Now That Buhari Is Back…

President Muhammadu Buhari, penultimate Saturday,  returned to the country after spending 105 days on medical vacation in the United Kingdom. This is the second time the President would return from the UK after a scheduled medical vacation.
While away, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo took charge of the affairs of the nation in acting capacity. And within the 105 days he steered the ship of the Nigerian state as Acting President, bold improvements were made in many areas.
Specifically, Osinbajo made progress in addressing the 16-point Niger Delta demands, resulting in increased crude oil production and revenue earnings. The foreign exchange market witnessed reasonable stability, with the Naira initially appreciating to as high as N315 before hovering around N345-N360. The Capital Market also regained investors’ confidence as capitalisation rose to as high as N13.166 trillion.
Indeed, businesses showed signs of rebounding with improvement in economic indicators as reforms seem to have provided the much-needed fillip for recovery.
We recall that before the President’s second medical trip to London, the signs were quite ominous as the economy was yet to recover. The Naira had nosedived to a record low against major foreign currencies, hovering between N450 and N500 per Dollar. Capacity utilisation was starkly low. The Capital Market had plunged, with capitalisation stagnating between N6  trillion and N7 trillion. Although the downstream and midstream petroleum sector had been deregulated, it was yet to exert any positive impact on the nation’s economy.
To worsen issues, there was pervading insecurity with various ethnic nationalities making different demands. While the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) was agitating for secession, the militants in the Niger Delta  threatened to cripple crude oil production except Buhari acceded to key demands anchored around resource control, significant investments in infrastructure development and greater share in political decision making at the highest level of government in the country.
It was amidst this tension that Osinbajo took charge as the Acting President. And within the short time he held forte for his boss, socio-economic indicators scored him high.
It is against this backdrop that The Tide welcomes back President Buhari and urge him to consolidate on the relative successes recorded on various fronts by Osinbajo.
Instructively, we exhort the President to confront the resurging conflagration of the Boko Haram sect which now threatens already recovered territories and communities in the North-East. We also task him to boldly tackle the threats to national unity, arising from pockets of agitations for secession, restructuring and resource control,  as well as security concerns across the country driven by acts of criminality such as Fulani herdsmen and farmers’ clashes, kidnapping, armed robbery and brazen cult-related violence, among others.
The President surely has to address the Niger Delta question if the economy must fully recover and sustainable peace achieved in the region, and indeed, Nigeria. We hope that Buhari’s meeting, last Tuesday, with service chiefs will find lasting solutions to these security challenges.
On the economic front, The Tide urges the President to consolidate on the gains already made by Osinbajo, and pursue vigorously an integrated, progressive and competitive economic growth plan that offers robust opportunities for investors, creates windows for massive youth employment and empowerment, while providing social security valves for senior citizens and the elderly.
And in fact, there is no better way to calm frayed nerves than to ensure that the war against corruption is inclusive, total, and not targeted at a section of the country or opposition elements.
We appreciate the  concerns raised by President Buhari in his last Monday’s broadcast to the nation, which focused pointedly on the challenges that had pervaded the nation while he was away.
We particularly note the President’s assurance on the unity of the country, as well as his promise to overhaul the security architecture of the country and rejig the economy.
We, however, insist that there is a need to restructure the country to resolve some imbalances that often lead to several agitations, and even secession, in some parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the Buhari administration must realise that the blame game should give way for good governance. This is the only way to give Nigerians hope that the social contract his government entered into with the electorate was worth the sacrifice.