A lot of Nigerians feel disappointed
after the presidency has distanced itself from the promises purportedly
made about the first 100 days in office during the All Progressives
Congress’s election campaign.
Not that the country’s residents do not understand that change takes time, but fear that by making a u-turn after the inauguration, the new government will not come up with the highly-anticipated solutions to the problems.
Everything is comparative. Naij.com has gathered the election promises of Barack Obama and the following criticism regarding the pledges he did not fulfil within his first 100 days.
President Obama, like President Buhari, took a series of important steps during his first three months. The achievements of both were acknowledged. However, despite acknowledging what has been done, people always remember what has not been done.
Politifacts.com in its April 24, 2009, publication critically analyzed the failed promises. According to the report, Obama broke six major promises that were of high priority during his election campaign. Three of them concerned taxes, two, transparency and ethics, and one deals with international diplomacy. The newly-made US leader was said to have failed to introduce tougher rules against a revolving door for lobbyists and former officials; to allow five days of public comment before signing bills; to end income tax for seniors making less than $50,000; to create a $3,000 tax credit for companies that add jobs; to allow penalty-free hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts in 2008 and 2009; to recognize the Armenian genocide. These were aside from some other pledges expected to have been fulfilled within the first days.
Competitive Enterprise Institute (cei.org) even put it as follows regarding Obama’s first 100 days: “Obama has broken his campaign promises far more flagrantly than his predecessors did in their first 100 days in office.”
Back to Nigeria and the current state of political affairs in the country. The situation is different here. There is something that cannot likely happen in the US: once the promise is made, it is made and then it is either fulfilled or broken.
In Nigeria, however, additional interpretations of the election promises emerged. Buhari’s media aide insists the APC candidate never made any specific vows, adding that nothing like “My Covenant with Nigerians” was delivered by Buhari. Interestingly, when the covenant was published by all the respectable national newspapers and online media sources, the APC did not dismiss the publications. Moreover, the pledges appeared on the APC website. Regarding this, Shehu explained:
“APC had a campaign in which there were so many centres of public communication and unfortunately there were some among those centres that were more or less on the loose. Yes, it was possible that things were being done without the knowledge or the usage of the proper channel of communication.”
As the war of words continues, it is getting harder and harder to
understand what had been actually promised before the historical
presidential election.
However, what really concerns Nigerians is not that the promises have not been fulfilled, but whether the government will be making efforts to fulfil them, judging by recent dismissals.
Everyone agrees that change is not made that swiftly. President Buhari has already carried out a major shake-up in the army, made a series of appointments in the oil sector and ordered the forensic audit of possibly corrupt organizations. The president has attended several international events and visited other heads of state to ensure cooperation in counter-terrorism and anti-corruption operations.
What we all need to understand in the current development is:
Criticism is normal, in any country. This is called democracy.
Authorities realize the huge responsibility put on them, but they should not be afraid of the previous claims (allegedly not made). What eventually matters is action.
We should stop panicking that another week has passed without all the national problems having been solved. This does not mean they will never be. One hundred days is not the whole tenure. After all the criticism, Obama was still re-elected for the second term, so the Americans in their majority were satisfied with his performance. Only time will tell.
And finally, we have made our choice during the general elections so we should embrace peace and work cooperatively for the common goals. Further argument and mutual accusations will not bring answers to the lingering national issues. Productive criticism, however, will.
Not that the country’s residents do not understand that change takes time, but fear that by making a u-turn after the inauguration, the new government will not come up with the highly-anticipated solutions to the problems.
Everything is comparative. Naij.com has gathered the election promises of Barack Obama and the following criticism regarding the pledges he did not fulfil within his first 100 days.
President Obama, like President Buhari, took a series of important steps during his first three months. The achievements of both were acknowledged. However, despite acknowledging what has been done, people always remember what has not been done.
Politifacts.com in its April 24, 2009, publication critically analyzed the failed promises. According to the report, Obama broke six major promises that were of high priority during his election campaign. Three of them concerned taxes, two, transparency and ethics, and one deals with international diplomacy. The newly-made US leader was said to have failed to introduce tougher rules against a revolving door for lobbyists and former officials; to allow five days of public comment before signing bills; to end income tax for seniors making less than $50,000; to create a $3,000 tax credit for companies that add jobs; to allow penalty-free hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts in 2008 and 2009; to recognize the Armenian genocide. These were aside from some other pledges expected to have been fulfilled within the first days.
US President, Barack Obama
Back to Nigeria and the current state of political affairs in the country. The situation is different here. There is something that cannot likely happen in the US: once the promise is made, it is made and then it is either fulfilled or broken.
In Nigeria, however, additional interpretations of the election promises emerged. Buhari’s media aide insists the APC candidate never made any specific vows, adding that nothing like “My Covenant with Nigerians” was delivered by Buhari. Interestingly, when the covenant was published by all the respectable national newspapers and online media sources, the APC did not dismiss the publications. Moreover, the pledges appeared on the APC website. Regarding this, Shehu explained:
“APC had a campaign in which there were so many centres of public communication and unfortunately there were some among those centres that were more or less on the loose. Yes, it was possible that things were being done without the knowledge or the usage of the proper channel of communication.”
Muhammadu Buhari
However, what really concerns Nigerians is not that the promises have not been fulfilled, but whether the government will be making efforts to fulfil them, judging by recent dismissals.
Everyone agrees that change is not made that swiftly. President Buhari has already carried out a major shake-up in the army, made a series of appointments in the oil sector and ordered the forensic audit of possibly corrupt organizations. The president has attended several international events and visited other heads of state to ensure cooperation in counter-terrorism and anti-corruption operations.
What we all need to understand in the current development is:
Criticism is normal, in any country. This is called democracy.
Authorities realize the huge responsibility put on them, but they should not be afraid of the previous claims (allegedly not made). What eventually matters is action.
We should stop panicking that another week has passed without all the national problems having been solved. This does not mean they will never be. One hundred days is not the whole tenure. After all the criticism, Obama was still re-elected for the second term, so the Americans in their majority were satisfied with his performance. Only time will tell.
And finally, we have made our choice during the general elections so we should embrace peace and work cooperatively for the common goals. Further argument and mutual accusations will not bring answers to the lingering national issues. Productive criticism, however, will.
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