Four years ago, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, assumed office as the first Nigerian politician to defeat an incumbent in the democratic history our country, having campaigned vigorously on three main cardinal issues – fighting corruption, growing and diversifying the economy, as well as securing the territorial integrity of our dear country. This administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has not only kept its word to Nigeria and Nigerians, but he surpasses previous administrations in addressing the fundamental challenges that will confront the country in those three major areas.
It is important we remind ourselves where we were before and where are right now to truly appreciate that this administration is genuinely working for the poor masses of Nigeria who are in the majority. Before this administration, the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had the excellent opportunity to rule the country for 16 uninterrupted years. The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, was one of the principal promoters of the party in those years. Atiku was in charge of the economy. Instead of investing the windfalls of oil wisely and pivoting the affairs of the country in the right direction, Atiku Abubakar and his boss at the time, who is one of his major supporters today, were busy fighting themselves for power to the extent that they both lost focus on laying the needed foundation for the country. Nigeria has not recovered from that incidence to date.
President Olusegun Obasanjo gave damaging remarks about his deputy and went on to foster Umar Yar’Adua on the country alongside Goodluck Jonathan as the lieutenant president. The rest is history. The Nigerian state under the subsequent PDP governments kept tanking, but the brazen corruption in the system did not make the effect show until the party was booted out of power.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been deliberate on infrastructure development across the country, leaving no region unattended. This APC-led government is working assiduously to keep its promise in growing and diversifying the Nigerian economy by laying the foundations that drive the country towards production and away from consumption. Unlike the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that had the opportunity to rule this country for 16 years, many of which crude sold at astonishingly high prices, the APC government is investing heavily in infrastructures that will drive ease of doing business in Nigeria.
These investments in real infrastructures such as roads, rail, portable water, irrigation for agriculture in the desert region, power generation, in addition to the social investment initiatives of this current administration are steps in the right direction to facilitating a productive economy that creates jobs for our bulging youth population.
Also, I think the Agriculture initiative of this administration is vital to get our young people busy and economically self- sufficient. However, we need to be very deliberate about it and provide the necessary incentives and support such as high yield inputs, mechanised equipment and tools, amongst other things. Beyond farming, we need to take agriculture to the next level, which is light manufacturing – processing our produce for local consumption and export, to derive long-term economic gains from agriculture.
With the investment in rail and road transport networks, access to the market for rural farmers to move goods and wares becomes more comfortable while those in the city can commute better, transporting their products and services better. In 2015, while attending an investment summit in Addis Ababa, I met a rural farmer who told me that the newly constructed rail service has cut her travel time by over two hours and also reduces transportation cost by nearly 45 per cent. Imagine how moving a container by train from Apapa Port to Kaduna will impact the bottom line of any business. There is no limit to what we can achieve when all these initiatives come into full operation.
In the area of power, this administration has increased power generation significantly since coming to power in 2015 while also increasing distribution capacity. With the current and ongoing initiatives across the country, there is assurance that the government of Muhammadu Buhari will double the current generation and triple the distribution capacity by 2022 if re-elected. The Mambilla Power Plant, capable of generating over 3,000MW of electricity, that has been neglected for about 40 years, was re-awarded (for US$5.8bn) in 2017 and is due for completion in 2022. If present-day $US5.8bn can generate that much electricity, I wonder what US$16.9bn squandered awarding fictitious electricity contracts under 16 years of PDP rule would have achieved.
In addition to increasing grid generation, the government is taking energy mix with high priority by considering power generation from other sources of energy such as solar, wind and biomass. Also, the government has launched a scheme known as the Energising Economies Initiative (EEI) to support small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The EEI programme was developed to aid the rapid deployment of clean and sustainable off-grid electricity solutions to economic clusters in Nigeria.
With the full implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the administration of Muhammadu Buhari, a lot of leakages and corruption activities have drastically reduced. Also, the strict adherence to the use of Bank Verification Number (BVN) has significantly exposed hidden funds stashed in different accounts, thereby enabling the anti-graft agencies to go after those who looted our treasury and recover assets in the process. For the first time during this fourth republic, the incumbent government did not do a fundraiser in the presidential palace neither is the government breaking the Central Bank to fund its campaign.
I believe the team of Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo are working tirelessly to ensure that the masses get a fair share of good governance in Nigeria. The PDP ruled Nigeria when oil prices were at an all-time high, but instead of investing, they were looting with reckless abandon, whereas the APC, on the other hand, has continued to consistently and prudently fund in the future of the country, even when prices have been at the lowest in the last decade.
As we go to the polls, you need to think about the massive investment in the future of the country by way of infrastructure, social investment initiative and security in the land. You should ask yourself, where were we before and where are we now? Do you want to go back to the days where US$16bn was allegedly spent on electricity but no power to show for it?
The future of Nigeria is in your hands, choose wisely!
Bisi Ogunwale
