New currency, new census: Buhari’s quest for legacy
Dr. Olu Fasan By Olu Fasan FOR most of his seven-and-a-half years in office to date, President Muhammadu Buhari ran Nigeria with such insouciance that suggested he didn’t care about a legacy. However, as the inevitability of leaving office on May 29 next year hits home, Buhari has shown a minute-to-midnight desperation for “legacy projects”. Two such “projects” are “redesigning” the naira notes and conducting a population census. But by politicising such issues, he undermines them. To start with, my view is that President Buhari has, so far, no legacy that can endure through time. Economists use the term “value for money” to refer to something that is well worth the money spent on it. If the hopes of a safer, stronger and more united Nigeria, of secured, prosperous and happier lives, that Nigerians invested in General Buhari in 2015 and 2019 are ‘money spent’, does his administration’s performance across the economy, national security, nation-building, anti-corruption, poverty-re...