In one of its latest reports, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) says President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Nigerians less secure, poorer, and more in debt than when he came to office in 2015.
The global media outfit noted that Buhari’s two four-year terms disappointed many Nigerians.
The report admitted that although there have been gains in tackling Boko Haram and other extremist groups, insecurity has escalated across the Nigerian territory.
Part of the report read: ”Whatever gains have been recorded in the north-east against the Islamist militants have been eroded by the emergence of equally violent groups in other parts of the country under his watch.
”Clashes between farmers and cattle herders from the Fulani ethnic group, which had simmered for years, were allowed to boil over into deadly armed confrontations with an ethnic element, as the government ran out of ideas to solve the problem of where animals could graze.
”Buhari, a Fulani from northern Nigeria, was accused of bias in the conflict, and his proposal of grazing reserves for the herders was rebuffed by powerful southern state governors who saw it as a land-grabbing tactic.
”Some of the armed groups created by the farmer-herder crisis have since transitioned into violent motorcycle-riding bandits targeting communities in the northwest and central states.
”These groups have helped turn a lucrative kidnap-for-ransom business into a behemoth that extends countrywide.”
The report also stated that Buhari’s integrity was impugned by his frequent medical trips to the United Kingdom despite spending large sums to refurbish a clinic in the presidential villa.
It noted that currently, one in three Nigerians who want to work cannot find a job.
The BBC added:
”His borrowing spree has drawn warnings from the World Bank that Africa’s largest economy was using 96% of its revenue to service debts.
”But the huge debt has been defended by the administration, who say it is within acceptable limits, pointing to cash payments to poor people as justification for some of the loans.
”The fact is that Nigerians were safer, better off, and less in debt before Buhari took over, and many will remember him for presiding over the toughest eight years they might ever face.”
