By Mark Maya
Today, Nigerians can look back and
count their gains and pains after sixteen years of democratic rule by the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa
Yar'Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
After many years of military rule,
democracy was finally restored as the then military ruler, General Abdulsalam
Abubakar handed over power to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, at a colourful ceremony
in Abuja, the nation's capital.
The era of President Olusegun Obasanjo
was full of many challenges such as the huge debts owed the Paris Club, World
Bank and other multilateral agencies, high level of corruption in both the
private and the public sectors, impunity at highest level by ruling class, poor
electricity supply, bad roads, among others. Chief Obasanjo was able to address
few of these problems and passed on the rest, including those he created, to
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
President Musa Yar'Adua did his best
before the untimely death after which Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy then,
came over through the doctrine of necessity, to complete Yar'Adua's term. He
was re-elected in 2011 through the general election with high expectations but
peoples' hope and aspirations were dashed as not many of the challenges he met
were solved.
The emergence of All Progressives
Congress (APC) as winner of March 28, 2015 general election however, put an end
to PDP government and now we can comfortably examine the performance of the
party in government in 16 years, as APC takes the mantle of leadership today.
Economy
Chief Obasanjo inherited a bad economy
and managed to make positive and significant change in various sectors of the
economy to stabilise the system. The efforts of his economic team did a lot for
the country and improvement in human development, business environment and
investors' confidence in the macro-economic performance of the country.
Consequently, substantial part of our external debts was paid, steps were taken
to deal with corruption and private investors were allowed to buy
government-owned companies. However, the economy remains comatose, most
especially under the administration of President Jonathan, who also supervised
substantial part of the sixteen years of PDP's administration as poverty rate
increases by the day while unemployment was the order of the day. This was
because he took no meaningful steps to address these issues. Records show that
about 70 per cent of Nigerians still live below poverty line while unemployment
rate is put at 21 per cent, placing Nigeria at the 166th position in the world.
Corruption
The setting up of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commissioner (EFCC) was the most important creation of
Obasanjo's administration as the commission was adjudged effective, though has
been accused of being selective as only few cases were opened and concluded
under his administration. The Obasanjo administration made strong effort to
fight corruption and ensured good governance through the establishment of the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the EFCC under the
leadership of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who was quite commendable even though there
were criticism that he fought selectively and that he was used by the
government to haunt some political opponents. In spite of these pitfalls, the report
from Transparency International indicated significant progress in the fight
against corruption.
Despite the claims by the Jonathan
administration that it has zero-tolerance for corruption, it was clear that the
president never for once descended on any of his appointees or governor for any
corrupt allegations, an indication that he encouraged corruption unlike the
Obasanjo government that descended heavily on some of his ministers and
governors for being corrupt.
The administration of President Obasanjo
failed to instill confidence in governnance especially the way and manner the
2007 elections were conducted, which international observers said greatly
diminished confidence and trust in his government.
Security
The 16 years of the PDP administration
from 1999 to 2015 has not given due attention to the security situation in the
country as the police under Jonathan's administration was under-funded and
ill-equipped to remain largely ineffective in preventing crime and ensuring
security of lives and properties. In fact, violent crimes and insecurity were
the order of the day during his regime as ethnic insurgents such as the Niger
Delta militants were ravaging the oil rich zones to prevent oil exploration by
foreigners and kidnapping.
The Ya'Adua administration that came in
briefly could not carry out any reforms in the security sector before his
untimely death except amnesty he granted the Niger Delta militants.
The administration of President
Jonathan failed woefully in the area of security as the government was unable
to put an end to the violence from the Boko Haram, a violent group in the North
that fought the federal government's security men (police and military)to
standstill to the extent that some parts of the northern states of Nigeria were
taken over with bombing and suicide taking place daily.
Former member of the House of
Representatives from Benue state, Hon Godfrey Ikyereve explained that the
present government has not done enough to protect the security of lives and
properties of Nigerians especially in the north but he praised the military for
the success recorded so far against the Boko Haram in the northern part of the
country.
