Nigeria: Partisan Politics Runs Riot

President Buhari will struggle to gain the upper hand on corruption and security while party rivalries block economic change.

FOR AN ESSENTIALLY APOLITICAL president, Muhammadu Buha-ri of Nigeria faces a nightmare 2017 as party rivalries loom larger and larger, obstructing many of his economic and social reforms, as well as his cherished campaign against corruption. The reputation of Buhari, a retired general who makes no secret of his scepticism about party politicians, could now depend on how his team manages relations with the faction-ridden National Assembly.

This year looks like sink or swim for the government, especially without a dramatic improvement in economic conditions. Even Buhari’s efforts to resolve the myriad security threats are being undermined by partisan manoeuvres.

Buhari starts the year as the threat of Boko Haram’s Islamist fighters continues to cast a pall over the northeast, even if hundreds of thousands of displaced people are returning to the region. Although Boko Haram has been pushed out of most of the territory it occupied, including large swathes of the expansive Sambisa Forest in Borno State and neighbouring Cameroon and Chad, it retains a deadly ability to launch hit-and-run operations in all three countries. These often involve sending conscripted suicide bombers, usually small girls, into marketplaces and mosques to kill as many people as possible. Unquestionably, Buhari’s new commanders have improved the military’s response and intelligence gathering but its resources are stretched over an area about half the size of Western Europe, with poor roads and weak communications.

Equally important will be how the government handles the aftermath of the Boko Haram crisis: the displaced masses face malnutrition, and local and international human rights groups have condemned conditions in the makeshift camps. Intelligence experts say that a better-organised faction of Boko Haram is still planning a big attack on an international institution to further weaken the government’s standing.