Prime Witness

This volume of essays on public policy challenges in the
Buhari-led Nigeria is a child of necessity.  In 2015 and sixteen years
after the PDP assumed the leadership reins in Nigeria, it was evident to
all, that Nigeria was not enjoying the best form of governance and
purposeful leadership. The strength of government was absolutely
lacking. Enter 2015 and the grand alliance and vision of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), which claimed to be the only credible
alternative capable of upending the PDP and providing Nigeria the much
leadership change it desired. Hope about Nigeria’s prospects soared with
the election of President Muhammadu Buhari. The hope was well founded:
it reflected the high expectations generated both by the smooth transfer
of power from the Jonathan administration, itself a sign of a maturing
democracy, and by the scintillating campaign by candidate Buhari. It did
not take long before the Buhari administration confronted the political
reality of governance. The governance reality that the Buhari
administration faced on assuming the reins of power consisted of his own
campaign promises (tackling insecurity, combating corruption, and
growing the economy — with emphasis on reducing unemployment and
diversifying the economy); unanticipated crises (resurgence of militancy
in the Niger Delta and onset of recession); and self-inflicted injuries
(delayed appointment of his cabinet, policy somersaults on foreign
exchange policy, and poor management of the recession).

Prime Witness
Change and Policy Challenges in Buhari’s Nigeria is essentially a
product of the author’s observations, exchanges with his various
interlocutors in and out of government, and Nigerians and non-Nigerians
alike, during the first year of the Buhari administration, 2015-2016.
The decision to put this volume together, and indeed, the compelling
reason for articulating the policy recommendations, critiques and views
herein, derived in his personal belief that as a member of the Nigerian
attentive public, we owed it as a civic duty to our posterity to speak
up, regardless of whether anyone is listening. Such undertaking will no
doubt, enrich our national conversation of critical issues and in the
long run, vindicate us in the eyes of our posterity.