Sector-by-Sector Analysis Reveals Buhari’s High Score

By Vanessa Obioha 

The latest ministerial retreat organised by the office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha signalled a strong finish for the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. As the President pointed out in his remarks at the Ministerial Performance Review Retreat held at the State House on Monday, October 17, 2022, the main objective of the retreat was to hold his government accountable to the people and to set trackable agendas, by reviewing the performance of ministries in delivering the ministerial mandates signed in 2019, identify and propose solutions towards resolving key impediments to implementation; and to re-strategise on how to accelerate the delivery of results along the nine priority areas of his administration. 

To critics, the current administration has done little or nothing to improve the economy, security or standard of living for the common Nigeria. It is no news that Buhari’s administration has been pilloried for the present status of the country. However, at the retreat, the presidency showed that it still has lofty plans for Nigerians, particularly leading to the end of its tenure next year.

Nine key areas were identified for continued efforts. These include the macro economy whose stabilisation depends on the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. The ministry is expected to implement aggressive revenue mobilisation to reduce current levels of fiscal risks. Given the fluctuations experienced in the foreign exchange that has further weakened the Naira, it is expected to broaden the sources and stimulate a greater supply of foreign exchange through the attraction of foreign direct investment.

A contentious bone in the economy, the ministry is also charged to fight oil theft even as fuel subsidy is expected to be dumped in the dustbin of history by 2023. There are also plans to invest in emerging areas of the oil and gas sector to unlock new investment opportunities.

One of the key areas addressed included food security which the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been assigned to work out measures to sustain increased good production as well as the use of Agric-rangers to enhance security in the farmlands and ensure continuity in food production. Also added to the responsibilities of the ministry is supervising a multisectoral/interagency collaboration to minimise the incidences of chemical residue in food crops, and to address the logistics costs of moving agricultural products to address food inflation. 

One area of key concern for the administration is the energy and power sector. According to the presidency, it is very keen on bringing about energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products. To this end, it has mandated the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to accelerate the full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act for sustainable national development and the development of an oil and gas policy for the country. More importantly, the ministry is to quicken action in rehabilitating the existing refineries and put in place mechanisms to minimise the effects of total removal of oil subsidy.

Another important goal in this area is the Siemens Grid and Distribution Enhancement Project which aims to achieve 25,000 megawatts by 2025. Early work orders and financing structure for the deployment of transmission and distribution equipment have been completed, hence, work is ongoing to realise 11,000 megawatts of installed transmission capacity by 2023.

Thus, collaboration among stakeholders, including operators and joint security forces to tackle oil theft and related issues, and help the country meet her OPEC daily oil production quota are encouraged. The Buhari administration has promised to introduce robust mechanisms to track daily PMS consumption with appropriate technologies.

The government also to commission major infrastructure in 2023 such as the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the second Niger bridge, and the Kaduna-Kano expressway, as well as the commissioning of a housing project in Zuba, Abuja. The Ministry of Transport is tasked to collaborate with other key government agencies to deliver the national single trading window and aggregate trade. Appropriate technology is to be deployed to modernise and automate processes of port operations so that delays are greatly reduced in port operations.

The Ministry of Aviation was perhaps the cynosure of the retreat as it is expected to complete the various ongoing projects listed under it  

To drive industrialisation, the government is focusing on SMEs through the provision of soft loans from the Bank of Industry dedicated to providing access to MSMEs’ finance, enlightening the people about counterpart funds from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steels Development, managed by the Bank of Industry from lending to the mining sector, provide platforms to equip MSMEs to leverage skills and knowledge to become technologically driven firms that can compete globally and complete the development of the Special Economic Zones with the necessary infrastructure to function as economic creation centres.

The government is also planning to partner with stakeholders to develop vocational training,  as well as create better access to health facilities for Nigerians and reduce out-of-pocket payments for healthcare services and increase the focus on developing specialist hospitals driven by digital technology to improve healthcare delivery.

In promoting social inclusion and reducing poverty, the Buhari-led government is promising to ensure that the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in public office is implemented, facilitate the release of funds to remaining states for the Niger Development project that empowers women, continue using data to inform and develop the skills and knowledge of Nigerian youth for the digital economy, release funds to set up the AFDB supported National Youth Investment Fund, develop mechanisms and appropriate structures to address the root causes of poverty in rural areas, and expand the scope of social assistance to vulnerable citizens.

Perhaps, the most challenging area for the Buhari administration is its fight against corruption and improved governance, given the level of criticism it has received. Nevertheless, the government is assuring the people that the change management strategy being implemented by the Head of Civil Service to ensure full acceptance of key reforms across the civil service will be sustained, and that federal budgets should be realistic and implemented to deliver value to the people.

That MDAs should not assign appropriations of projects that are at variance with their mandate and adopt proactive communication with citizens to breach the gap between the wins in the fight against corruption and negative public perception. And to ensure a smooth transition, the FGN should produce a compendium of all policies, programmes and projects with implementation status for lesson learning and continuity.

Under priority nine, which is to improve security for all, the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) is to work with the National Assembly to revise and review the National Security Agency Act for effective coordination of the national security apparatus. The Ministry of Interior committed to ensuring the security of the over 200 border points of the country, covering the land, sea and air border points, are to work to ensure this. To boot this is to consider the deployment of a National Police Communication Surveillance System as a strategy for optimising the effectiveness of the Police Force.

To ensure the agendas set will be effectively executed, the government is enjoined to work towards executive/legislative collaborative relationship and enhancing opportunities for legacy legislations,  to deemphasise separation of powers and focus on collaboration and cooperation in the nation’s interest.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, had recommended the resuscitation of the joint committee of the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly for consideration of bills.

Buhari also emphasised that his ministers must redouble their efforts so that they actualise his administration’s key projects, stating that, “An exercise like this, will ensure that we maintain the right trajectory before the end of May 2023, in order to achieve the promises we made to the Nigerian people, at the inception of this administration.”

Charging his ministers to do more, Buhari added: “At this critical point in the life of our administration, it is imperative for ministers, permanent secretaries and all heads of agencies to reinvigorate their efforts in ramping up delivery of flagship programmes and projects contained in their ministerial mandates.”

He specifically acknowledged and commended the efforts of the SGF and his team for sustaining the annual performance review retreats, which has enabled the government to maintain focus on its agenda and more importantly, provided solid evidence that supports the achievements recorded.

“I am also proud to see that our administration is staying true to our commitment to the Open Government Partnership Initiative, which I signed up for in 2017. In this regard, the Presidential Delivery Tracker was launched on August 30, 2022, which is a clear testament to this administration’s commitment to participatory governance,” he said.