The Guardian writes of
Hope and Impediments , certain that while we see good intentions, we are disappointed with the actual outcomes. Please click to read more, especially pertaining to the positive accomplishments in one year.
ThisDay remarks that
Buhari shifts ground on key economic issues. Should we mourn that it took one year or celebrate that it finally happened? Should we remain at the mercy of the president's lagging comprehension of economic matters?
The Independent keeps it direct with:
Economy in Bad Shape. A negative GDP growth rate is a fantastic thing that one might have thought impossible just 1-2 years ago. It was achieved through archaic ideas, unclear direction, and possibly a deep-seated dislike of wealth and a strong commitment to choking off enterprise. As that paper put it: Investors Lose Hope, Withdraw N4 trillion In One Year.
Punch editors say Nigerians are
Still Waiting for the Real Change. They conclude with some recommendations:
On the whole, one year, certainly, does not make or break a
four-year term. And Buhari cannot be expected to wipe the political
slate clean at once. But for Buhari to leave a lasting imprint on
history, he must take several steps to inject new ideas into his
government.
1. fully accept the reality of open-market
economic strategy by restarting the stalled privatisation process as the
command-and-control national economic management strategy he is so much
enamoured of has become obsolete.
2. reinforce his
government by recruiting genuine reformers.
3. come down
from his high horse and
get more connected with the Nigerian people
during these difficult times.
4. for his government to
work
out ingenious modality on how to restructure our weird federal system.
5. it would help if Buhari
keeps partisanship in check in his
government’s anti-graft war.
2 and 3 are simply political (what is a genuine reformer and how do you find one? ) but 1,4,5 are important.
The current status on 1-4-5, since the whole machinery has chosen to stay subject to one guy's body language, is that:
Just like the president was not interested in the white man's economic theory (but is now coming around to it, or being forced into it) to the detriment of the Nigerian pocket,
For now,
Buhari is not interested in the confab report and all this federalism wahala.
And he not see that anti-corruption without legitimate structure can be argued to be simple party-politics of hounding and defunding the opposition.
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