A false start for Nigeria's president?

Emmanuel Akinwotu is a freelance journalist and PS21 AFRICA contributor.

He tweets @ea_akin

Nigeria's historic election victory afforded Muhammadu Buhari precious momentum. On

foreign policy he has been determined, consolidating international alliances in tackling

Boko Haram. But domestically he has been inexcusably passive, whilst Nigeria's

numerous and converging crises persist. Largely of his own volition that momentum has

now fizzled away.

7 weeks into his term Buhari is yet to announce his cabinet. In part, the tribal politics of

ministerial appointments are difficult to negotiate quickly. Each of Nigeria's cabinet

positions are mandated by the constitution to come from each of Nigeria's 36 states.

Buhari's desire to have a leaner and less expensive government has been thwarted by

this.

But for the huge economic, energy and security challenges facing Nigeria, the electorates

patience for the intense wrangling of these positions to conclude would have been more

readily available. But the immediacy of these challenges have opened Buhari to

allegations of complacency.

By this point, each of Nigeria's previous 4 administrations had submitted their

appointments to the Senate for ratification. The presidency recently confirmed that they

would not be announced until September.

To compound things further, deep divisions in his APC party have surfaced. The party's

majority in the senate is unravelling after the arguments over the APC's nominee for

senate president have left various factions seething. The new doggedly ambitious senate

president, Bukola Saraki, won without the backing of the party leadership but on the back

of votes from the opposition PDP.

Amidst the infighting Buhari has been deliberately withdrawn, refusing to explicitly endorse

any candidate and promising to work with any senate leader. His reticence to get involved

in his party's disputes was initially shrewd. The US congress is perhaps the perfect

example of how stifled politics can become when it is deeply partisan. Buhari's willingness

to work with all parties is pragmatic.

But his Party's divisions have rocked on an on, and the merits of his withdrawal are

weakening by the day. The party's unity has unravelled weeks into its first term in

Government, and on an issue that will be trivial in the long run. There will be bigger

challenges to contend with.

One of which is the economy. Over 20 states are currently struggling to pay their civil

servants, many of whom have not been paid for close to a year. The states are reliant on

their monthly allocation from the federal government which has fallen sharply as a result of

the drop in oil price. GDP last quarter fell 2% to 3.9%, a 3 year low. Unemployment has

risen whilst productivity and exports have fallen. The absence of a finance minister in this

period is at best unsettling and at worst oblivious.

More optimistically, 38 years after he co-founded the NNPC as a petroleum minister,

Buhari has taken a hands on role in reforming it, dissolving the board and ordering a probe

into it's murky finances. The NNPC is currently reporting directly to the government. It has

been rumoured that he will personally run the Petroleum ministry when the

announcements are made in September.

However until Buhari's government is formed and hits the ground running, the coming

changes to the NNPC and other industries will continue to be speculative. His foreign y

policy agenda, driven by the cross border insurgency by Boko Haram has been the key

focus of his first month as president. But the attacks from the group, in sync with ISIS in

the middle-east have only increased since Ramadam began. His efforts, however

plausible, are juxtaposed by a death toll that is rising starkly by the day. Over 200 people

were killed in just two days last week.

The broad lack of urgency from Nigeria's new president has dampened the goodwill that

was so palpable a month ago. His distinct and defiant rhetoric against the group contrast

an approach that is as yet unclear. Domestically, Buhari's government is stretching at the

starting line. It is still early days, but after much promise this has not been an ideal

beginning.