BUHARI'S REPORT CARD.

A rather interesting article by musician turned blogger, Etcetera.
In this new article, Etcetera grades president Buhari mostly F9 for
his 100 days in office. Read below
We often use benchmarks as measures of progress. ‘How
is your favourite football team doing at the beginning of this
season?’ ‘How many words does your one-year-old son
say in a minute?’ And, of course, there’s the time-
honoured measure of how well a new president is doing
after 100 days in office. In case you hadn’t heard, that
benchmark is here for President Buhari.
You may feel it’s a little impertinent for me to issue a report card
for President Buhari on his performance during his first 100 days
in office. Yes, I’m not his teacher, and he’s not my student.
But what the heck? It’s a free country and everyone else is doing
it. So here it goes:
Confidence:- Buhari has brought back confidence in governance.
Especially in tough times, the confident presence of a leader
begets confidence in those that he or she leads. With his steady
demeanour, optimistic outlook and command, Buhari embodies
confidence. The number of incompetent heads of parastatals he
has sacked so far reflects that sentiment. The percentage of
Nigerians who think the country is on the right track is up. Grade:
A1
Pace of Governance: – When the pressure is high, leaders need
perspective. They need swift action. Buhari is working on so many
things all by himself that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of all
of them. He has too much on his plate. He should get into
perspective and allow others do the job where he can’t. It won’t be
a surprise to discover that the president is in charge of his travel
itinerary, meeting schedule and other range of issues on his plate.
He runs the risk of edging toward a burn out. Well, some argue
that the president is keeping a pace that works for him. Grade: F9
Communications: – Effective leadership communication is
outcome oriented and audience specific. President Buhari is
clearly not an articulate communicator and he doesn’t do enough
to shape his message to the audience. Hearing Mr. President
pronounce APC leaves you lost and wondering if you heard him
correctly. Maybe his media aides should have used this as an
excuse to exonerate him from the hundred things he promised to
have achieved before his first 100 days in office that has now
capped him as a liar. Buhari’s tone of voice usually stays within a
fairly narrow range. He could do better here. Grade: F9
Team Player: – There are two major factors on this distinction.
The first is to get a great team in place. The second is to get your
ego out of the way and allow the team to do their job. Buhari has
stumbled here and most people will agree that his failure to
appoint ministers in his first 100 days in office has been a setback
to governance. Whether you agree with me or not, Buhari can’t be
president and ministers all by himself. We need competent hands
to man the various ministries. You cannot achieve a lot in three
and half months without the support of a team. Good leaders are
the keepers of the what, not the masters of the how. Assembling a
strong team also helps in establishing an agenda. Buhari needs to
realise that he’ll likely never have more momentum than he has
now if he doesn’t put a team on the ground. Grade: F9
Accountability and Responsibility: President Buhari has done
fairly well with the campaign for government officials to be held
accountable for their actions or inactions. He has brought a sense
of transparency and has taken some interesting first steps in
promoting government accountability. I think this is an area where
there is a lot more to do however. For instant, there hasn’t really
been a clear explanation yet as to how he is going to tackle
corruption and how the country will avoid being ripped apart by
government officials in the years to come. Grade: C
Economy: – This has so far been one of the president’s worst
subjects. He may be making a grave mistake focusing all his
attention on recouping looted funds instead of providing the basic
needs of the people. Never in history has this approach
successfully led a country out of recession. This might lead to an
unhappy ending, and more inflation. The continuous drop of the
nation’s currency is stark reminder that we are still in the worst
slump in 50 years. Grade: F9
National Security:- Nigerians are still not experiencing any sense
of security. People are dying and getting maimed everyday on the
streets by hoodlums and touts. Boko Haram insurgents are still
using the yet to be found Chibok girls for their bombings. Armed
robbers are having a field day carting away properties. The
country is still not safe. Grade: F9