The Presidency last night said that President Muhammadu Buhari will be leaving Nigeria better than he met it in 2015 in terms of security and economic situation.
The Presidency also defended President Buhari on his alleged lopsided appointments of security heads in the past eight years, saying that appointment of service chiefs and heads of security agencies cannot be subjected to ethnic balancing or federal character.
President Buhari will be exiting office next month, precisely May 29 after completing eight years of two terms.
Although, critics have said that the country was worse off since President Buhari mounted the saddle of leadership and he has been accused of nepotism and favouritism against competence and respect for federal character.
However, appearing on Channels television programme, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina said no matter what people say, Buhari will be leaving Nigeria better than he met the country in 2015.
Adesina noted that before the emergence of Buhari’s government, about 17 local government areas in the northern part of the country were under the control of the insurgents, noting that no single council area is presently being controlled by Boko Harm.
On the allegation of nepotism in the appointment of security heads, where it was said that about seventy percent of heads of security agencies are from the north, Adesina said that appointment of security heads was a prerogative of the President which should not be subjected to ethnic balancing or federal character.
According to him, “Don’t subject security to ethnic balancing, don’t subject security to federal character. In fact, the constitution that prescribes federal character even gives the President some prerogatives that he can appoint on his own.
“What the constitution requires of you is balancing in terms of each state being represented in terms of certain positions. Those positions are prescribed, security is not part of it. President will always have the prerogative to appoint those he feels can help him secure the country and have the kind of country you deserve to have. I would say that the President has been able to keep to his promises.”
On the report that Nigeria had recorded more deaths under Buhari’s administration than the previous government even though security was one of the cardinal areas the administration promised to focus on, the presidential spokesman said that credit should be given to the administration because the country witnessed the lowest number of deaths in 2022.
He said, “Do you also know of the report which says in the past 12 years, that 2022 was the year that recorded the least number of deaths in terms of insurgency and insecurity. We know in this country, the figure has been coming down over the years.
“No life ideally should be lost not a single one. One life lost is too many, not one life should be lost but then, when reports tell you that between 2015 and 2021 so so number of lives were lost and in 2022 the lowest figure came up, it calls for something positive, you don’t ignore it.
“Buhari is leaving the country far better and I said it from the beginning in 2015 we knew where Nigeria was, 17 local governments in this country were under the control of insurgents. NYSC could not do orientation, they were not sending people to those places, is it what is happening today? No.
“The emirs are back in their palaces, local government chairmen are back in their offices, NYSC orientation is happening in those states, youth corpers have been posted to those states, are you now telling me that there has not been improvement? No, no. Let’s be factual, let’s give the government some credit please.”
On the alleged worsening economic situation under Buhari’s administration, Adesina also said that the economy has been diversified by the government of the day and that the economy no longer depends solely on oil.
He said, “This government met a mono-product economy, an economy that depended solely on oil so that any time oil prices crash in the international market, Nigeria crashes with it, but today it’s no longer so. Oil contributes less than 10 percent of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) today. Oil that used to contribute about 90 percent.
“For the first time in our history, Nigeria has a diversified economy. Diversification has long been a promise but today it’s no longer a promise, it’s a reality. I think people must credit the Buhari administration for that because we now have agric, we now have ICT, and we now have manufacturing to an extent.
“We have so many things contributing to Nigeria’s GDP apart from oil. The economy has been diversified first time in over 60 years, that is something nobody will deny the Buhari administration .”