The initial optimism that greeted the election of President Buhari is waning with each passing day. Today makes it 5 months since the APC took over government at the center. In these 5 months, nothing much has changed. Nigerians are certainly not expecting the new government to right the wrongs of PDP’s 16 years misrule in this short time, but they expect an accelerated sure footed progress in addressing the many ills plaguing our nation.

The policy direction of the government remains unknown, her economic strategy is confusing and its agenda hazy since the APC came out months ago to openly repudiate their many campaign promises. The government is not just moving at a snail speed, it is on a downward spiral. To be fair, President Buhari inherited a distressed economy, but worryingly, he is not doing enough to halt its continued downturn.

It smacks of un-seriousness that 5 months after taking the oath of office, there are no ministers to form the Federal executive council, to provide the obviously needed help to the President. It beggars belief that despite the dire economic straits we are enmeshed in, there is no economic adviser to provide actionable intelligence to the President on how we can avoid the looming recession. Clearly, the President needs help and his body language sadly suggests he is averse to it.

Even the fight against corruption has not gone beyond EFCC’s highly ineffectual ‘arrest and discharge’. One would have expected a well coordinated strategy to frontally attack Nigeria’s nemesis, not this empty rhetoric and distracting accusations by agents of government. One wonders why the Prof. Itse Sagay committee is yet to be inaugurated months after it was announced, their terms of assignment remains in the realm of conjecture. The expected trial of oil thieves and past corrupt officials is long in coming and the talk of it has become very boring.

The insurgency in the North East continues to defy efforts. The security situation is made more precarious with the resurgence of the nefarious activities of Fulani herdsmen who have gone on rampage with dare devil audacity; kidnapping even elder statesmen. The government’s obvious marginalization of the Southeast in key appointments has given fillip to agitators of self rule. The recent widespread protest by the indigenous people of Biafra proves that there is large scale discontent in the land. Only an unserious government will think otherwise.

President Buhari and the APC have 48 months to deliver the change they promised Nigerians. They have lost 5 months to unnecessary drama, endless rhetoric and time wasting cautiousness. As things stand now, one is tempted to dismiss this change as a mere charade. They have 43 months to change the verdict. It is in our interest that they do so.

© Honest Offor
@honest4change