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Thursday, 21 January 2016

Has Buhari Forgotten His Promises?


Buharimeter, the initiative that monitoring how President Muhammadu Buhari is implementing his promises, cautioned that president should pay more attention to his promises.
It stated that President Buhari is giving to much priority to the ongoing anti-corruption war.
The fourth report of the initiative that was published recently advised the president to also study other critical sectors like security, the economy, fighting corruption, oil and gas, agriculture, and social and environmental sectors, and to also advance action on the Whistle Blower Act, and the giving the prosecutorial autonomy to the anti-corruption agencies.
The report said: “It is also imperative for the government to acknowledge that the fight against corruption should not be confused as sufficient to address all governance challenges in the country.”
Essentially, fighting corruption is and should remain one of the policy priorities of government but not the only overarching intervention necessary to strengthen governance, especially in a country like Nigeria where democracy is still transitioning. The campaign against corrupt practices should simultaneously exist with interventions such as social provisions that could discourage people from engaging in corrupt practices, and to a large extent, galvanize support for the campaign. This may also help institutionalize the anti-corruption process in the country.
“Allegations of perceived bias continue to be made against the PMB administration in several parts of the country.
 “This perceived bias is being used by the Biafra secessionist movements to win converts. The claim of marginalization by parts of the federation is not a new phenomenon. However, it is imperative that the PMB administration embarks on national healing toaddress the perceived wrongs witnessed in the previous years. This could be a truth and reconciliation commission in a similar model to Obasanjo’s Human Rights Violations Investigation popularly referred to as the Oputa Panel.”
It further stated that the Nigerian army has made progress in restraining the insurgency in the North East, but that an estimated 1,949 people have been killed by Boko Haram between June 1 and December, 31, 2015 with other records of hundreds of thousands internally displaced within same period.

On the economy, the group noted that the Buhari’s government introduced several policies to improve the economy, but that there are no fiscal policies to complement the monetary policies reeled out so far.
Buharimeter, a web platform, was launched by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, to ensure that President Buhari keeps to them.