Nigerians are today celebrating Democracy Day and the second anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The country has had 18 unbroken years of multi-party democracy, which commenced with the ending of military rule and the swearing in of an elected president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on May 29, 1999. We congratulate Nigerians on the sustenance of our democracy and hope that the system of government of the people, by the people and for the people has, indeed, come to stay in the country, in spite of the glaring problems.

Our democratic experiment has had its ups and downs; its low and high moments, and some modest achievements. The general consensus, however, is that it could be much better than we have it now. There is no debating the fact that there is still much room for improvement, if we are to actualise the rich potentials of that system of government.

In spite of its imperfections, democracy is still the best form of government for Nigeria’s pluralistic and diverse population. The saying that the worst civilian government is better than the best military rule is well known in this country. But, this does not, in any way, suggest an unquestioning tolerance of bad civilian governments. Nigerians must insist on good governance and keep improving our democracy until we get it right.

IN our democratic journey, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway for 16 years, from 1999 to 2015. Within the 16 years, Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007, and handed over to Umaru Yar’Adua, who died of ill health in 2010, three years into his first term. The then vice president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, took over as acting president and was later elected president in the 2011 general elections. His bid for a second term in office did not work as he was defeated by the now incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2015 general elections.

President Buhari came to power on a groundswell of goodwill and high expectations from Nigerians at a time that the erstwhile PDP led federal government had lost favour with majority of Nigerians. The PDP government’s handling of the war against terrorism, the missing Chibok school girls and the war against corruption was not seen as good enough to return Jonathan to power for another four years.

As the President Muhammadu Buhari administration reaches its midterm today, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015, it is necessary to assess its journey so far and how well it has been able to deliver on the campaign promises that brought it into office.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Buhari’s first two years in office did not bring much of the expected succour to Nigerians because of the un- fortunate sharp drop in the prices of crude oil in the international market and the resultant dwindling of oil revenue available to his government. Being an oil dependent economy, the shortfall in oil receipts, which culminated in the crash in the value of the naira against the US dollar, has made nonsense of the government’s economic projections and rendered many of its promises difficult to fulfill, if not outright impossible. The exchange rate of the naira to the US dollar rose so high that it exchanged for nearly N500 to the dollar at a point, until it recently stabilised at about N380 to the dollar.

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For the first time in Nigerian history, inflation rate rose to almost 18 percent, the highest in 30 years. The rate now stands at 17.5 percent. Unemployment is still a big problem facing the country. Efforts by the government to create the promised millions of jobs for the teeming army of unemployed Nigerians have not yielded remarkable results. The closure of many manufacturing compa- nies on account of the harsh economic conditions in the country inexorably led to job losses.

Politically, the All Progressives Congress (APC) run federal government has not got its acts together. There are divisions within the party. The persistent acrimony among leaders of the party has slowed down governance. There are rifts among the executive, the judiciary and the legislative arms of the government. The friction between the three arms of government, although not totally unexpected in a democracy, has not been well managed by the government.

Power supply is still as erratic as ever. The inability of government to generate the needed electricity for the people has led to slow development of Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country. The government is trying but is required to do much more on the provision of road infrastructure. There are still many dilapidated federal roads all over the country. Railway development is only just taking off. Other sectors like health and education have not fared any better. Government should improve our hospitals and stem the brain drain of our doctors and medical tourism by our leaders. It should also improve on the school feeding programme and the payment of N5000 stipend to the poorest Nigerians, which, by its own admission, has only taken off in nine of the nation’s 36 states, halfway into its four-year tenure.

However, the government has done well in its war against insurgency in the North-East of the country. It has kept its promise to rescue the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. About 100 of them have so far regained their freedom. The government has effectively degraded the ability of the Boko Haram sect to launch brazen and sus- tained attacks at will. Its fight against corruption is commendable despite some allegations of bias. Government must also stop the herdsmen menace because it is a blot on its fight against insecurity.

This government has another two years to improve on its performance. All the identified problems are not insurmountable. They are well within the ability of this government to address. Government should also improve its budgeting system. It must do away with the delays in budget presentation and approval by the National Assembly. The APC and its supporters should, for now, put politicking aside and stop talking about 2019 elections. The government should settle down to actual governance and the fulfillment of its numerous campaign promises. To whom much is given, much is also expected.

Nigerians have given their all to the party. It is time for those in charge of the government to fulfill their promises to Nigerians. We wish Pres- ident Muhammadu Buhari, who is on medical leave in London, a quick recovery to continue with the task for which he was elected, and en- join all Nigerians to cooperate with the Acting President, Prof. Osinbajo, in his efforts to tackle the country’s problems. Our democracy is definitely not yet perfect, so we enjoin all Nigerians to support the government in its efforts to perfect it in the best interest of all.