How Nigerians Rate President Buhari In His First 100 Days – NOIPolls

Latest snap poll results released by NOIPolls Limited have revealed that amidst the mixed reactions which have trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s first 100 days; Nigerians (60 percent) have appraised the President’s first 100 days in office positively; rating his general performance so far within this period as ‘good’. Some Nigerians(12 percent), on the other hand think the President has performed ‘poorly’ since his inauguration on May, 29th 2015.

Still in the bid to appraise the President’s performance in his first 100 days, Nigerians rated the performance of the President as ‘good’  in key areas such as ‘security’ (62 percent), ‘power’ (61 percent); ‘fuel availability’ (68 percent) and ‘anti-corruption’ (48 percent); albeit, slightly more than half of Nigerians (54 percent) interviewed think the President has performed ‘poorly’ in terms of ‘job creation’. This perception is in no doubt driven by the increasing level of unemployment in the country; for instance, unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 8.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015, from 7.50 percent in the first quarter of 2015, and from 6.40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to data by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).[1] In view of this and based on one of his political campaign promises to revamp the economy to create jobs,[2] Nigerians have a very high expectation of the President in this regard.

Following this appraisal, a larger proportion of Nigerians (39 percent) surveyed expect to see improvement in ‘job creation’ in the country within the next 6 months with the  majority of respondents in this category aged between 26 – 35 years. Marked improvements in this area alongside other critical areas such as security, power and education as indicated by Nigerians; would drive the sustenance of a positive perception of Nigerians towards the performance of the President and the overall achievement of the obligations of his administration.These are the key findings from the 100 Days Appraisal poll conducted in the week of September 7^th 2015.

September 5^th 2015 marked the first 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari in office. In view of this there have been divergent opinions surrounding the first 100 days of the President since his swearing in into office in May 29^th 2015.[3] This is due to the legitimate expectations of citizens that a leader should be able to establish the road maps of his administration within the first 100 days in office. It is pertinent to recall that President Buhari’s campaign promises centred on three key areas: waging war against corruption and impunity, fight against terrorism and revamping the economy to create jobs. Power supply and other economic indices are embedded in these three categories.[4]

Some of the perceived but unverified and unclassified opinions of Nigerians suggest that some are in doubt of the President’s performance. Some of the criticisms are in favour of his performance in some areas such as leadership prowess or his ‘body language’ effect on the public service, the recent corruption probes, the heightened fight against insurgency and the availability of fuel. However, some attributed the improvements in some areas like electricity to the already laid down energy sector road map of the previous administration arguing that 100 days is too early for him to effect any change in the power sector.

Sequel to these views some stated that the merging of ministries and parastatals and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) Bill will strengthen the unemployment indices.[5] The unavoidable question in the minds of an average Nigerian presently is, ‘how has the President fared in his first 100 days as the President of Nigeria’?

Against this background NOIPolls conducted a poll to appraise the President’s first 100 days in office.  The poll sought to gauge the perceptions of Nigerians regarding the performance of President Buhari in his first 100 days in office, as well their expectations from his administration in the next 6 months.

Survey Findings

Respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. The first 100 days of the President in office examines the occurrence of events and how the President has fared in his role. Hence, in order to gauge the perception of Nigerians on the overall performance of the President, respondents were asked: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor and 5 is very good, how would you rate the general performance of the President on his first 100 days in office? Amidst mixed reactions which has trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s first 100 days in office, majority of respondents (60 percent) have rated and described the performance of the President in his first 100 days in office as  ‘good’; while 28 percent believe he has performed ‘averagely’ within his first 100 days in office. In line with this the President received an average score of 3.7 and this is an indication that Nigerians have a positive perception of the performance of the President in his first hundred days in office; since the closer his average score is to ‘5’ the better his appraisal. On the other hand, some Nigerians (12 percent) think the President has performed ‘poorly’since his inauguration.

More analysis by geo-political zone indicates that the North-West zone has the largest proportion of respondents that asserted that the President has done a good jobwithin his first 100 days in office, whereas the South-East zone accounted for the highest ratio of Nigerians who were of the view that the President has performed averagely since his inauguration. Conversely, the South-South zone has the highest number of respondents who feel the President has generally performed poorly.

Overall, 6 in 10 Nigerians (60 percent) gave  positive reviews of the President’s performance in his first hundred days in office, about 3 in 10 (28 percent) were neutral in their reviews, while 12 percent gave negative reviews of his performance.

Secondly, respondents were asked: On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is very poor and 5 is very good, how would you rate the performance of the President in the following areas? In a different light from his general appraisal as shown above, majority of Nigerians (54 percent) interviewed think the President has performed ‘poorly’ in terms of ‘job creation’. The President received ‘good’ rating in areas such as ‘security’ (62 percent), ‘power’ (61 percent); ‘fuel availability’ (68 percent) and ‘anti-corruption’ (48 percent). Overall, the President received the best ratings in power and fuel availability with average scores of 3.9 and 3.7 respectively.

Finally, to gain insight on the expectation of Nigerians in the next 6 months, respondents were asked: In your opinion, which areas do you expect to see the most improvement in the next 6 months? A larger proportion of adult Nigerians (39 percent) surveyed indicated that they expect to see improvement in ‘job creation’ in the country within the next 6 months. This area of the economy has become a priority to Nigerians, considering that Nigeria’s unemployment rate is currently facing an upward incline, where unemployment among the 15-64 age bracket increased to 103.5 million in Q2 – up from 102.8 million in the first quarter according to the NBS.[6] Other areas in which Nigerians expect to see improvement in the next 6 months include ‘security’ (14 percent), ‘power’ (11 percent) and ‘education’ (8 percent) amongst other areas.

Further analysis by geo-political zone revealed unison in the stance of Nigerians on job creation as a priority of Nigerians across all geo-political zones although the South-East zone (46 percent) accounts for the largest proportion of Nigerians in this category. Moreover, a considerable proportion of Nigerians in the North-West zone (29 percent) want to see improvement in security. Also, the South-South zone has the highest number of respondents who want to see improvement in power supply within the next 6 months. This is true considering the power poll result released by NOIPolls in August which showed that the region experienced the worst power supply in the country. In addition, more female (48 percent) than male (32 percent) respondents wants to see improvement in job creation in the next 6 months.

In conclusion, 6 in 10 Nigerians have described the President’s 100 days in office as ‘good, while 12 percent of Nigerians claimed that the President has performed ‘poorly’ since his inauguration in May 29^th 2015. Finally, most Nigerians (54 percent) think the President has performed ‘poorly’ in terms of ‘job creation’ in the country. Hence, the larger proportion of respondents (39 percent)surveyed have indicated that they expect to see improvement in ‘job creation’ in the country within the next 6 months with the largest segment of these aged between 26 – 35 years (43 percent).