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Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria (GAIN) in its monthly polls to find out public opinion revealed that the rating of Gen. Buhari's efforts in handling Nigeria was gradually sloping down. Mainly as a result of what Nigerians termed ''broken promises''. Anyway, we have done some little digging into finding out why some Nigerians have lost faith in Mr president, his party and his ministers and most importantly why that number is growing fast.
Riding on the vote of the majority in Nigeria, APC as a political party assumed the reins of office in about 20 states, with their flagship bearer and presidential candidate also winning the presidential election. Thanks to the former presidential aspirant, Major Gen.Muhammadu Buhari's main agenda-change.But roughly a year later, the president and the ruling party have come under intense criticism and pressure from majority of the masses who ironically voted them in. It may be seen as a normal thing for Nigerians to start complaining immediately political aspirants assume office, as they are almost immediately accused of betraying and failing the masses but then maybe they have valid reasons for their disapproval and why they feel the current administration is under-performing. Anyway, lets see this reasons.
Note, these points are based on general views.
Nose diving economy:
First, Nigerians are one set of people who easily get impatient when a leader fails in his promises. Especially one who has promised to alleviate their sufferings. Well, their impatience kicked in the moment things began to go wrong with the economy, then the nagging and complaints started, increasing as the naira came down. This all came about partly due to the devaluation of the naira with respect to the dollar, and also the low reserves available to the country, though it seems to be beyond the control of the president and his advisers, but then, who takes the blame?
Increasing hardship among the masses: Currently Nigeria's economy is said to be at an all time low. Prices are high in the market and even the forex market is under stress. This is understandable because the crashing price of crude oil in the international market has created a problem for Nigeria's mono economy. Reducing its reserves so much.
But this is entirely not the fault of the president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his administration, as it would have taken the touch of a magician to transform the backbone of the economy from depending on oil to other revenue yielding sources within a short time before the oil price drop.
Problems from the past administration: Its quite true that a bulk of the problems the president and is cabinet of ministers are facing are not entirely their fault alone Its just a case of predecessors handing down problems to their successor .Funny, but I think they were just unfortunate to come into power at a time the world was going through some form of economic recession and Arab oil wells decided to belch out oil in large loads. But too bad, they just have been blamed by the people they swore to serve.
South-East zone and Igbos: Without taking so much as a critical look at public opinion, one would see that the Gen. Buhari and his cabinet of ministers and advisers comprising of northerners are not so popular in the south-east zone. Maybe because of the general feeling of neglect sweeping through the Igbos. (a largely influential tribe in the zone). There's also this prevalent idea that the president did not give much thought to 'federal character' in appointing his ministers. Not just that, a few think he hasn't done enough in the area, and that the parties policies to a huge extent don't favor the easterners
Biafra protests: Ever since Gen Muhammadu Buhari became president, various calls for the sovereign state of Biafra have been demanding his attention. And these have been intensified by the recent killings of Igbos by Northerners and the feeling that the president has shut his mouth in the face of all these because he isn't interested in the welfare of the Igbos.
Fuel scarcity and hike: One thing that has been quite common in Gen Buhari's administration is scarcity of fuel and fuel hike. For the second in about four years the subsidy placed on petrol has been removed almost doubling the price of fuel, transportation and even food items. This has resulted in various strike actions, with many questioning the reason for the scarcity of fuel nationwide.
Power sector: Maybe Nigerians have got the right to criticize the president and his administration on this, as so far these area hasn't seen any significant improvement since the president came into power. Though the president is blaming his failure on pipeline validations and bombing, and maybe a few understanding Nigerians seem to get it. But many still don't.
Concluding, maybe a few Nigerians are getting to understand the government's challenges and the reasons for its inadequacies, April polls conducted by GAIN showed a slight increase in approval of the president by Nigerians. Maybe Nigerians could still be giving the president and his administration more time to impress.
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