Port Harcourt — Soldiers operate by decrees so it will help maintain your sanity if you expect a General who transmutes into civilian attire rules by something close to that if he is President. Thus, it would be somewhat unfair to anticipate anything less of Muhammadu Buhari, who became a soldier at 19, retired 24 years after as a General and then became President of Nigeria. The officer and gentleman has issued Executive Orders, a less-frightening name for decrees, right left and centre on virtually everything that is tormenting us — tackling crime, combating crude theft and you won’t believe this, clearing traffic! Lagosians are used to grinding traffic, the type that makes a vehicle owner opt to trek. But even the traffic veterans of this city were bewildered by what I call the Apapa conundrum – hellish traffic that bled businesses of billions, robbed landlords of fair rents and denied residents of a quick run to their homes. The Apapa mess which began rather incongruously grew to become a national embarrassment in 2019 as it took importers twice the time to clear goods.
On 22nd May 2019, President Buhari set up a Presidential Taskforce, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo “to restore law and order to the area within two weeks.” At the same time, he issued an order mandating “the immediate removal of all trucks from the bridges and roads within Apapa and all adjoining streets leading into the Apapa axis.” This is nearly four years after this order, Apapa remains what it has been – hellish traffic zone.
On January 4, 2023, the President issued an executive order directing the security agencies to end crude oil theft before he leaves office on May 29, 2023. Really? I initially dismissed it as another social media gimmick, but it was true after all. The President gave the order in a message to troops of the Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe, in Effurun, Delta State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, respectively. “He has directed that no liter of crude oil should be stolen in the country again especially in the South-south,” the office of the Minister of State for Petroleum explained on the Presidential order. Which is rather surprising. Buhari has been in power since 2015 and it is just in the last days of his tenure that he has discovered the evangelistic zeal to stamp out this crime.
The penchant for Executive Orders was on display again on 5th April 2023 when gunmen invaded Umogidi village in Benue state and killed 47 people, adding to three similar deaths a day earlier. President Buhari duly condemned the “extreme violence” and killings within one week and directed the attackers “be found and dealt with” swiftly under the law. He also directed the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force and military commanders to enhance surveillance on and review the security management in the affected areas. Which leads me to wonder why the security agencies should wait for executive orders to do what is normally their job.
Sadly, the President’s Executive Orders mean nothing. They are an attempt to show that he is working but they amount to nothing because they don’t deal with the root of the challenges. Take crude oil theft, for instance. Nigeria is said to lose some $4 billion every year to oil theft and pipeline vandalism, and it will be naïve to think that it will take just an Executive Order to stop a hydra-headed problem. There is unemployment and sheer criminality in what has become Yahoo business of the Niger Delta. And some security personnel are also known to be feeding from it. Now, our President wants the same personnel mired in the miasma to stop it before end May! How can?
The same lack of appreciation for fundamentals has been on display in the Apapa mess. The main reason for the gridlock is that the Apapa and TinCan Island ports which were meant to handle 34 million tonnes of cargo, now cater for over 80 million tons of cargo. This means they are handling cargo that has increased by 235 per cent above their capacity. This is the crux of the matter and until the fundamental problem is tackled, no executive order will clear the mess. So, my advice to the Presidency is this: Executive Orders may make you appear to work but they don’t work in reality.
