Buhari at 100 days, Criticism of lack of Geo-Political Consideration.

Politics and economy watchers are getting weary of the spate of buck passing, ‘no hurry’ body language and aura of policy inertia emanating from the President Muhammadu Buhari(PMB) led federal government,as his tenure nears the 100 day mark, typically a season of assessment.

PMB

They say the  indicators show an economy in dire straits and staggering without concrete policy direction.

On the upside however, there is agreement that some mileage is being made in the war against corruption and a significant stepping up of electricity supply from the national grid which comes from a perceived improvement in the work ethic, on the notion that the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom. 

Economy watchers however observe that without significant improvement in oil prices, weakness of the naira, and with Q 2 GDP growth for 2015 at 2.34% compared to a 6.54 % growth for the same period in 2014, the federal government should go beyond, rhetoric, wishful thinking, and buck passing  and present more rapid, robust and re-assuring responses.

Ayo Teriba, a leading economist and CEO of Economic Associates, while acknowledging that “it is true that a myriad of problems were inherited from the previous regime, the new regime appears to have been too preoccupied with its internal challenges…” rendering it unable “to chart a future policy path for others outside government to plug into”. 

Teriba further laments that the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) regime “appears to be struggling with the present, finding it difficult to contemplate a future for the country”.

There is no doubt that PMB in the last three months has filled the atmosphere of governance with the consciousness of accountability and probity, and has made a few positive moves like implementing the policy of a Treasury-Single Account, aimed at blocking leakages from revenue generating agencies. Yet Teriba says the fiscal policy direction of the current government “remains uncertain”.

Sam Ohuabunwa, founding chairman of Neimeth Pharmaceuticals plc and chairman African Centre for Business Development, Strategy & Innovation(ACBDS) is worried that the “national focus seems riveted on the anti-corruption issue and the present lopsided appointments of PMB”. Ohuabunwa says “our eyes are off the economy”. He is uncomfortable with the “daily remarks about how bad the economy is or how good we wish to make it…” These continual remarks, he says, “will not change anything”.

For Ohuabunwa, “blaming the previous government for everything is escapist”. Suggesting a way forward, Ohuabunwa says “what will change things is implementing a coherent and well thought-out bundle of economic policies, not the fire-brigade actions”.

Teriba seems to agree with Ohuabunwa on the way forward. “It would have been better for the government to have stated its fiscal policy direction in a forward-looking fiscal guidance document that will leave no one in doubt about the fiscal policy directions of the new government,” Teriba states.

The ongoing fears about the outlook of the naira and the undue pressures on the CBN are as a result of the absence of an “early indication of broader economic policy directions” Teriba emphasises.

The steady weakening of the naira according to Teriba, “could indeed have resulted from the loss of confidence resulting from rising uncertainty about fiscal and broader economic policy directions”.

After waiting for three months, Nigerians seem to be clamouring for more concrete achievements from the government of PMB.

Meanwhile PMB appears unruffled by expressions of impatience and the swelling criticism of lack of geo-political consideration in appointments made so far.

IKENNA OBI