Reuter’s Report Accuses Buhari of Destroying Nigeria’s Economy

Meanwhile Nigeria annual GDP growth in the second quarter was less than
half that of a year earlier as low oil prices, combined with months of
uncertainty around the March general elections, took their toll. The naira
has lost around 15 percent in the last year, with devaluations in November
and February. Some people fear another may be coming, even though central
bank governor Godwin Emefiele has said the currency is gap propriately
pricedh.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has made sweeping changes in the oil
sector and armed forces during his first 100 days in office but done
little to convince experts that he has a clear strategy for Africafs
biggest economy.

Buhari, a former military ruler, made Nigerian history in March by
becoming the first candidate to defeat an incumbent president at the
polls, after promising to crack down on corruption and crush a bloody
insurgency by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

Revelers in the capital Abuja celebrated his inauguration in May by
chanting gSai Babah, which means gAll hail, fatherh in the Hausa
language of northern Nigeria.

As Buhari prepares to mark 100 days in office on Saturday, his critics are
now using the less flattering sobriquet gBaba Go Slowh.

Chief amongst their complaints is the 72-year-oldfs decision not to
appoint a cabinet until later this month, putting the economic policy of
the country of 170 million people in limbo, and leaving the likes of the
central bank to fill the vacuum.

Buharifs supporters say he has needed time to analyze the inner workings
of ministries that have been run exclusively by the Peoplefs Democratic
Party (PDP) since the return to civilian rule in 1999.

They point to his restructuring of the state oil company NNPC, whose board
Buhari sacked in June, when he appointed an ExxonMobil executive as
managing director. Crude oil sales account for around 70 percent of
Nigeriafs state revenues, and NNPC has been accused of failing to account
for tens of billions of dollars in the last few years.

GOVERNMENT gBOTTLENECKh

But a Western diplomat said the last few months, in which Buhari has
governed alone with briefings by civil servants, had caused a
gbottleneckh because he had failed to delegate authority.

gThe absence of a cabinet, a team c has made it hard for him to set out
a specific program,h added the diplomat, who did not want to be named.

Buhari says he found the treasury gvirtually emptyh, forcing him to deal
with inherited problems as his first priority. gWhen the ministers are
appointed, some will constitute an economic team and then formulate a
policy,h Buharifs spokesman, Femi Adesina, said on Thursday.

Meanwhile Nigeriafs annual GDP growth in the second quarter was less than
half that of a year earlier as low oil prices, combined with months of
uncertainty around the March general elections, took their toll.

The naira has lost around 15 percent in the last year, with devaluations
in November and February. Some people fear another may be coming, even
though central bank governor Godwin Emefiele has said the currency is
gappropriately pricedh.

In June, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), trying to save reserves,
announced that importers would no longer be able to secure hard currency
on the interbank market to buy items ranging from rice, toothpicks and
soap to cement and private jets.

But the resulting shortage of dollars has weakened the naira further.

gThe fact that the CBN has been allowed to take steps that look more like
fiscal policy decisions is a source of major concern,h said Muda Yusuf,
director general of the Lagos chamber of commerce.

gThe president doesnft seem to appreciate the enormity of the disruption
that the CBN policy on foreign exchange is causing in the economy,h he
said, adding that international trade had been hit and some firms had lost
their credit lines.

LITTLE INVESTMENT

Others say the lack of direction has also weighed on foreign investment,
already depressed by a slowdown in Chinafs economy and the prospect of a
looming U.S. interest rate rise.

gWhat you have is an environment in which there is very little by way of
investment happening,h said Fola Fagbule, a Lagos-based infrastructure
investor focused on Africa.

Although he has prioritized the oil sector, Buhari, who is expected to
keep the petroleum portfolio for himself when he names his cabinet, has so
far shied away from scrapping an expensive and fraud-ridden fuel subsidy
scheme.

And some moves, such as banning around 100 foreign oil tankers from
Nigerian waters, have been imposed with little or no explanation.

There is, however, praise for Buharifs high-profile campaign against
corruption, a recurring problem in Nigerian public life which he estimates
has led to $150 billion being stolen from state coffers in the past
decade.

Razia Khan, head of Africa research for Standard Chartered bank, said a
directive for ministries to start paying revenue earned directly into a
single Treasury account was ga huge step forwardh for transparency and
one of the successes of Buharifs first 100 days.

The president has taken a hands-on approach to security challenges by
replacing defense chiefs and the national security adviser.

And he has repaired relations with neighboring countries to set up an
8,700-strong regional task force to fight Boko Haram, which has killed
thousands of people in the northeast since 2009 and driven 1.5 million
others from their homes.

But the jihadists, who scattered after a military counter-offensive in the
last weeks of president Goodluck Jonathanfs administration, have
nevertheless killed around 800 people in bombings and shootings since
Buhari came to power.

Source: Reuters