Re: Buhari and 2017
On 3rd January, 2017, Mr. Eugene Enahoro, on page 42 of Daily Trust Newspaper made a scathing criticism of the performance of President M. Buhari. In his opening paragraph Mr Enahoro expressed an opinion that: “As he enters his third calendar year of office, his reputation has been harmed by his slow start, backtracking […]
On 3rd January, 2017, Mr. Eugene Enahoro, on page 42 of Daily Trust Newspaper made a scathing criticism of the performance of President M. Buhari. In his opening paragraph Mr Enahoro expressed an opinion that:
“As he enters his third calendar year of office, his reputation has been harmed by his slow start, backtracking on election promises and the appointment of tainted characters into key positions. Furthermore, the undeniable predominance of his kinsmen in his key appointments is contrary to federal character principle. Even though his supporters take serious outrage at negative assessments of him and aggressively refer to him as some sort of Deity who shouldn’t be criticized under any circumstance, the fact remains that PMB is fast losing the widespread public support which won him the election”. He then went on to give instances of “many comparisons between him and his predecessors Goodluck Jonathan are unfavourable prompting the latter to become irritatingly more vocal”.
Mr Enahoro did not disclose the source where he obtained his data nor did he indicate the relevant budgetary year. However, President Jonathan was in charge throughout 2014 and President Buhari was in charge throughout 2016. I have consequently used the approved budgetary allocations for comparisons between the performance of the two presidents regarding the cost of feeding in the villa, cost of foreign trips and the cost of servicing of presidential jets as detailed below:
Cost of feeding in the Villa: According to Mr Enahoro, President Jonathan budgeted N1 billion for feeding in the Villa while President Buhari budgeted N1.7billion. Budgetary allocation approved by the National Assembly and available in the public domain give the figure of N224,709,759 for feeding in the Villa in 2014 under President Jonathan and N211,140,072 for feeding in the Villa in 2016 under President Buhari. President Jonathan’s budget in 2014 was higher than Buhari’s budget of 2016 by more than N13 million.
Cost of foreign Trips: Mr. Enahoro claimed that former president Jonathan spent an average of N8million per trip but that President Buhari spent an average of N55million per trip. It has not been possible to establish the cost per trip for 2014 and 2016 but the budgetary allocations appropriated by the National Assembly were N1,159,240,600 in 2014 under President Jonathan and N631,049,463 in 2016 under President Buhari. Jonathan’s budget figure in 2014 was about N530million more than Buhari’s budget figure in 2016. Servicing of Presidential jets- Mr. Enahoro stated that President Jonathan budgeted N1.4billion for the servicing of presidential jets but that President Buhari budgeted N6 billion. The budgetary allocations approved by the National Assembly were N7,971,642,164 in 2014 under President Jonathan and N3,318,458,747 in 2016. Jonathan’s budget figure in 2014 was more than Buhari’s budget figure in 2016 by over N4.6 billion.
Funding of Education and Information under PMB: According to Mr. Enahoro “President Jonathan funded education and built new universities. President Buhari budgeted more for Ministry of Information than Ministry of Education”. However, under President Buhari, the budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Education in 2016 was N480,278,214,688 and the allocation for the Ministry of Information was N44,800,950,439. Thus, the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Education was more than ten times the allocation for Ministry of Information. With regard to the claim that President Jonathan built new universities, we all know that no new universities were built but an announcement was made for establishing a university in each state where there was already no federal university. Funds were made available for the universities just as funds were released for the purchase of arms to fight the Boko Haram insurgency. We all know that certain calculations tending towards securing political advantage dictated the entire projects. Establishing several universities all at a time would ordinarily require thorough planning so that the foundation would be firm. This was how our first and second-generation universities were set-up. Mere announcement of the locations and the names of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars cannot be equated to building universities. The motive is further exposed by the impromptu appointment of Pro-Chancellors and members of the Governing Councils at the tail end of the term of Jonathan administration.
Exchange Rate Management: Mr. Enahoro claims that under President Jonathan, there was only one exchange rate of N185 to the dollar but currently are eleven exchange rates operating under Presidnt Buhari and listed them as “Pilgrim N197; Cutoms N285, Budget N305; Interbank N395; Fuel Imports N316; International Bank Card N319; Travelex N345; Special Funds Airlines N355; and Black Market N488”
It is obvious that some of the rates listed by Mr Enahoro do not exist such as Custom Special funds for Airlines and Fuel import. Of the others, a few have always existed, such as interbank, cards, Travelex, and Western Union and are determined by the agencies/banks concerned. The rest not only exist now but also existed throughout the tenure of Mr Jonathan between 2009 and 2015 as depicted by official CBN records available in the public domain and collated below:
I will like to advice Mr Enahoro to check and cross-check his information before going public, particularly if he does not want President Buhari’s supporters to “take serious umbrage at negative assessment of him, who should not be criticized under any circumstance”. But when critics decide to fabricate statistical data, such critics should expect to be attacked not only from the so-called Buhari supporters but from other well meaning citizens. Buhari’s supporters cannot be so unreasonable if the truth is told. After all, constructive criticism is the bedrock of democracy. However, anybody going to public domain should present the facts, not fabrications.
Malam Adamu Fika, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, wrote this piece from Abuja.