40 per barrel in December 2015. There were production disruptions by militants leading to loss of over 600,000 barrels daily. Low oil production and prices meant less revenue for Nigeria.
Despite the economic hiccups caused by multiple factors including the COVID-19 pandemic which shut down economic activities, the Buhari administration ably refloated most of the 36 states by a financial bailout.
The benefitting states were advanced 614 billion Naira to pay outstanding salaries, pensioner’s stipends, settle contractors’ bills and meet other essential expenses for running basic services.
There was Paris Club Refunds totaling $5.4 billion and Infrastructure Loans and
refunds worth N700 billion for Federal Road projects executed by state Governments. The DMO restructured Commercial Bank loans valued N575.516 billion for 23 States to reduce their debt
service burden. These were in the measures that stimulated economic activities which pulled Nigeria out of two economic recessions.
The administration initiated or completed inherited various infrastructure projects comprising railway lines (one of the new railway lines passes by my hometown), seven bridges namely the Second Niger Bridge, Ibbi Bridge, rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge, Ikon Bridge in Cross River, Loko-Oweto Bridge, Kashimbila-Takum-Chanchangi Bridge, and Bodo-Bonny Bridge.
A segment of River Niger was dredged. The Onitsha and Baro ports were remodelled. Some 13,000 kilometers of roads were expanded, dualised, reconstructed and rehabilitated all over the country to boost economic activities.
Infrastructure projects in the power sector include 135 projects for transmission lines, substations and other associated grid infrastructure. The TCN has completed 30 substations and 12 important transmission lines before President Buhari left office.
Two Hydropower Projects at Zungeru and Kashimbila, Afam III Fast Power, Kudenda Kaduna Power Plant and the Okpai Phase 2 Plant were completed under his watch.
Solar power projects supplying electricity to some tertiary institutions, teaching hospitals, villages, small towns and markets were completed in parts of the country during his tenure.
In the fight against corruption, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reported securing 3,785 convictions in all its commands in 2022 alone and recovered over N500 billion that year.
In 2017 former EFCC Chairman Mr. Ibrahim Magu, told the Seventh Session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Vienna, Austria, that his organisation has recovered misappropriated $2.9 billion or N738.9 billion between May 2015 and October 2017. It was under Buhari’s administration.
The listed successes of the Buhari administration trumpeted in this item are just a tip of the iceberg.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta is a retired Federal Director of Information and wrote in from Dambatta, Kano state
