Nigerian media follow an unwritten convention of assessing a new president after his first 100 days in office.
September 5 was President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100th day in office. He must face the same test.
Despite criticism opponents hauled at him, the country feels the impact of his successes, rather than being shouted from the rooftops.
Still, some criticisms have merit. Opponents do not see why 100 days after inauguration, Buhari is yet to appoint his cabinet.
To reduce the cost of governance, he said he would trim ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). Till now, silence follows and speculation fills the vacuum.
The top civil servants he works with are knowledgeable about their sectors. But without ministers, they lack the muscle political heads muster to fashion and implement government policies, plans, and programmes.
Of the three agendas Buhari set to rescue Nigeria from the brink, his focus was first on security. Apart from Boko Haram rebels in the North East, armed militias threaten civilians in Plateau Central where herdsmen kill farmers over grazing land.
In the South South, remnants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and splinter groups bombed oil and gas assets on their way to government reckoning.
In the South West, the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) struck when it deemed fit.
But Boko Haram insurgency is the most well-organised and most destructive. Since it began in 2009, at least 15,000 persons, civilians and soldiers, have been killed.
After his inauguration, Buhari visited neighbouring countries which are direct stakeholders in crushing Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
Then the German government invited him to G7 Summit. From there to a four-day visit to the United States to galvanise Western support against Boko Haram, whose kidnap of schoolgirls from Chibok rankles the world to support Buhari to crush the terrorists.
It remains to be seen if his relocation of military command and control centre to Maiduguri and the 8,700 intervention force of the African Union (AU) can crush the sect.
Buhari has left the door open for dialogue if Boko Haram renounces violence.
The three-month he gave the military to rout the insurgents appears unrealistic now that the insurgents have resorted to suicide bombing of soft targets and attacking villages on horse-backs instead of using truck convoys.
He also promised to kill corruption before corruption kills Nigeria. However, a wit has noted that corruption is the only genuine business in the country with mass social appeal.
It is as ubiquitous as the opportunity it creates for corrupt bribe receivers in the corridors of power. Indeed, some argue that the Presidency is neck deep in corruption. Others point at the churches.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that at least N11.3 trillion was looted from the treasury by officials in the Goodluck Jonathan administration. For a country with about N4 trillion annual budget, the looted fund is staggering.
Buhari has set up an anti-corruption commission under Professor Itse Sagay to advise the government. Whether or not he will establish anti-corruption tribunals to accelerate trials remains to be seen.
But having complained about the empty treasury he inherited from Jonathan, his obsession with recovering the loot is understandable. The obsession creates the wrong impression that he is pursuing the corrupt at the expense of governance.
But the crux of the matter is that however competent and qualified his team, however brilliant his policies, and however effective his strategies, all would come to naught if there is no money to implement them.
Expectations from the Buhari administration to hit the ground running are too high. Frustrations are mounting as hopes are not fulfilled.
Buhari has not invested one kobo in any tangible project apart from $100 million in the anti-Boko Haram coalition’s preparations for the multinational joint task force.
Another is the N804.7 billion bailout for states to pay salaries.
So, Buhari is still digging Nigeria out of the economic abyss created by his predecessors.
Then again, on June 10, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Chairman, Elias Mbam, inaugurated a committee chaired by Abdullahi Inde to review the Remuneration Act of 2008 which prescribes the salaries and allowances of political, public, and judicial office holders.
The committee is to review these salaries and allowances in line with prevailing economic situation and the need to reduce the cost of governance, minimise wastages and abuses and ensure prudent management of resources.
All told, Buhari is on course. His achievements are all in savings for the treasury than investments.
The Jonathan government invested billions of naira in the power sector, paid more billions to a private oil and gas assets protection company and to ethnic militias. But vandalisation of these assets prevented stable power supply and created fuel queues.
Three months after taking over, even without spending one kobo, Buhari has the integrity to be seen as the incorruptible leader who may change the perception of the Presidency positively as the end of corruption in the country.
He has convinced communities to take responsibility for the safety of oil and gas assets.
Godknows Igali, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, confirmed that no oil pipeline has been vandalised since Buhari came to power three months ago. Electricity generating and distributing companies are no longer providing darkness. The paltry 4,500 mega watts get to the few who are “lucky” to be on the national grid while the government turns to Manitoba hydro and the Transmission Company of Nigeria to boost transmission infrastructure to carry at least 5,000mw till the end of the year.
Buhari has brought light.
