Has Buharinomics delivered for northern Nigeria?

In depth
This article is part of the dossier: Buharinomics

By Sada Malumfashi

Posted on Friday, 22 July 2022 11:42, updated on Tuesday, 4 October 2022 17:48
Buhari visits Kano to witness the release of 500 inmates (photo: twitter/TAR)

Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election in 2015 due to unbridled support from his core political base in northern Nigeria. His transformative rhetoric promised good jobs, solid income, and a sense of pride for those based within his political stronghold. But did the populist president over-promise and underdeliver?

This is part 5 of a 5-part series

In northern Nigeria, Buharinomics has had limited success. Despite substantial investment in agriculture and infrastructure, escalating food and fuel prices and ongoing insecurity continues to plague Buhari’s political stronghold and have put a dent in his reputation there. Meanwhile, citizens continue to suffer from unemployment, poverty and reduced agricultural output. Although the cost of living continues to rise, so has discontent around Buhari’s leadership.

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Buhari won the Nigerian presidential election back in 2015 – following three failed attempts – on a promise that he would turn the ailing economy around, tapping into his background as a retired military general to end insecurity. In this first part of our series, we evaluate a variety of data spanning several years, to create a picture of Buhari’s economic success – and his failures.

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