Buharimeter, the public engagement tool launched by civil society
to measure the delivery of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign
promises, has given its assessment of the president’s first 30 days in
office.
Within the first 30 days, the president only worked towards the
achievement of 6.8 per cent of programmes he promised to deliver within
his first 100 days in office, the assessment found.
Also, within the period, actionable steps were taken towards the
achievement of only 2.3 per cent of the president’s promises that have
4-year tenure.
Armsfree Ajanaku of the Transition Monitoring Group provides further details:
”Gradually, the clock timing President Muhammadu Buhari’s four year
term is ticking away. It is already over 30 days since the President
took the reins on May 29, 2015.
”Civil society, which remained vigilant all through the electoral
process to ensure the votes count, has moved to the next stage of
monitoring governance.
Enters Buharimeter, a public engagement tool with which civil society
would be engaging governance to ensure the President fulfils the
promises he made to the Nigerian people. Buharimeter was conceptualised
by the Centre for Democracy and Development to address the challenges of
governance, civic participation and effective service delivery in
Nigeria.
The central focus of this initiative is to bridge existing gap
between the government and the governed thereby facilitating a process
through which democratic accountability becomes the norm. It is a
platform to ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered to
Nigerians who overwhelmingly voted for change during the 2015 general
elections.
It is reckoned that through Buharimeter, civil society groups, citizens,
the media, academia, practitioners, political parties and other
stakeholders will have access to reports on the status of the
implementation of promises made by the President. This is because all
the promises made by the current government are documented in different
sectors for easy identification. The project is designed to ensure that
citizens contribute in deepening democracy in Nigeria. Already the very
first of the monthly reports has been issued. The first report for June
2015 sets out the provide updates on the status of implementation of
campaign promises within the first 30days of President Muhammadu Buhari
in office.
Buharimeter on anti-corruption promises
The report notes that of the nine promises made as measures to
prosecute the war against corruption, the President is at the moment
“working towards the achievement of the pledge on public declaration of
assets and liabilities by filing such with the Code of Conduct Bureau as
mandated by Section 140 of the 1999 Constitution.”
It however notes that there is yet to be movement on other promises
fundamental to winning the war against corruption. In this regard, the
President’s promises to inaugurate a National Council on Procurement,
and implement the findings of the Nigeria Extractive Industry
Transparency Initiative, have not seen relevant steps being taken to
fulfil them.
Similarly, the President’s pledge to enact the Whistle Blower Act, and
strengthen the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the
Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission
through financial and prosecutorial independence, cost cutting in
governance as well as the presentation of the National Anti-Corruption
Strategy have not seen any publicly known steps towards fulfilling them.
Buharimeter on Security
One of the major soundbites from the President’s inauguration speech
was the announcement that the Command and Control Centre in the war
against the insurgents in the North East, would be relocated from the
nation’s capital to Maiduguri, the main theatre of the war. This was
followed up with diplomatic shuttles to neighbouring Chad and Niger to
exact commitments and build consensus on how to defeat the insurgency.
Thereafter, the President ordered the release of the sum of $21
million to the Multi National Joint Task Force for the prosecution of
the war. While these steps have been applauded as early indications of
the President’s resolve to stamp out the insurgency, the Buharimeter
report for June notes no traction on specific campaign promises on other
aspects of insecurity.
The report states: “In spite of these efforts, the President Buhari-led
government is yet to deliver a Marshal Plan on insurgency, terrorism,
ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping and rural banditry after 30
days in office. Also, no visible steps have been taken towards the
achievement of state-guaranteed life insurance to security personnel,
activation of regular meeting of the National Police Council,
recruitment of 100,000 police officers, creation of Local Government and
State policing systems, etc. which are some of the promises he made to
strengthen security capacity of the country.”
Under the key concerns section, the June report observes that over 400
innocent Nigerians have been reportedly killed in several bomb
explosions and attacks perpetrated by members of Boko Haram sect in
Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States since May 29, 2015.
“More so, attacks on farmers and Fulani herdsmen in Kwara, Kaduna,
Plateau, Ondo states, etc., have resulted into deaths of citizens in
different communities. While practical efforts of the new administration
to douse the tension in the North-Eastern states are commendable, it is
important to state that such efforts should be matched with
interventions to address the problems confronting farmers and Fulani
herdsmen.”
President’s Scorecard After 30 Days
With over 30 days gone, the Buharimeter assessment has a scorecard
for the President in percentage terms. It notes that while campaign
promises made by the President with a time frame of 100 days constitute
33.7 percent (58) of the tracked 172 promises, the promises to be
fulfilled in four years are 114, 66.3 percent of total promises. Thus
far, out of the 58 promises, four (6.8 percent) have been assessed as
“ongoing.”
“Hence, within the first 30 days, the President has ONLY worked towards
the achievement of 6.8 per cent of his 100 days covenant with Nigerians.
In similar direction, actionable steps have been taken within the first
30 days towards the achievement of only 2.3 per cent (4 out of 172) of
PMB campaign. This underscores the fact that no observable steps have
been taken to achieve 87.7 per cent of the promises.”
However, the June report did not merely pin point the problems with
respect to the President’s promises that are yet to be matched with
action. It therefore made some recommendations around how the President
should begin to fulfil the promises he made to the Nigerian people.
Specifically, it was recommended that the President should swiftly
deliver his “Marshal Plan on insurgency, terrorism, ethnic and religious
violence, kidnapping and rural banditry” as he promised to do within
his first 100 days in office. The report equally called on the President
to appoint ministers to handle the economy, agriculture and other
relevant sectors as quickly as possible.”
Beyond the content of the report, it is of importance to take a look at
the methodology used in putting this very first report together. The
monitoring of tracked campaign promises of PMB was conducted by the
Centre for Democracy and Development. Reports of newspapers, radio and
television broadcast which had bearing on aspects of the promises were
generated through daily media monitoring.
Also, expert analyses on sectoral issues were also collated to aid
formulation of informed analyses, from problem identification to policy
recommendations.
“We also systematically take cognizance of citizens’ views in making
judgment on the status of implementation but ensure that views that are
laden with bias and sentiments are disregarded in making judgment.
Weekly in-house reports were prepared for the purpose of trend
monitoring and building up to the monthly report; a database was created
for this,” the report read.
Article by Armsfree Ajanaku, Media Manager of Transition Monitoring Group, a coalition of over 400 civil society organizations.
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