Ten Major Errors of Buhari That Tinubu Must Not Repeat as President
Nigeria’s presidential election of 2023 has officially been won—and lost, but going forward a report believes that there is need for the incoming President to take inward look at some of the expensive mistakes of the outgoing administration of President Buhari and try to fix them albeit hitting the ground running from day one in May 29, 2023 when he would be sworn in as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
NEPOTISM
Tinubu should endeavour to run an all-inclusive government by making equitable appointments in order to stem the tide of discontent as a result of his victory.
This is particularly necessary due to the widespread opposition that greeted the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket which has birthed theories about the potential Islamisation of the country – Tinubu must work assiduously towards dispelling notion by entrenching justice on a nationwide scale. He should consider competence over the urge nepotistic tendencies.
TRIBALISM
Considering Tinubu’s antecedents with a lot of diversity in his team, this metric should be something achievable by the President-elect; eliminating any form of tribalism in the new government is necessary in order to avoid commencing on a bad note unlike “95 percent to 5 percent” theory that believed to characterized President Buhari’s administration.
APPOINTMENTS
Buhari assumed office with high expectations after defeating incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP to win the 2015 election. One of his errors was not appointing ministers from the get go, to help launch his administration. Buhari however highlighted his agreement with Goodluck Jonathan to set up a transition committee between ministries and those he intended to nominate as one of the reasons he functioned without ministers for almost six months, but that reason is widely considered as not good enough.
The lack of ministerial appointments drew harsh criticism at a time when the nation was operating automatically. The difficulties he encountered during his first stay have been linked to part of the major failures recorded by his administration.
Upon assuming office, the President-elect must make sure that he avoids taking this course out of necessity. Nigeria should be operational especially to help jumpstart Nigeria’s nosediving economy .
It is advised that he appoints his ministers within the first six weeks of his term and their selection must be based on competence. Although to his media adviser, Dele Alake, who was once the governor of Lagos state, he anticipates his Principal to appoint his cabinet within three weeks.
FUEL SUBSIDY
Buhari was one of the most outspoken opponents of the ongoing provision of fuel subsidies in the nation before becoming president. He took part in the Occupy Nigeria demonstration in 2012 over the Jonathan administration’s decision to end fuel subsidy. His appearance and his selection as the Minister of Petroleum were intended to start the process, but to no avail.
However, with a few months to the end of his tenure, the payment of fuel subsidy is much present and has increased astronomically. In 2022, the Senate approved N4 trillion as payment for a subsidy, and according to reports and projections from the World Bank, the payment rose as high as N6 trillion, much more than the budget for other sectors.
Before the election, Tinubu claims to have made plans to end fuel subsidies as soon as he takes office. A promise he made at various gatherings throughout his campaigns. To lessen the effects of the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, Tinubu must make sure he does not back out of this and develop a clear and workable strategy for how the money from the subsidy removal will be utilized.
CAMPAIGN PLEDGES
As the 2015 general elections drew near, Buhari ran for office and pledged to make a variety of changes to the nation’s economy and overall situation.
The creation of 3 million jobs annually, the generation of 20,000 MW of power in 4 years; the payment of allowances to unemployed graduates, and allocating up to 20% of the budget for education are just a few of the campaign pledges. Four years in office and generally throughout his eight years as president, Buhari fell short of keeping the majority of his campaign pledges.
Tinubu must take care to avoid the trap of making promises that he then fails to keep. In order to carry everyone along in the forthcoming administration, the goals of the next government should be broken down into short, medium, and long-term objectives and communicated to Nigerians regularly via all sections of the media.
MEDIA ENGAGEMENTS
During his first term, which ran from 2015 to 2019, Buhari was notorious for favoring the international media and “shunning” the local media. At the time, he was charged with keeping the national media in the dark and only discussing his ambitions for the nation via foreign media.
Tinubu needs to make sure that the the Nigeria media is carried along via regular briefings and live broadcasts. Any political administration’s success depends on the media. Instead of cultivating an audience with only international media, he must make sure that the Nigerian media is at the forefront of any of his policies.
President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu must understand that the political climate in the nation has changed as he prepares to assume the presidency and avoid President Buhari’s blunders.
SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENTS:
As against the push to shut down social media space, an accusation that has quit caused some rancho, it is advised that the President-elect must incorporate social media into his communication channels. “Carrying the youths along” like he pointed out in his acceptance speech days back includes making sound policies that would promote the use of social media in communicating his ideas and the purpose of his administration to them via social media. Having in mind that Peter Obi’s sudden rise and wide acceptance was born on social media ala “four people tweeting in a room” without structure. The President-elect much as a matter of urgency identify creative ways to engage “social media shidren”, and use the medium to effectively communicate to the general public using the medium.
DIGITAL MEDIA AIDES
The President-elect must refrain from using communication and digital media assistants who lack strong emotional intelligence to control the social media mob. There is no denying that there are a lot of young people running popular social media accounts who can be rather disagreeable and vituperative in their criticism, and managing them can be difficult. However, from his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, and even his Special Assistant on Digital Communications; they must all be professionals with the necessary training, free of conceit, and cognizant of the value of empathy in their public communications.
This report will be constantly updated from time to time.
Source: ENIGERIA NEWSPAPER
