What Buhari must do to save Nigeria from failing, by FT

It advised President Muhammadu Buhari to step up efforts to secure the country, restore confidence in the Judiciary, security services and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The UK-based newspaper stated this in an editorial, titled: Nigeria at Risk of Becoming a Failed State.

FT, which prides itself as the world’s leading global business publication, said President Buhari has a chance to achieve this in the remaining three years of his administration.

The editorial expressed worry that Nigeria seemed to be going backwards economically and – plagued with terrorism, illiteracy, poverty, banditry, and kidnapping – risks becoming a failed state if things don’t take a drastic turn.

It argued that by the definition of a failed state, which is one where the government is no longer in control, “Nigeria is teetering on the brink.”

The editorial reads: “In its three remaining years, the government of Mr. Buhari must seek to draw a line in the sand. It must redouble efforts to get a grip on security. It also needs to restore trust in key institutions, among them the judiciary, the security services and the electoral commission, which will preside over the 2023 elections.

“More than that, Nigeria needs a generational shift. The broad coalition that found political expression this year in the EndSARS movement against police brutality provides a shard of optimism.”

“At least Nigeria has a relatively stable democracy. Now Nigeria’s youth — creative, entrepreneurial and less tainted by the politics of extraction — should use that system to reset the country’s narrative.”

The paper suggested that Nigeria must cut down the cost of government and leverage youth innovation to get its economy back on track.

It added: “A new, slimmed-down state — ideally one with fewer, bankrupt regional assemblies — must concentrate on the basics: security, health, education, power and roads. With those public goods in place, “Nigeria’s young people are more than capable of turning the country round. At the present trajectory, the population will double to 400m by 2050. If nothing is done, long before then, Nigeria will become a problem far too big for the world to ignore.”

FT said the #EndSARS protests led by Nigerian youths, signaled a glimmer of hope for Nigeria’s teeming youth population

It added, “The broad coalition that found political expression this year in the EndSARS movement against police brutality provides a shard of optimism. At least Nigeria has a relatively stable democracy. Now Nigeria’s youth — creative, entrepreneurial and less tainted by the politics of extraction — should use that system to reset the country’s narrative.”

The newspaper also questioned the claim by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), that Boko Haram had been technically defeated.

It said contrary to the government’s claim, Boko Haram remained an ever-present threat

FT stated, “President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 pronounced Boko Haram technically defeated’. That has proved fanciful. Boko Haram has remained an ever-present threat. If the latest kidnapping turns out to be its work, it would mark the spread of the terrorist group from its north-eastern base.”

The newspaper concluded by saying that it was time for Nigeria to restructure its political system and concentrate on security, health, education, power and roads

“At the present trajectory, the population will double to 400 million by 2050. If nothing is done, long before then, Nigeria will become a problem far too big for the world to ignore,” it warned.