The ingenuity of a President, by Jacob Ogunseye

Naturally, I don’t belong to the class of complainers most especially when things are not going my way, I also vowed not to join the groaning minds who gloat about everything without asking questions, but with the events out there, I am compelled to ask these brief questions, the questions though will amaze my numerous audience who knew how I contributed immeasurably in bringing about the “change” we are witnessing today. But alas! Is this the reality of the change we clamoured for? Are these the reasons why siblings fought against each other just a year ago? Is the present scenario the reasons that pitch husbands against wives? Is this why sons and daughters run parallel campaigns against each other all because of a coming “messiah”? It is apparent Nigerians are back to their groaning status as the administration is rapidly losing its fame. What have we done as a nation?
The much-awaited exceptional and quality leadership expected of President Buhari took off on a right platform until he personally signals to Nigerian masses that, things might generally not what they hoped for. In a clear manner, this government has been shrouded with controversies since assumption of office last May. Buhari’s lacklustre in assembling a team of ministers in the early days was the lead-off that the septuagenarian might be lacking in ideology. President Buhari and his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, administered Nigeria for the first four months only for us to be told by few close associates that they found corruption in all arms of government. Yes, without any amplifiers, it is obvious that the former administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan runs the country aground, the last government literarily institutionalised corruption; wasting time to pluralise it is uncalled for. It is high time these media wars on corruption ceased and the real process of governance take its course.
It is of note that my view on the competency of President Buhari has not changed. I know he can deliver the goodies to Nigerian masses, but these slow pace is entirely not acceptable. The obvious wasting of our scarce resources at this crucial time is unexplainable, as President Buhari combined Foreign Affairs Minister and substantive Petroleum minister portfolios with his executive responsibilities, we should expect the less. The junketing around the world will not save our currency, the lamentations from the street of Lagos to Kano, Port Harcourt to Nnewi is appalling, the hardship is getting worse, the news of company laying off their staffs on daily basis is not palatable, the hard conditions of trade for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises is regrettable, the draconic policies coming out from the “change” agent is disturbing, or how can we explain a government that added a 45 per cent increment on energy bill without substantial improvement in the supply of such utility?
A very wrong step of late has been the continuous strengthening of information dissemination apparatus without strengthening the information to be disseminated.  It will be difficult for Nigerians to be carried away no matter the contribution of these information management individuals assembled by this administration. What Nigerians expect from Buhari-led administration is a massive improvement in power supply, peaceful environment where insecurity occasioned by an act of terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery and host of these faded away. Without these, President Buhari’s efforts in restoring the nation might end up as one of those mistakes Nigeria’s have been making. It is time to have a solid economic team to spearhead the revival of our dwindling economy, the Foreign Direct Investments, which runs into billions of dollars a few years ago has suddenly evaporated, rather investors disposed off their stock to avoid unexpected investment calamity.
I am not in arms against his judgement on comprising of legions of experts to properly engage the populace with the achievement of the administration, but having as many as we have today is nothing different from what we were used to, so where is the change? The current minister of information and culture, Mr Lai Mohammed seems to be struggling between the roles of his present office with that of his former. Propaganda can only thrive when you speak for a party but will spell disaster when applied to governance. This is a fact; this administration needs to find a right track where the trains of our nation can move forward without any delay. Any obstruction will be catastrophic. The much glittering image of the president will be put into questioning; the ability of his All Progressive Congress (APC) to provide robust governance at the federal level will be challenged, in this scenario, who do my country turns to?