It seems the President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘Change’ mantra seems to have lost steam as Nigerians are beginning to doubt the sincerity of their leader. A poll conducted by NOI Polls, a West Africa’s leading polling services organisation, indicates that the president has lost some of his core supporters in one year.
A breakdown of the result of NOI findings revealed that Buhari’s approval rating is now 42%, same with his disapproval rating, while 16% of those who participated in the poll are undecided. It means that 6% of respondents are said to have changed direction.
The ratings were done using such factors as age, gender, geographical location, occupation of the respondents and rating of the president’s performance in each sector of the economy.
As at January 2016, the president’s approval rating was 69%. In February 2016, it had a massive fall to 55%. By March 2016, it reduced drastically to 47%. Last month, April, it went further down to 42% signalling a dissatisfaction from majority of the Nigerian populace on how the government is being run.
The declining popularity of the president might not be unconnected to several factors:
1) fuel subsidy removal
2) comatose state of the Nigerian economy
3) fuel scarcity
4) increase in electricity bill tariff
5) free fall of the naira
6) frequent foreign trips by the president
7) violence perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen
8) resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta.
The present administration has come under heavy criticisms even from some of its loyal supporters over some policies initiated in the last one year. President Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015, with fanfare and a renewed hope for the Nigerian people. Many Nigerians are still awaiting the ‘miracles’ promised by the current administration before it came on board.