Many Nigerians have scored President Muhammadu Buhari low on jobs, economy, and power for the first time in months according to Governance Advancement Initiative for Nigeria (GAIN). It’s the first time since December last year that a monthly poll that track the performance of governments at all levels in Nigeria, has recorded main approval rating slide. Earlier the survey found that majority of Nigerians did not accuse President Buhari of Nigeria’s ongoing economic troubles. They blamed ex-president Goodluck Jonathan instead.
Meanwhile, the trend changed significantly in February as country’s economic crisis bit harder, in what the poll coordinators suggested that Buhari’s “honeymoon” is over. Malcolm Fabiyi, one of the poll’s coordinators said: “The survey was administered using electronic media between February 22nd and 29th, 2016. A total of 757 complete responses were received. The survey results have a 4% margin of error at a 95% confidence level.”
The February survey showed that the president’s approval rating dropped drastically from 63.4% in January to 32.8%, and more Nigerians held Buhari responsible for the dwindling economy for the first time. President Buhari scored low on jobs, economy, power, and rule of law. A huge 79% of respondents rated the administration’s handling of recurring clashes between herdsmen and farmers poor. The survey also showed that the Nigerian senate maintained the lowest approval rating of all governmental institutions. The military received the highest rank as national institution.
Nigeria’s best minister so far is Ibeh Kachikwu, the minister of state for petroleum. Under the “High” ranking response, security Boko Haram crisis was rated as the most important area of concern and/or interest by 55% of Nigerians, continuing the trend from the January poll. The top 5 rated areas overall were security (55%), anti-corruption (51%), power (51%), economy and jobs (50%) and education (45%). 45% of respondents consider that the anti-corruption is working, however, the rank dropped from about 76% in the January poll. 62.6% of Nigerians indicated opposition to the devaluation of the naira.
For the first time since the Buhari came to power, more Nigerians held the incumbent administration responsible for the current state of the nation. In the February poll, 35% of Nigerians said that the Buhari government was “completely responsible”. An increasing number of Nigerians continue to indicate that they do not support any political party. Majority of the respondents disapprove government’s handling of Fulani herdsmen attacks. Lai Mohammed, the minister of information, surprisingly takes the second place, while Kachikwu was again rated as the best minister in Buhari’s cabinet.
Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, was elected as Nigeria’s new president almost a year ago on March 28, 2015. His electoral victory was outstanding because it marked the first time an opposition candidate defeat an incumbent president in Nigeria. Buhari’s promise of change, which appealed to a majority of Nigerian voters, has become a source of hope for many Nigerians. When he assumed office, Buhari asked for time to assess and clear some of the damage. He took all the time he needed, and now Nigerians are getting impatient. They criticized Buhari for being slow in implementing his policies and for junketing around the world while the nation is suffering.
