At the beginning of 2021, I made a resolve to resume writing this column, and remain positive about Nigeria despite all we’ve seen in the country lately. Last week, I got some comments from friends and colleagues asking why I still had hope in Nigeria. This time, it was difficult to answer, but I quipped “hope never fails”.
Last month, I decided to hit a hard reset and begin writing about the things that have become positive about Nigeria in the past five to 10 years. So I started digging; looking for answers in the most obvious sectors — education, health, tech, labour force, infrastructure, and the likes. But the answers were not really there. The research was taking so much energy and billable hours, so I decided to put it on hold, until Femi Adesina brought it up again.
In case you missed it, Femi Adesina, special adviser to President Muhammdu Buhari on media and publicity, said Nigerians and a section of the media like to focus on the negatives and neglect the positives.
“It is not enough to focus on the negatives, in any country in the world, if you want to focus on the negatives, there will be more than enough for you to see and to talk about,” he said on Sunday via Channels TV. “But there are always silver linings in the sky, from time to time. In Nigeria, there are positives; in economy, in security, in all spheres of life, there are positives.”
I agree with Uncle Femi, there are indeed a few things that have gotten better with Buhari. More trains function in Nigeria today than they have done at any time in my adult life. The Buhari admin has got more Nigerians riding trains than any government has done in the fourth republic (1999- 2021).
Based on my experience, the power situation has gotten better in urban Nigeria. The places I have lived in the past three to five years have experienced better power supply. Some would argue that we have had to pay considerably more. But if we keep all variables constant, power generation, transmission and distribution have improved. For those who want the stats, power transmission hit a record high of 5,802 megawatts in March 2021.
A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable people. The Buhari admin postures as a government that understands this; hence, more attention has been paid to pensioners and the poorest of the poor since this government came on board. He has paid Biafran war veterans, he has cleared backlog for Nigerian Airways pensioners, and many more of that kind. This is another place the government has made the country better.
Under Buhari’s government, Nigerians have also begun to do even better abroad. Buhari nominated and campaigned for Akinwumi Adesina, the AfDB president; and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO DG. He also supported Amina Mohammed for the office of the deputy secretary-general of the UN. Buhari and Boris Johnson, recently co-nominated Dapo Akande for a top UN job. There are a few more examples. Love him or loathe him, without Buhari, NOI would have needed Trump to nominate her for WTO — and you know how that story would have gone.
On the ease of doing business, Nigeria has improved. Let me be quick to say, it is still incredibly difficult to do business in Nigeria. Apapa Port tells the story. But let us acknowledge the fact that the Buhari admin made some progress. The right-of-way charges for broadband have been slashed tremendously. States have been falling over themselves to show who’s leading the pack. This is some progress.
60 WAYS NIGERIA HAS BECOME BETTER IN SIX YEARS
Adesina said “we are making progress”. “It may be slow, slower than we want, but things are looking up”. I have searched within my sphere of influence and these are the things I see looking up. If we ask Nigerians to list 60 things that have gone worse in the last six years, they’d make a long list. So here is my challenge, let’s make a list of positives.
I have struggled, but successfully listed five ways Nigeria has gotten better in the past six years. While writing this piece, I looked up the promises the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Buhari made to Nigerians in 2015 and 2019, perhaps I could find more that the government has delivered on, but I did not find more.
So I’m calling on Uncle Femi, and the entire media team at the presidency; give us a list showing 60 ways Nigeria has improved under your principal. Nigerians are welcome to participate in this process. My Twitter handle will be at the end of this article. You can share with me, things that have improved — no matter how small — in the past six years.
Before I leave you to send in comments, did you know that the Buhari team, in its Next Level document, promised 35% female appointment if re-elected in 2019. They got re-elected. The president appointed 42 ministers and only seven of them were female. This represents 16.7%, less than half of what was promised. But on the flip side, female ministers increased from six in 2015 to seven in 2019. This will not count as progress. Please, come forward with real progress.
We need 60, but if we get up to 20 things that have genuinely gotten better in the last six years, I promise you I will follow up on it and share it here. The journey to 60 starts now. Happy hunting.
You can reach Mayowa on Twitter @OluwamayowaTJ
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