Today,
Nigerians can look back and count their gains and pains after sixteen
years of democratic rule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
After
many years of military rule, democracy was finally restored as the then
military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar handed over power to Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, at a colourful ceremony in Abuja, the nation's
capital.
The
era of President Olusegun Obasanjo was full of many challenges such as
the huge debts owed the Paris Club, World Bank and other multilateral
agencies, high level of corruption in both the private and the public
sectors, impunity at highest level by ruling class, poor electricity
supply, bad roads, among others. Chief Obasanjo was able to address few
of these problems and passed on the rest, including those he created, to
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
President
Musa Yar'Adua did his best before the untimely death after which Dr
Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy then, came over through the doctrine of
necessity, to complete Yar'Adua's term. He was re-elected in 2011
through the general election with high expectations but peoples' hope
and aspirations were dashed as not many of the challenges he met were
solved.
The
emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of March 28,
2015 general election however, put an end to PDP government and now we
can comfortably examine the performance of the party in government in 16
years, as APC takes the mantle of leadership today.
Economy
Chief
Obasanjo inherited a bad economy and managed to make positive and
significant change in various sectors of the economy to stabilise the
system. The efforts of his economic team did a lot for the country and
improvement in human development, business environment and investors'
confidence in the macro-economic performance of
the country. Consequently, substantial part of our external debts was
paid, steps were taken to deal with corruption and private investors
were allowed to buy government-owned companies. However,
the economy remains comatose, most especially under the administration
of President Jonathan, who also supervised substantial part of the
sixteen years of PDP's administration as poverty rate increases by the
day while unemployment was the order of the day. This was because he
took no meaningful steps to address these issues. Records show that
about 70 per cent of Nigerians still live below poverty line while
unemployment rate is put at 21 per cent, placing Nigeria at the 166th
position in the world.
Corruption
The
setting up of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissioner (EFCC) was
the most important creation of Obasanjo's administration as the
commission was adjudged effective, though has been accused of being
selective as only few cases were opened and concluded under his
administration. The Obasanjo administration made strong effort to fight
corruption and ensured good governance through the establishment of the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the EFCC under the
leadership of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who was quite commendable even though
there were criticism that he fought selectively and that he was used by
the government to haunt some political opponents. In spite of these
pitfalls, the report from Transparency International indicated
significant progress in the fight against corruption.
Despite
the claims by the Jonathan administration that it has zero-tolerance
for corruption, it was clear that the president never for once descended
on any of his appointees or governor for any corrupt allegations, an
indication that he encouraged corruption unlike the Obasanjo government
that descended heavily on some of his ministers and governors for being
corrupt.
The
administration of President Obasanjo failed to instill confidence in
governnance especially the way and manner the 2007 elections were
conducted, which international observers said greatly diminished
confidence and trust in his government.
Security
The
16 years of the PDP administration from 1999 to 2015 has not given due
attention to the security situation in the country as the police under
Jonathan's administration was under-funded and ill-equipped to remain
largely ineffective in preventing crime and ensuring security of lives
and properties. In fact, violent crimes and insecurity were the order of
the day during his regime as ethnic insurgents such as the Niger Delta
militants were ravaging the oil rich zones to prevent oil exploration by
foreigners and kidnapping.
The
Ya'Adua administration that came in briefly could not carry out any
reforms in the security sector before his untimely death except amnesty
he granted the Niger Delta militants.
The
administration of President Jonathan failed woefully in the area of
security as the government was unable to put an end to the violence from
the Boko Haram, a violent group in the North that fought the federal
government's security men (police and military)to standstill to the
extent that some parts of the northern states of Nigeria were taken over
with bombing and suicide taking place daily.
Former
member of the House of Representatives from Benue state, Hon Godfrey
Ikyereve explained that the present government has not done enough to
protect the security of lives and properties of Nigerians especially in
the north but he praised the military for the success recorded so far
against the Boko Haram in the northern part of the country.
