This is a keen analysis of acting president, Yemi Osinbajo's actions since president Buhari left Nigeria for London.
Yemi Osinbajo
Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo seems to have been
everywhere while his boss is away. He even conducted a spot check on the
public toilets at Lagos international airport.
The clear aim, it seems, is to give the impression of business as
usual while President Muhammadu Buhari is nearly 5,000 kilometres (3,000
miles) away in London on medical leave.
The government appears keen to avoid the impression of a political
vacuum, as happened in 2010 when president Umaru Yar’Adua fell ill and
later died while being treated abroad.
Since Buhari, 74, left for the British capital on January 19,
59-year-old Osinbajo has rarely been out of the newspapers or off the
television news.
His consensual style — and short stature — have stood in marked
contrast to the rangy Buhari, an uncompromising former army general who
headed a military government in the 1980s.
The vice-president has toured the oil-rich Niger delta — something
Buhari has yet to do — and held talks to end militant attacks that have
wreaked havoc on the oil and gas infrastructure.
He has met ambassadors and delegations, and chaired cabinet meetings in Abuja with an ease, professionalism — and visibility.
Even the unannounced visit to Murtala Muhammed International
Airport on Thursday was a media event. But in it, he stressed an
important point, given the parlous state of Nigeria’s economy.
There was a “need to ensure that facilities are working and that
things are being run properly”, he said in a statement, which noted the
need to fix lifts and faulty baggage carousels.
First impressions counted if Nigeria was to attract foreign firms,
added Osinbajo, a trained lawyer and former university professor, who is
also a pentecostal church pastor.
– Policy decisions –
Buhari and his government have seen Nigeria’s economy nose-dive
since they came to power in May 2015, on the back of a slump in global
oil prices. The country has been in recession since August.
But there are indications the weakened naira currency could be
showing small signs of recovery after the central bank this week moved
to ease some foreign exchange restrictions.
In the last few days, the naira has strengthened to about 480 to
the US dollar on the black market after being 520 or higher in recent
weeks.
Fitch’s BMI Research said the policy could be “a precursor to a
more meaningful move in the exchange rate” given the yawning gulf
between parallel rates and the official inter-bank rate of 305.
That could pave the way for a further devaluation — which Buhari
has likened to murder — to encourage wary investors bring their money
back to Nigeria.
Some analysts have seen it as significant that the measure was
introduced while Buhari was away. Osinbajo has also reportedly vetoed
four parliamentary bills.
Buhari has long been known for deferring economic matters to the
London School of Economics graduate. But how far the latter’s powers
stretch in taking individual decisions is unclear.
– Political realities –
Political analyst Chris Ngwodo said despite Osinbajo’s high
visibility — and apparent competence — he was limited as acting
president because of Nigerian political realities.
“In Nigeria, powers are vested in persons rather than in the
office they occupy. The acting president is in office, not in power,” he told AFP.
“He may have been taking some decisions which I see as mere
palliatives: for instance, the adjustment in the foreign exchange policy
which flows from a broader consensus of the people.”
He would not be able to take unilateral decisions and was
restricted in his reach as “he is not the executive president Nigerians
voted for”, added Ngwodo.
Osinbajo, a former justice commissioner in Lagos state, comes from
the southwestern state of Ogun and was appointed to be vice-president as
a counter-balance to Buhari, a northern Muslim.
Identity politics play an important role in Nigeria, as does the
expectation that the presidency alternates between north and south —
even if it is not enshrined in the constitution.
As such, Yinka Odumakin, spokesman for Afenifere, representing the
ethnic Yoruba people of the southwest, said Buhari’s inner circle would
always try to keep him in check.
“We are not going to see much from Osinbajo apart from symbolic
movements and gestures here and there because his powers are limited,” he added.
“He will be acting under the shadow of his principal or a cabal loyal to him.”
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Culeld from: The Punch
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