Nigerians place High Demands on Buhari’s Second Term

Call His Attention to Economy, Employment, Improvement in Electricity, Others

By Matthew Eloyi

As President Muhammadu Buhari begins to wind down his first term of office and prepares for his second tenure, Nigerians have begun to set agenda for him, stating what he should do in his second tenure as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In an interview conducted by Peoples Guide in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State Capital, many Nigerians revealed that they expect the President to pay greater attention to resetting the economy as a way of reducing the hardship and sufferings faced by the citizens.

A senior lecturer in Ebonyi State University who begged for anonymity said, tackling the issue of economy is more important considering that Nigeria economy was growing at an average annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate of about six percent, prior to when the President was elected in 2015, and has continued to stumble, as it managed to achieve 1.93 percent annual growth rate in 2018, after slipping into recession in 2016. In his words, “if the President can balance the economy of the country, then I think he has solved eighty percent of the Nigerian problems.”

Another respondent, Mr. Henry Onwe, a civil servant whose expectation is also on the economy said that more worrisome is the fact that Nigeria’s population growth rate of about 2.7 percent has completely overtaken its economic growth, which has dire consequences on standard of living and allocation of resources in the country. In his words, “the President has to be worried that GDP per capital, i.e. the average income per person for a country that is the largest economy in Africa in 2018 was estimated at about two thousand, fifty dollar ($ 2,050) whereas that of South Africa is about seven thousand, five hundred dollar ($7,500)’’.

On his own part, Mr. Emmanuel Oryina, a corps member serving in Ebonyi state, said one of the most important issues the President should tackle in his second term is the rising unemployment rate in the country, as well as rising incidence of poverty in Nigeria. According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the country’s unemployment rate has worsened in the third quarter of 2018 as it rose from 18.8 percent in third quarter of 2017, to 23.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018. In other words, the total number of people classified as unemployed rose from 17.6 millions in the fourth quarter of 2017 to 20.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. “Buhari should be more worried that over 91 million Nigerians, mostly, those who voted for him now live in abject poverty. If he does something to address this issue of unemployment, I believed the country will be better”.

In addition, Mr. Tony Olisa, a businessman said, the President would be eternally remembered if he can resolve Nigerian’s perennial electricity challenges which according to him, is the major hindrances to business flourishing, even as Nigerian look forward to policies that would genuinely drive the country’s quest for economic diversification with a concrete path to post-oil Nigeria.

Another businessman who preferred to be anonymous said the President should strive to create conducive environment for innovations to thrive. He also added that the President can only achieve this by doing away with some current members of his economic management team and ministers who in almost four years have displayed incompetence and were cogs in the wheels of both the administration and the country’s progress.