Economic, political imperative of Buhari’s second term

It is certainly not the best of time to indulge in any kind of advocacy of President Buhari political future, even among his early admirers who still wonder why he had not turned one Naira   to one US dollar and his skeptical detractors, who have always believed that his famed integrity was a politically manufactured […]

It is certainly not the best of time to indulge in any kind of advocacy of President Buhari political future, even among his early admirers who still wonder why he had not turned one Naira   to one US dollar and his skeptical detractors, who have always believed that his famed integrity was a politically manufactured chimera to hoodwink the simple-minded. The brewing controversy over his undeclared second term of a second Presidential tenure is already wired to the political contestations of the partisan warriors and any view expressed on the President Buhari political future is doomed to be condemned to partisan affiliations.

Surely some people around President Buhari stinks, including the red-capped one, already notorious for manipulating the President to the sectional bias of many of his federal appointments. Notwithstanding the genuine concerns and worry about the competence of President of President Buhari to direct the affairs of Nigeria till 2023, there are even more compelling reasons to indulge him for another term.  

In economic terms, President Buhari has engendered a most fundamental structural reform of the economy, whose disruption would only spell doom. The structural reform, in which key and core infrastructures, consisting of road, rail and air networks are in early formations, must be prosecuted in the long term through policy consistency and strong political will, both of which cannot be guaranteed by any regime change in 2019. The strategic import of such crucial infrastructure projects for sustainable and inclusive economic recovery cannot be overemphasized, and therefore requires a consistent policy engagement to come to fruition. The deficit of such enabling and key infrastructure component have left the economy to financial speculations and such unproductive activities have previously skewed the economy to portfolio investors and other hot money chasers. The value of critical infrastructures in any emerging economy is hallmarked by the creation of inclusive value chain, in which every sector of society including unskilled persons and artisans can find a suitable niche in the economic life the country.

Closely associated with President Buhari,s important focus on transport arteries are equally his dutiful commitment to agricultural modernization and power infrastructure. After many years of successive regimes dilly dally on the Mambilla Plateau power project, he has taken the bull by the horn by expressly committing to getting the project, off the ground. 

For nearly two decades, since the return of civil rule, such critical and strategic infrastructures have been objects of political rigmarole with the consequence of near economic bankruptcy, where productive activities have literally ceased, giving room to excessive speculations.

President Buhari has given focused and sustained commitment to agriculture and while the system is still riddled with leakages and cronyism, there has been an appreciable improvement in nominal food guarantees from the national agricultural activities. It would still take some time to assure of food security but if the  trends of policy priority to local farmers and enhanced agribusiness is sustained, it would not be too long before the country returns to food self-sufficiency.

The enabling policy framework to drive a compelling economic structural reform is only sustainable in the context of a strong political will and commitment. 

 President Buhari, though, has abysmally failed to guarantee the instant bread and butter that he and his party earlier promised, has however, laid out the most credible and enabling framework in our context to guarantee a better life in the near future.

Politically, the imperative of President Buhari election in the first place is essentially to disrupt an inept and dysfunctional political process that engages the elite greed but miserably ignores the popular needs of the people. He has not, so far discharged this foremost contract to which the masses risked their skins to have him elected. The political process, including institutional reforms, cry for attention and no matter, what advances, President Buhari may make in economic structural reforms, the unreformed political process would ensure its reversals. The current constitutional guarantees for a bloated government both at executives and legislative branches are not sustainable. Not only has rivalry and inter-institutional conflicts hobbled governance but have diverted scarce resources to areas outside the immediate needs of national development. The system of extravagant and costly governance has given rise to structural and institutional corruption to which even individual office holders are helpless pawns.

Despite President Buhari seemly comfortable sit with the scheme of things as they currently exist,  he still holds out any serious prospects to shake things down and retool the nation’s political infrastructure and enthrone a new politics.

With a second term and ostensibly freed of the political debts to the opportunistic coalition that brought him to office, he can muster sufficient political will to enact far-going reforms that would revolutionize politics, even long after he has gone.

While credible election is at the heart of contemporary liberal democratic politics, Nigerian does not necessarily need a money-guzzling behemoth called the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC). While its institutional neutrality is at best is a fable, any speculation that its personnel are disinterested apoliticals is a farce. Credible retired judges at all levels but more importantly at appeal and Supreme Court levels can constitute genuinely Independent Electoral Commission on ad-hoc basis while Ministry of Interior, National population commission can periodically review the national electoral register. The burden of permanently maintaining the behemoth of the INEC must be seriously reviewed in any meaningful political reform that would form the fulcrum of our new politics.

Despite President Buhari’s mud feet, he is still best placed to shake-up the inertia that has befuddled our politics and stymied the economy. 

His second term will not be a honeymoon but a fight for his legacy if he seriously understands the meaning.

Onunaiju is director, Centre for China Studies, (CCS) Utako Abuja