For a significant part of his 8-year rule, former President Muhammadu Buhari did not fail to remind Nigerians that the PDP administration he succeeded battered the nation’s economy. He quipped repeatedly that the PDP administration stole the nation dry, as it looted our common patrimony and messed up with every single opportunity it had to make the most populous black nation in the world great.
“Fellow Nigerians, think how much PDP governments earned between 1999 to 2015. Think what they did with it. Infrastructure down! Security down! 18 local governments of Nigeria under control of a hostile army of insurgents. Reserves depleted! Bankruptcy around the corner. What did they do with your money?” Buhari had queried in a speech he made in October 2018, in the build-up to his reelection campaign.
From 2015 when he assumed office to 2023 when he bade the presidency farewell, Buhari never failed to tell Nigerians that he inherited a nation in economic tatters, made worse by the long years of PDP-induced thievery.
Indeed, the Daura-born General and most officials of his government spent almost 8 years reminding Nigerians that were it not for the opposition PDP, the country would have been an Eldorado that it ought to be.
However, after 8 years, a period that many Nigerians saw ‘shege’ – to use a very popular Nigerian lingo – nothing tangible was done in making amends to whatever wrong the PDP did to the country. Instead, the citizens are left worse off.
While reminiscing about the Buhari era, many Nigerians, including members of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), now liken his 8-year rule to a wasted period. And the sort of discovery made so far, especially as they pertain to how the economy was managed, made whatever complaints the immediate past administration made about the opposition PDP pale in comparison.
There is clearly no point repeating the fact that the Buhari era was not what most Nigerians thought it would be when they voted for the opposition during the 2015 polls. To say the least in the mildest way, the man performed far below expectations and ran a government that, like he tacitly admitted in his ‘exclusive interview with NTA’, was controlled by a cabal.
Knowing the dispositions of the nation’s political class, I can bet with my last savings that whatever revelations Nigerians are hearing now is nothing compared to what it would have been had the Buhari government been succeeded by an opposition. It is clear to many now that Buhari merely used the consistent reminders of an inherited economic debacle from the PDP administration to cover up for his failures.
Crying wolf
In Nigeria where narratives often shape perceptions, the current APC administration’s recurrent claims of inheriting a bankrupt nation are met with skepticism. Assertions by government figures emphasizing a depleted economy passed down to the Tinubu government, ring hollow to many.
National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, recently said Tinubu inherited a bankrupt country from Buhari. The NSA noted that the revenue generated by the Tinubu administration is being used to repay what was taken from the country.
To many discerning minds, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu government, in asking Nigerians to believe that the immediate past administration handed over to it a frail economy, is merely crying wolf and may well be trying to act a familiar script.
But is Nigeria really bankrupt? What is the extent of the nation’s bankruptcy? Are we not threading a familiar path where the current administration is trying to cover its weakness through fault-finding like the immediate past administration did?
In an article titled, “What Happens When a Country Goes Broke,” Open Society Foundations, an organisation that prides itself as the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance and human rights, reminds us that though “a country cannot simply declare bankruptcy as a private business might do,” a broke nation needs to “start a restructuring process, meaning renegotiating the contract terms of its debt with all its creditors, sometimes individual, sometimes with groups”.
Specifically, the Foundation noted that “one of the first steps is usually to call in the International Monetary Fund, which works with the World Bank and government to agree on a plan to help a country get its finances working again, often providing emergency funding.
“This is often in itself a difficult negotiation. Then the country needs to get agreement from all its creditors on the basic plan. They might have to agree to receive their money back over a longer period or write off some of their loans to reduce the overall amount owed.”
Spending, not revenue problem
Like most Nigerians, I believe our problem is profligate spending, not revenue-related. And the revelations from both the federal government’s recently passed supplementary budget and procurements by some state governments confirms this much.
Tellingly, spendings by even the present government belies this talk about inheriting a broke nation. It is hard to believe that Tinubu inherited a broke nation when the government did nothing to cut down the cost of governance, when the National Assembly spent over N40 billion to procure multi-million-naira vehicles for its members. In fact, each of the lawmakers gets a luxurious vehicle worth N160 million and somebody wants Nigerians to believe that the nation has no money?
It is clear that with a higher food cost from food inflation which at the moment is 31.5%, in the face of a general inflation rate of 27.33, an interest rate of 18.75% which has continually made it herculean for businesses to get loans, a huge unemployment rate and reductions in essential services such as health care and education, Nigeria is passing through difficult times.
There is no contesting the fact that the stark reality on ground – rising food costs, soaring inflation rates, exorbitant interest rates hindering business growth, staggering unemployment, and dwindling essential services – paint a picture of a nation grappling with formidable challenges.
Blaming the past administration for the present predicament is a narrative that resonates less with the populace. The focus should shift from lamenting inherited woes to holding accountable those responsible for mismanaging the nation’s resources.
From 2015 to May 2023, Nigeria generated over N90trillion revenue, including Value Added Tax and Company Income Tax. The government also printed money and borrowed from the CBN through ways and means to cover for its costs. Ours is clearly a spending, not revenue, problem!
BAT spent years preparing for this job. In fact, he said it was his life-long ambition, while telling us emphatically that this was his time. This oft-repeated talk about inheriting a bankrupt economy is one excuse Nigerians won’t condone, as it is clearly an attempt at blame-shifting like we witnessed in the last eight years.
Will NYSC Appeal Mbah’s Certificate Saga?
Why has the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) elected to keep mum on the court verdict regarding Enugu state Governor, Peter Mbah’s certificate saga? The Scheme had issued a letter signed by its director of certifications, Ibrahim Muhammad, that Mbah’s NYSC certificate was not issued by the Corps. A High Court ruled however that the certificate tendered by Mbah is authentic and imposed a N5million fine on NYSC for holding that it is fake. NYSC’s silence is scary.
Does it mean the Corps was lying when it denied issuing the certificate? Or, has the Corps been blackmailed and intimidated by some vested interests? Either way, it doesn’t say well about a credible institution like the NYSC. The Corps must either appeal this matter if, indeed, it never issued the certificate, or offer a public apology to Mbah. For now, its reputation is at stake.
