Sadly, it’s no longer news that Nigeria is in a state of economic distress. The butterfly effect of the recession that was confirmed after several months of denial by the government cannot be stopped and a President that was clearly the popular choice at the polls in 2015 now faces harsh criticism from home and abroad -even from those who have supported him in the past.

Barely three months ago, Bloomberg View had published an article credited to President Muhammadu Buhari about his prospects of making ‘Africa Rising’ a reality. The article had an encouraging tone about it and even remains pinned on the President’s official Twitter account till date.

But whatever optimism Bloomberg must have had about Buhari’s leadership in September has found its way out the window because today, the editorial from Bloomberg View on the President’s direction mirrors the frustrations of many Nigerians.

Here are 5 important things that cannot be missed from the tone and facts of the piece:

1. The President’s authoritarian urges haven’t paid off and may not

Back in March when financial analysts world over and even the Emir of Kano, a man whose economic prowess cannot be denied, urged the President to devalue the Naira, he persisted -not wanting to appear to give in to pressure by international banks and ‘outsiders’. He even made it known publicly that he and not the Central Bank had the last say on matters concerning the Naira. This, despite the fact that April saw the nation groaning under highest inflation rate in six years.

Finally, in June, the President caved in and allowed a version of devaluation but it was already too late.

Yet the President still doesn’t seem to have learnt any lessons from that episode as he holds on to the leashes on Forex while things become more and more difficult for the citizenry by the day.

The lesson here is that the President obviously needs to allow the economists take the lead.

2. The Central Bank is just as complicit

The Bloomberg View made it a point to note that the Central Bank of Nigeria (led by Godwin Emefiele) has allowed the economy to deteriorate by going along with the President’s dictates. There is already precedent set by the Emir of Kano during his term as governor of the Central bank, on speaking out loud against government excesses and oversight. Godwin Emefiele and his team would have done better to at least publicly offer viable alternatives to the President’s economics of doom/do-nothing.

3. #MadeInNigeria, #BuyNairaGrowTheNaira are two of the greatest Ponzi schemes of year 2016

Simply because, no matter the efforts channeled into local manufacturing, Nigeria still remains heavily dependent on Foreign Exchange. There is hardly any local manufacturer that can avoid importation and the government’s insistence on keeping a tight leash of Forex controls has only served to power the parallel market phenomenon it promised to eradicate.

While the President’s approach appears reasonable and may even in some respects, be applauded, months of sitting by and watching things get tougher (while a few benefit unfairly and corruptly from the controls) reveal that this approach is just not working. Not for the local manufacturer -especially the smaller players – who still rely heavily on importation of raw materials nor for the final consumer who can no longer afford to meet his basic needs with his now thankless pay.

4. The recession doesn’t end this year

Just in case there were overly optimistic people who still thought this. Riding on the argument that the current economic policies do not work, the Editorial goes on to acknowledge that “there are other ways to stimulate the economy, of course. But Nigeria’s Senate rejected Buhari’s three-year spending blueprint and an ambitious campaign to borrow $30 billion abroad because they lacked details. Meanwhile, his reluctance to sell off state-owned assets has undermined other efforts to raise revenue.” To add to that, the President has only just agreed to fund budget deficit with funds recovered from stolen loots after several months of the country clamouring for this.

5. The world is tired of hearing this administration’s excuses

This sums it all up:

To be sure, Buhari faced ugly circumstances when he took office in May 2015. The plunge in oil prices had left the economy reeling and government coffers bare, and attacks by Boko Haram were ravaging the country. Yet while some progress has been made fighting both terrorism and corruption, Buhari’s rigid leadership style has made the country's economic problems harder to solve.

Honestly, if the President continues like this, we won’t remember that he was handed a horrible situation. What we’ll remember is that he did very little to turn it around. And he’s not the only President in the world to have been handed a bad situation. President Barack Obama too had to deal with the ugly circumstances left behind by the Bush-administration but he’s managed to get re-elected and now, he’s leaving office with not only success badges in different sectors but also very high ratings.