It is about Buhari

September 6, 2013 Got to finally read a newspaper article supposedly written by Muhammadu Buhari, 'It is about Nigeria, not Buhari', and I have to say it is disappointing for its lack of depth and directional analysis regarding the many challenges that beset this country, and the question that keeps nudging me is this, what exactly does Buhari want to do with Nigeria should he have a second opportunity in leading this nation, and like millions of other Nigerians, I am yet to get any concrete responses. Posterity will judge the All Progressives Congress should it be unable to take advantage of the massive implosions and crises currently bedeviling the People's Democratic Party, but write ups such as that supposedly penned by Muhammadu Buhari paint the picture of a child who is deluded into thinking he can step into the father's shoes and assume his father's responsibilities and duties simply because the man is indisposed or facing a crises. It is misleading of Muhammadu Buhari to say we should look at the performances of the All Progressives Congress Governors in the 11 states under its control and use that as a basis of what to expect APC would do should it be given the mandate to lead the government at the center, for the simple fact that the nascent APC as yet is still an amalgam of strange bedfellows. Further, the performances referred to are more a reflection of the dynamic personalities of a few of these governors, as Borno and Yobe States are presently hotbeds of religious fundamentalism and insecurity, Zamfara State is known more for lead poisoning affecting thousands of its population, also these are early days yet in Nasarawa and Imo States, while in the South West States, only Babatunde Fashola in Lagos State can be called a true performing governor. It is also not enough for Muhammadu Buhari to accuse the Nigerian press of not steering debates to the policies and programs of the All Progressives Congress but rather dwelling on personalities and the struggle that will take place to produce his party's presidential candidate, the question is what exactly are the policies and programs of the APC? What efforts beyond the hurling of insults, abuses and declarations of burying, uprooting and decimating PDP at the polls, and pointing out every personal fault, weakness, transgression, mistake, error, misstatement of Mr. President and his wife, as key officials of the APC are currently engaged in, is the party making to promote its own programs and policies? This talk about Muhammadu Buhari having a sense of duty hence his involvement in Nigeria's political process, casts him in the mold of a savior desirous of rescuing Nigeria from the doldrums and having a magic wand that can be waved to solve the myriad problems of this country, but this again is misleading as is Buhari's claim that he fought in the Civil War to keep Nigeria united. The Nigerian Civil war was fought and won to maintain a certain political structure and to keep the resources of the country accessible to sectional interests, and these structural distortions and aberrations are the reasons why Nigeria is the way it is today, so without addressing these structural defects is the supposed rescue effort of Mr. Buhari not going to be a reinforcement and consolidation of the same sectional interests he fought for during the Civil War? What does Muhammadu Buhari intend to do on disputed 2006 National Census figures, does he attach any significance to the need for an accurate head count or is he in support of the status quo that arbitrarily allocates population figures to sections of the country simply to enable them collect more revenue from the Federation Account and get ghost votes from ghost voters to ensure electoral victories at the polls? Does Muhammadu Buhari support the systematic discrimination against the South East that sees fewer States and local governments in that geopolitical zone, resulting in lesser allocation from the Federation Account and slower development for Nigerians residing in that part of Nigeria, or will he support the addressing of the structural imbalances against the South East through the creation of an additional state at the very least? Will Muhammadu Buhari support the retention of the Federal Character Policy which has being the most important factor militating against the evolution of a national citizenship, and that has also been the driving force behind the growing conflicts between settlers and indigenes across Nigeria, or will he pursue its dismantling so that residency in any part of Nigeria becomes the only basis for accessing political, educational and social rights in Nigeria? What is Muhammadu Buhari's position on the 594 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Governmet, that currently consume 73% of its annual budget, or does he have plans to implement the Steven Orosanye Committee report that calls for a drastic reduction in the number of MDAs and civil servants, thus freeing up more public funds for capital projects but in turn incurring the wrath of the Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress? What is the position of Muhammadu Buhari on the privatization of the 15 assets of PHCN in the power sector which has just been concluded, with 10 power (NIPP) generating assets of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company also slated for privatization, or does Buhari believe that these assets should remain public property, meaning that like he canceled the metro line project in 1983 incurring massive fines for the FG, he will also cancel the entire privatization program with catastrophic and monstrous consequences? Muhammadu Buhari has to date not expressed any views on the Petroleum Industry Bill currently pending in the National Assembly, is he saying that he wants the current fiscal regime maintained as contended by the International Oil Companies, or does he back the plans of FG to reform the sector and take regulatory and monopoly powers from NNPC which will now be an Exploration and Production entity, deregulate the downstream petroleum sector and encourage more private sector participation and local content in the oil sector? Does Muhamadu Buhari still believe that FG should continue to pump hundreds of millions of US Dollars to maintain, own and operate the refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, which will be a clear endorsement of continued regulation and subsidy of petroleum product prices, thus meaning that he will be prepared to scuttle the $9bn DANGOTE Refinery to be built in Olokola, Ondo State which is expected to produce 20m metric tons of petroleum products daily, and which will generate 10,000 new jobs directly and tens of thousands of other jobs indirectly? Again, Muhammadu Buhari has been silent on the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, which is intended to institutionalize the Excess Crude Account thus providing for compulsory savings of a percentage of crude oil revenues for future generations of Nigerians and an investable fund that will be used to shore up the value of the Naira and fund infrastructure development, does he support some of the governors who are opposed to SWF? Since his folly of equating the Boko Haram insurgency with the Niger Delta militancy, Muhammadu Buhari has been silent on the atrocities being committed daily by Boko Haram terrorists against civilian populations especially children in schools, or is he planning on granting these terrorists amnesty and make huge financial settlements for their fighters while overlooking the fact that Boko Haram has so far slaughtered over 4000 Nigerians, how does he intend to resolve this tragedy? Likewise, Muhammadu Buhari was erringly silent during the recent public outrage against the endorsement by the Senate of provisions in the 1999 Constitution that seemingly endorse girl-child marriage, so what exactly is his position on the education of girls and the age at which they can be lawfully wed in Nigeria, or is Buhari also in support of the position of Ahmed Yerima and others who practice marriage to girls who are 9 years and above? There are over 10m unschooled children in Nigeria, with over 95% of these produced by the Almajiri system, the products of whom have been moved by previous inciting statements made by Muhammadu Buhari to engage in election violence in April 2011 that resulted in over 1000 deaths, injuries to thousands others and destruction of property in many states in the North, but surely that cannot be responsible for why Buhari has up to date not spoken out against the Almajiri system or does he intend to reform the system and continue with the building of model schools for these children? Does Muhammadu Buhari see the value in preserving the value of the Naira as pursued by the current Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Lamido Sanusi, and the Jonathan administration, or is he going to reintroduce the Stone Age import licensing regime, ban the access to foreign exchange, and ban the importation of goods and services that are seen as foreign exchange drainers? How does Muhammadu Buhari intend to diversify the Nigerian economy that is 95% reliant on oil and gas for foreign exchange earnings and constitute 85% of total revenue receipts, what is his economic blueprint for Nigeria and reviving the manufacturing sector, is he opposed to the boom taking place in the banking and finance sector, how does he intend to address the massive unemployment crises? I could go on and on, but Muhammadu Buhari with his analog style of speaking and writing which seems only to appeal mostly to those who shout, ‘Sai Buhari’, who to date has not shown proof of his computer literacy, has not made public an email address to facilitate communication with tens of millions of Nigerians (asking for Face Book or Twitter accounts will be asking too much), needs to do more to enhance his candidacy in 2015, so as to dispel doubts that he has become a dinosaur in a digital age.