The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, has fired a warning at President Buhari and his economic team concerning the present economic climate. This is connected to the various cut-throat policies of the government, which have brought the Nigerian economy to a halt.
“I will neither change nor be political by telling people what they want to hear. The truth is that there is nothing we are facing today that we did not know would happen. We made mistakes, many of them deliberate; we ignored every single warning. We should not just keep blaming the previous administration; we also made some mistakes in the current administration.
“They must retrace their steps. They have to retrace those steps all the way. We should not fall into the same trap we fell the last time when the government was always right. The bottom line is that if your policy is wrong, it means you must change it and nothing will make it right as it has to be changed. If this government continues to behave the way the last government behaved, it will end up where Jonathan ended,” he stated.
It is apparent that President Buhari’s policies are quite contradictory, as once pointed out by Ventures Africa. In the same vein, some major campaign promises of President Buhari are yet to be fulfilled, despite the hardship Nigerians are presently facing. Therefore, from a professional angle, Sanusi’s advice needs to be considered carefully by the president and his economic team.
Buhari needs to retrace his steps
The Federal Government of Nigeria needs to tackle the current economic challenges and it needs to do so quickly. This does not mean that Buhari and his team are dormant, but the efficiency of their policies remains a major point of debate. This informs Sanusi’s decision in asking the president to review his policies.
As cited by Sanusi, President Buhari’s decision to devalue the Naira has made a few people richer, leaving average Nigerians to bear the larger burden. “The people telling the government that if you devalue, people will suffer are the ones benefiting presently. They bought the dollar at N179 and price their goods at N300. The poor pay the price of a devalued currency, the rich takes the profit,” he noted.
It is worth reiterating that Nigerians wholeheartedly voted for Buhari in the 2015 general election, believing they will receive better living conditions and improved welfare. Instead, since his swearing-in, harsh economic conditions coupled with cut-throat policies have been the order of the day. The cost of living has skyrocketed, power is even more unstable, investors are pulling out of the country, and that’s not even half of it. All these point to the intense conditions of the present Nigerian state.
During his campaign, the aim ‘to revitalise Nigeria’s battered economy’ was at the centre of Buhari’s manifesto. Unfortunately, the economy has crumbled even more under his watch, underscoring the fact that his policies are not producing the desired results. Also contrary to his promise to provide 3million jobs annually to Nigerians, unemployment is on the rise.
In order to improve the country’s economic performance, President Buhari must review and reshape the policies he has approved so far.