Today is the anniversary of President Buhari’s fifth year in power and he has three more years to go before retiring to Daura to take care of his cows.
In another year or two, the campaign for 2023 will take over the attention of the political class and governance would stop. This means the president has less than two years to leave his legacy, from a eight-year rule.
One of the problems the president has been facing is the mediocrity of his communications team, which has been unable to explain to the people what the president has really been doing.
Members of the team are in the media continuously attacking all those who have been attacking the president, and I concede that as part of their day job. What they have not succeeded in doing is communicating the priorities and achievements of the administration, so that data is provided to the people on the evidence by which citizens can assess the regime.
As the countdown commences, President Buhari has to reflect on what he has done with power and how he can communicate his legacy to citizens.
I still remember that just before the beginning of the administration five years ago, the All Progressives Congress Policy Directorate held a major conference in preparation for the implementation of their strategy of “hitting the ground running” as soon as their party took over power.
The buzz at the conference was that major policy decisions, especially politically difficult ones, must be made immediately and quick-wins obtained by the end of the first hundred days in office.
The idea was that by riding on the crest of a newly acquired legitimacy and popularity, significant gains could be made before expected criticisms begin to affect the credibility of the government.
The underlying assumption was that all new regimes coming into power in a context of very high expectation, start losing their popularity on assuming office, even if for the sole reason that people’s expectations are unreasonably high.
President Buhari rejected the road map of hitting the ground running and did not start constituting his governance team until after five months. Years later, he explained to Nigerians that he was aware that people were calling him “Baba Go Slow” but they should understand that being older and wiser, he had decided to reflect and consider before taking executive decisions.
The most important legacy the president should leave is an improvement of the security situation in the country.
The expectation of Nigerians was that Boko Haram would be vanquished within the first year or two of his presidency. It did not happen.
For over ten years now, the insurgency has endured and become entrenched as an existing reality, while the security agencies appear to have been at their wits end all through.
Source: Premium Times.
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