Buharism: What happened to the revolution?

Fist in the air, voice as strong as a lion, hand so firm you can feel it right through the screen. Behold the new revolution in modern Nigeria.  After a long, dirty and expensive campaign, Nigerians decided to vote for change and by extension Buharism, a revolution against corruption.  Fast forward to a year later and here we are. Eyes unsure, voice cracking, jet lags and promises failed.

Truth be told, things have changed. To what exactly is the answer this analyst can’t give. But whatever the case is, President Buhari has his supporters, many of them, and his opponents. But all are Nigerians and are stuck in a hole together, no thanks to a crumbling economy being hit from every side. Agricultural output is terribly low, oil production is less than low, and deficit is at an all-time high.  Like always, we are borrowing more than we are lending, our soldier are fighting war on more than two fronts. Politicians are playing the politics of shame, prayerfully waiting for the other side to fail while the nation bears the consequences.

All of these bring one question to mind: what happened to Buharism? What happened to the revolution? We thought the revolution was finally here. We waited endlessly to see the long list of looters and scammers ready to go to jail but coughing out their kills before they are handcuffed. But no, we are still waiting. Perhaps it will happen in the nearest future, nobody knows. We are still waiting for the 3,000,000 jobs in the first year after over a year. We are still waiting. The government promised to hit the ground running, it didn’t. It floundered on many grounds.  But excuses were made for them; perhaps they were getting ready for a big hit. Perhaps they are waiting for the arrival of angels before a proper cabinet formation. We waited for a whopping 6 months or so after inauguration before a government was formed. Then we waited for a missing budget, it was found but infested with irritating errors: from repetitions to miscalculations.  This was where the problem started. The capacity of the revolutionary was being questioned. Even though the president still stands clean in his white garment, many began to ask if being clean was enough to replace capacity to innovate and solve problems.

How exactly did the revolution become an excuse? Two possible explanations exist. Either the All Progressive Congress (APC) promised more than its capacity to deliver or Nigerians are a thankless bunch.  The former is more like it, if anything; Nigerians are patient people who believe more in the reward from their efforts, individually or collectively, than they expect from their government. What they ask for however is something modest. If you say you will do a thing, do it. No excuses. Else you have failed. On this note at least, the APC has a lot of cleaning to do, not as badly as the PDP does but maybe nearly as much.  It has won an election on a promise of change but luck didn’t play along. Its plans were left to chance and chance doesn’t play cool. It rewards the prepared. They weren’t prepared and the result is what we see today.

Although the APC’s confusion is seen across board, hope is not far away. Building a nation in a downward economy won’t be easy. It will require a great synergy of skill and will. The fix lies in the manning of key sectors with sound stewards and managers. President Buhari needs to look beyond the walls of politics for appointments. The private sector has some of the best hands in Nigeria.

Nigerians don’t care about party, they know leaders and they want results. He still has a chance of saving his name and the goodwill of Nigerians. Anti-corruption, the key element of his government is still visibly weak. The hunt for looters doesn’t need to be taken too far; he should perhaps look around his government. He has lamented that there are saboteurs in the system. Why haven’t they been found and prosecuted.

Government is a thankless job. Mr President asked for it, and thankfully he got it. He should use it to make a difference in the lives of the people that elected him and the once that didn’t.

Emi Iyalla