In a report written by Oyetunji Abioye, readers were told that “the bank stated that a more challenging economic environment would make growth in the region to come down to 3.7 per cent from 4.6 per cent in 2014”. Readers, familiar with this page, surely know that we have not needed to wait for the World Bank to tell us the bad news about the Nigerian economy in 2016. So far in 2015, the economy had managed to grow only about 2.4 per cent; and is heading lower!! Every economic indicator known to forecasters points to a dreadful 2016.

Incidentally, if you ask any of its supporters what it is designed to achieve, the answer will be, “to curb corruption”. But will it? If historical experience in Nigeria is to be our guide, the correct answer will have to be “very doubtful”. Let me quickly explain the reasons. While conducting the research which resulted in the book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED, what was most striking to me was how much corruption was accounted for by transactions and activities which are not reflected in the balances in the bank accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.

My first articles on the Nigerian economy appeared in VANGUARD on Mondays in the 1980s, shortly before military President Ibarahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP. It was the most ambitious economic programme, ever, in our history. Even, till today, nothing has come close to the far-reaching impact of the economic policies.

One of my favourite wise cracks is the Law of the Hammer which says, “Give a young boy a hammer and he suddenly decides that everything he sees needs to be hammered immediately. Nigerians voted for change, without obtaining a clear idea of what we wanted changed and when. Commonsense, which incidentally is not common, would suggest that not everything needs to be changed. And surely not all existing systems and structures can be altered at the same time.

Governors and presidents need more time. But, our collective stupidity, ably supported by my colleagues in the media, had got us hooked on the hundred days assessment. It is mostly a waste of everybody’s time. I was happy to be watching a television programme when Buhari was in Ghana on the day. Mr Femi Adesina, Buhari’s spokesman was reached and among other things he tried to play down the importance of the hundred days. Sanity at last.