No second chance for APC or Buhari if
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Posted by Felix Okoli on Monday August 17, 2015 at 11:7:32:
Time is already ticking for the APC government and Buhari's administration and Nigerians are not known historically to be a patient people. One of the reasons why I voted for PDP rather than the APC was because I believed Nigeria needed a younger president and was afraid that Buhari will be slow to act. Well, those who voted for change later had the day and we had to trust in God and support Buhari so that he will move the country forward.I like Buhari but I'm not so confident about how he's getting started. In fact, many Nigerians now refer to the President as Baba go slow. We don't want to hear the APC or Buhari in 2018 telling us they need a second term in office since they were not able to fulfil their promise but rather we want them to fulfil their promises within this 4 years before asking for more support.The results of the 205 Presidential election showed that Nigerians were still divided as to their preferred choice of politicians. About 40% still voted for the PDP while about 50% voted for the APC. It showed that the APC won but not with a really wide margin as experienced in previous elections. It also showed that Nigerians may be willing to swing sides easily if the APCP and Buhari fails to perform within this short term.It is already 2 months and the most popular thing many Nigerians know about the ruling government is that they went on a trip to Washington to greet President Obama. While some Nigerians would have preferred the President to visit with his ministers, others are not bothered that he went with APC stalwarts on a visit that looked more like a victory tour.Although, I agree with some politicians that it's still too early to appraise the performance of Buhari and the APC since they are not yet up to 100 days in office, I think they need to do more work than the PDP did because when the 100 days are over, the Buhari administration will have a lot of question to answer and no ordinary Nigerian would want to hear that they spent those first 100 days probing Jonathan and his ministers.What Nigerians want is a government that reaches them economically, socially and so on. They want a government that is sensitive to their problems. They want a government that would provide more housing in populated cities where house rent has skyrocketed. They want a government that would pay them a monthly allowance for being unemployed. They want a government that would reduce the tax rate. They want a government that would provide 24 hours electricity and good roads.Many Nigerians are not really concerned about the way Buhari's government is currently focused on trying to recover funds allegedly stolen by Jonathan's ministers since they feel that the money will still end up getting missing or distributed among politicians at the top just like the Abacha loot.Cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port-Harcourt and so on have a lot of people looking for housing but the cost is so much because government has not built houses to support them. Cheap housing can really help a lot of people and we don't know if Buhari plans to do that. The cost of living in Nigeria has also risen despite the fact that there has not been any corresponding increase in people's income such as the salaries of civil servants. One of the factors that has caused inflation is the rising value of the dollar which also increased the value of imported goods. Buhari promised to make the Naira stronger, let him do that although I find it hard to believe that it would equal the US dollar. Reducing and stabilizing the value of the dollar to the Naira would really help Nigeria's economy.Nigerians are less likely to give a second change to the APC or Buhari if they fail toe perform better than the PDP or Jonathan within their first 4 years in office. They need to do a lot and act fast.
Time is already ticking for the APC government and Buhari's administration and Nigerians are not known historically to be a patient people. One of the reasons why I voted for PDP rather than the APC was because I believed Nigeria needed a younger president and was afraid that Buhari will be slow to act. Well, those who voted for change later had the day and we had to trust in God and support Buhari so that he will move the country forward.I like Buhari but I'm not so confident about how he's getting started. In fact, many Nigerians now refer to the President as Baba go slow. We don't want to hear the APC or Buhari in 2018 telling us they need a second term in office since they were not able to fulfil their promise but rather we want them to fulfil their promises within this 4 years before asking for more support.The results of the 205 Presidential election showed that Nigerians were still divided as to their preferred choice of politicians. About 40% still voted for the PDP while about 50% voted for the APC. It showed that the APC won but not with a really wide margin as experienced in previous elections. It also showed that Nigerians may be willing to swing sides easily if the APCP and Buhari fails to perform within this short term.It is already 2 months and the most popular thing many Nigerians know about the ruling government is that they went on a trip to Washington to greet President Obama. While some Nigerians would have preferred the President to visit with his ministers, others are not bothered that he went with APC stalwarts on a visit that looked more like a victory tour.Although, I agree with some politicians that it's still too early to appraise the performance of Buhari and the APC since they are not yet up to 100 days in office, I think they need to do more work than the PDP did because when the 100 days are over, the Buhari administration will have a lot of question to answer and no ordinary Nigerian would want to hear that they spent those first 100 days probing Jonathan and his ministers.What Nigerians want is a government that reaches them economically, socially and so on. They want a government that is sensitive to their problems. They want a government that would provide more housing in populated cities where house rent has skyrocketed. They want a government that would pay them a monthly allowance for being unemployed. They want a government that would reduce the tax rate. They want a government that would provide 24 hours electricity and good roads.Many Nigerians are not really concerned about the way Buhari's government is currently focused on trying to recover funds allegedly stolen by Jonathan's ministers since they feel that the money will still end up getting missing or distributed among politicians at the top just like the Abacha loot.Cities like Abuja, Lagos, Port-Harcourt and so on have a lot of people looking for housing but the cost is so much because government has not built houses to support them. Cheap housing can really help a lot of people and we don't know if Buhari plans to do that. The cost of living in Nigeria has also risen despite the fact that there has not been any corresponding increase in people's income such as the salaries of civil servants. One of the factors that has caused inflation is the rising value of the dollar which also increased the value of imported goods. Buhari promised to make the Naira stronger, let him do that although I find it hard to believe that it would equal the US dollar. Reducing and stabilizing the value of the dollar to the Naira would really help Nigeria's economy.Nigerians are less likely to give a second change to the APC or Buhari if they fail toe perform better than the PDP or Jonathan within their first 4 years in office. They need to do a lot and act fast.