Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, has scored President Muhammadu Buhari, high in his assessment of his first 100 days in office.

In an interview with Vanguard, Mohammed listed the key areas, where significant changes have been made since May 29, when Buhari became President.

The 7 major changes are;

 

1. Nigerians can now see the evil in corruption

There is this new attitude that there is a leadership in Nigeria today that can inspire Nigerians to dream again. There is this change in Nigeria  that, for the first time in a long time, we have a leadership that is capable of bringing about the necessary change. Again, what has changed in Nigeria is that people are beginning to see that corruption is  a vice and that it is not something to be celebrated. Before now, we were celebrating corrupt people but, today, Nigerians are gradually moving back to our old values of integrity, probity, transparency and merit.

 

 

2. Improved international reputation and relations

I believe also that the last three months has witnessed a certain relationship between Nigeria and the external world in the sense that Nigeria, that was regarded as a pariah state, has now become a Mecca of sort to foreign dignitaries, like the United Nations Secretary General and our president is now being invited to everywhere in the world. All of a sudden, Nigerians are now proud to be Nigerians and I think this is very important.

 

 

3. Cohesive regional onslaught against Boko Haram

I think the last 100 days has seen a coordinated, focused and methodical attack on insecurity and terrorism. The last 100 days has witnessed a successful rallying of all our neighbors, region and the entire world to assist in the fight against Boko Haram.

The president has succeeded in rallying the support of, first, our neighbors like Cameroon, Benin Republic, Chad and Niger; the G7 has given us support and the United States is suspending a  law to enable us combat  insurgency.

 

 

4. An inspired and rejuvenated Army

On the domestic scene also, we now have a rejuvenated army, it is taking the battle to the insurgents.

We  have a new army with a very high moral ‘because of certain steps taken by the president such as moving the command and control of the army to the North-East. We also now have our service chiefs leading the war. They are also interacting with the soldiers. The president is so confident that he has given the  service chiefs three months deadline to finish the war against insurgency. In the area of security I think even the most ardent critic of the president must give him kudos.

 

 

5. Bailout package and a ready-to-diversify economy

In the area of the economy, I think what he has done, which is unappreciated by Nigerians, is the bail out package which he arranged for  the states. If not for the bail out package that the president approved, today, we would be facing industrial crisis of a magnitude never witnessed. Also, the government has made it clear and has laid the foundation for diversification of the economy. Here, we are looking at agriculture, mining, the telecommunication sector and it intends to pay less emphasis on oil so that we would not be affected by the volatility in the oil and gas sector as we are suffering now.

 

 

6. Transparency and accountability

I think the government has started laying the foundation for accountability and transparency when it ordered that all money accruing to government should be paid into what we call the Treasury Single Account.

This is the beginning of accountability and transparency because when the money is  paid in, the government will know what  it has at a glance. I think the reform that has been brought into the oil and gas sector is quite spectacular

 

 

7. War against corruption

In the area of fighting corruption, the president has been unrelenting and he has vowed we would recover all stolen money and, in doing so, he has the support of not just Nigerians, but also  the international community and they are ready to assist us to trace looted funds wherever  they are kept and they also going to assist us in repatriating such. The fight against corruption, to me, is the most controversial.