Dr. Gani Enahoro, is the Vice President, African Veterinary Association, AVA and the Immediate Past President, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, NVMA. He assesses President Muhammadu Buhari’s one year in office highlighting the misses and disappointment of the government.  Assessing the past one year of President Muhammad Buhari’s (PMB) government is a mixed bag of hard work and successful outcomes on some fronts, near misses in some cases and disappointment in a few places.

For a government whose slogan is “change”, it must be difficult or out rightly unfair to pass a verdict on a journey of four years in its first faltering year, when systematic steps are required to form the base for the envisaged heights. However, without doubts, there was no better time than now for a formidable foundation to be laid for international trust in our country, and the much touted possibility of direct foreign investment (DFI) to this country.

Kudos to the President, because the country that was a pariah state in the past due to widespread corruption is now leveraging on his famed integrity. There is a very good perception today that Nigeria can be a home to foreign investors and in many cases donor agencies can hopefully increase their activities, without reminding us of the hate speech of the garrulous US Republican Party Presidential Aspirant Donald Trump, whose theorem of America colonizing us to manage our funds away from our leaders ‘itchy fingers’ was made in bad faith.

President Muhammad Buhari’s Administration in the past one year has been low on the economy so far but quite heavy on foreign diplomacy shuttles, that many have criticized for its extensive worldwide itinerary, meant to shore up Nigeria’s visibility in order to launder a new and better image for the country. But for me, I will team up with those who consider this strategy as a worthwhile and effective weapon.

PMB has done very well in that regard. It is like we have just gained independence and we are a new bride now. This has been managed very encouragingly by the government of PMB, when it is weighed against the rots that our leaders in recent and distant past foisted on us. We all truly in the micro or macro opportunity available to us, need to tell the larger world that our old ways have indeed passed away, even when we know that time and time alone would bear us out.

Another strategy that the President has fallen back on, is his ‘tough man’ stance as a no-nonsense former Head of State. President Buhari has deliberately or inadvertently played up the role of body language in his style of governance, the famous “New Sheriff in town” disposition, which has oiled the public relations machinery of PMB Government in the past one year over and above the scarce policy pronouncements that were being eagerly awaited to transform or strengthen the polity.

The hype of body language is a good tool in the short run of leadership but it is not a fantastic virtue, and it is prone to expire quickly if not effectively followed by a sustained regime of “reward for good and punishment for evil doing”. The trust invested by Nigerians in PMB is currently huge and must not be misplaced or taken for granted, and should not be hinged on body language alone. People want to see action and more action.

By Dr Gani Enahoro