By By Promise Eze
Nigeria’s number one citizen, President Muhammadu Buhari, marked his 80th birthday on Saturday in Washington DC.
Born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, he would grow to become a military leader and politician who served as Nigeria’s head of state in 1984–85 and in May 2015 he came into office under the blaze of tremendous goodwill after three failed attempts.
However, as the final term of President Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency is about to breast the tape, it is right to begin to access his legacy.
We gathered the five biggest legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari. Here are they:
Inability to solve the problem of insecurity: Buhari swooped into power promising to solve the problem of insecurity bedeviling the country. He vowed to crush Boko Haram within three months and recover all the territories it had seized.
But seven years after insecurity has worsened beyond the Boko Haram insurgency. Virtually all parts of Nigeria are currently battling one form or another of violent crimes, evidence that the president has failed to keep his promise on security.
The Global Terrorism Index (2019) ranked Nigeria as the third-worst nation prone to terrorism with no improvement since 2017.
Not being able to revive the ‘old glory’ of Nigeria’s economy: Buhari promised he was going to fix the economy when he usurped Jonathan from Aso Rock. Nigeria’s oil export dwindled under Jonathan. The naira was devalued. Corruption was rife. Nigeria became heavily indebted. But Buhari was meant to be a breath of fresh air. Yet again, Buhari would outdo his predecessor.
A month after Buhari took over from Jonathan in 2015, our domestic debt stood at N8.39trn. Buhari would spend the next seven years increasing it to N19.24trn as of December 2021. Our debt rose to N41.6trn in Q1 2022. Nigeria spent 96% of our revenue in 2021 on debt servicing.
Under Buhari’s watch, the naira keeps having a free fall against the dollar. The prices of petrol, kerosene, diesel, and LNG have continuously increased beyond what the average household can afford.
ASUU Strike: Under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, undergraduates in universities across the country have lost at least 13 months from their educational calendar, owing to the recurring strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Constructing the second Niger bridge:
The second Niger Bridge has been a major concern to the Igbo for over 50 years because of two major reasons: the traffic lock jam on top of the bridge, and the evidence of cracks such that the stress of weights on the bridge could cause collapse of all the vehicles and their contents into the River Niger with untold consequences.
Thanks to Buhari who is the first president to bring the dream of a second Niger bridge to reality. The bridge was opened to motorists on December 15th, 2022.
Increasing NYSC allowances: President Buhari approved the increase and payment of the monthly allowance for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from a paltry sum of N18,000 to N33,000 in 2020.