- See more at: http://www.newsdirectonline.com/newstory.php?ID=11679#sthash.9LNKiCYF.dpuf
Today,
Nigerians can look back and count their gains and pains after sixteen
years of democratic rule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
After
many years of military rule, democracy was finally restored as the then
military ruler, General Abdulsalam Abubakar handed over power to Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, at a colourful ceremony in Abuja, the nation's
capital.
The
era of President Olusegun Obasanjo was full of many challenges such as
the huge debts owed the Paris Club, World Bank and other multilateral
agencies, high level of corruption in both the private and the public
sectors, impunity at highest level by ruling class, poor electricity
supply, bad roads, among others. Chief Obasanjo was able to address few
of these problems and passed on the rest, including those he created, to
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
President
Musa Yar'Adua did his best before the untimely death after which Dr
Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy then, came over through the doctrine of
necessity, to complete Yar'Adua's term. He was re-elected in 2011
through the general election with high expectations but peoples' hope
and aspirations were dashed as not many of the challenges he met were
solved.
The
emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of March 28,
2015 general election however, put an end to PDP government and now we
can comfortably examine the performance of the party in government in 16
years, as APC takes the mantle of leadership today.
Economy
Chief
Obasanjo inherited a bad economy and managed to make positive and
significant change in various sectors of the economy to stabilise the
system. The efforts of his economic team did a lot for the country and
improvement in human development, business environment and investors'
confidence in the macro-economic performance of
the country. Consequently, substantial part of our external debts was
paid, steps were taken to deal with corruption and private investors
were allowed to buy government-owned companies. However,
the economy remains comatose, most especially under the administration
of President Jonathan, who also supervised substantial part of the
sixteen years of PDP's administration as poverty rate increases by the
day while unemployment was the order of the day. This was because he
took no meaningful steps to address these issues. Records show that
about 70 per cent of Nigerians still live below poverty line while
unemployment rate is put at 21 per cent, placing Nigeria at the 166th
position in the world.
Corruption
The
setting up of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commissioner (EFCC) was
the most important creation of Obasanjo's administration as the
commission was adjudged effective, though has been accused of being
selective as only few cases were opened and concluded under his
administration. The Obasanjo administration made strong effort to fight
corruption and ensured good governance through the establishment of the
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the EFCC under the
leadership of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who was quite commendable even though
there were criticism that he fought selectively and that he was used by
the government to haunt some political opponents. In spite of these
pitfalls, the report from Transparency International indicated
significant progress in the fight against corruption.
Despite
the claims by the Jonathan administration that it has zero-tolerance
for corruption, it was clear that the president never for once descended
on any of his appointees or governor for any corrupt allegations, an
indication that he encouraged corruption unlike the Obasanjo government
that descended heavily on some of his ministers and governors for being
corrupt.
The
administration of President Obasanjo failed to instill confidence in
governnance especially the way and manner the 2007 elections were
conducted, which international observers said greatly diminished
confidence and trust in his government.
Security
The
16 years of the PDP administration from 1999 to 2015 has not given due
attention to the security situation in the country as the police under
Jonathan's administration was under-funded and ill-equipped to remain
largely ineffective in preventing crime and ensuring security of lives
and properties. In fact, violent crimes and insecurity were the order of
the day during his regime as ethnic insurgents such as the Niger Delta
militants were ravaging the oil rich zones to prevent oil exploration by
foreigners and kidnapping.
The
Ya'Adua administration that came in briefly could not carry out any
reforms in the security sector before his untimely death except amnesty
he granted the Niger Delta militants.
The
administration of President Jonathan failed woefully in the area of
security as the government was unable to put an end to the violence from
the Boko Haram, a violent group in the North that fought the federal
government's security men (police and military)to standstill to the
extent that some parts of the northern states of Nigeria were taken over
with bombing and suicide taking place daily.
Former
member of the House of Representatives from Benue state, Hon Godfrey
Ikyereve explained that the present government has not done enough to
protect the security of lives and properties of Nigerians especially in
the north but he praised the military for the success recorded so far
against the Boko Haram in the northern part of the country.
- See more at: http://www.newsdirectonline.com/newstory.php?ID=11679#sthash.9LNKiCYF.dpuf
