Despite the criticism that President Muhammadu Buhari has been slow to work since his swearing in, not all support that thought.

A recent poll conducted by NOI Polls, an opinion research agency founded by a former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says 70 per cent of Nigerians surveyed approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in office in the first month.

NOI Polls works in partnership with a United States-based The Gallup Poll to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.

In a statement on the agency’s website on Wednesday, Buhari’s assessment was conducted to gauge the opinions of Nigerians regarding the approval rating of the president’s first 30 days in office and the current state of power supply in the country.

According to the poll, Buhari recorded 87 per cent approval rating in the northeast, northwest and north central zones while the southeast zone disapproved of his performance.

The poll also revealed that the south south zone accounted for the largest fraction of respondents who were neutral, with 26 per cent.

“Respondents to the poll were asked two specific questions. The first sought to assess the opinion of Nigerians on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari after 30 days in office. Respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari in the past one month?

“The outcome revealed that 70 per cent of Nigerians surveyed approved of President Buhari’s job performance in June 2015 (first 30 days in office). On the contrary, 12 per cent of the respondents disapproved, whereas 18 per cent of the respondents were neutral as they neither approved nor disapproved of the President’s performance,” the statement read.