Buhari’s First Year in Office

President Buhari’s First Year Review

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari marked his first year in office with a speech on May 29. He touched on major issues – Boko Haram, the Delta insurgents, and the economy.

Buhari opened his address this way, “By age, instinct and experience, my preference is to look forward, to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead and rededicate the administration to the task of fixing Nigeria.”

I wonder if he is still glad that he won the election – it hasn’t been an easy year for the country or for him.

On the currency, which during Buhari’s first year he has been reluctant to devalue, was he changing his mind?

“His comments came four days after central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said the economy will probably slip into a recession.” Emefiele also announced plans to introduce more flexibility in the foreign-exchange market.

“The latest remarks by Buhari, who once likened a move to weaken the currency to ‘murder,’ suggested to some analysts that he may be changing tack,” Elisha Baba-Gbogbo, the author of the Bloomberg article, says.

Sounds like a good idea to me!

At the end of Buhari’s first year, he also said his government will “fast-track repairs of its four state-owned refineries and seek to grow more rice, wheat and produce more sugar locally,” the article said.

Success in these efforts will help reduce the need for foreign exchange and the pressure on the exchange rate.

Boko Haram and More in Buhari’s First Year

The country has not yet been able to deal decisively with Boko Haram, and now a group in the Delta region is demanding attention.

This is certainly not a problem of Buhari’s first year. The problems there have been ongoing for decades.

You may remember the name Ken Saro Wiwa. He was executed in 1995 for his activism on behalf of his Ogoni people in the Delta. He was protesting the damage to the environment from the oil drilling.

In Buhari’s first year review he said he will reinstate an amnesty program for the insurgents in the Delta.

Buhari’s First Year Review – An Update 

Update on currency: a May 30 Bloomberg article by the same author says, “While some, including Standard Chartered Plc, [a major bank in Nigeria] said a looming recession had forced Buhari to change tack and allow the naira to depreciate, others said the president . . . had signaled continued resistance to reducing its value.”

Stay tuned!

Peace Corps Connect – My Group

I visit the website of the National Peace Corps Association fairly often.

I belong to the NPCA, which has just converted to a free membership organization. Anyone who was affiliated with Peace Corps can join by filling out the form identifying your Peace Corps connection.

With a $50 contribution, you can also get the magazine Worldview.I do like the magazine, so I’m contributing.

I did my advocacy bit a couple of weeks ago, urging greater funding for Peace Corps.

There are more than 150 affiliate groups. I belong to Connecticut RPCV’s and Friends of Nigeria.

And I just found the “Married Host Country National” group. It seems that I was already a member though I have no recollection of joining!

I posted a message to the other 180+ people in the group about our 50th wedding anniversary and my memoir. I hope a few people will consider buying, reading, and reviewing it!

Memoir Reviews

I’ve had several requests in the last few months to review new books by authors I don’t know.

I’m curious how they find me. The email says something like, “I notice you have reviewed books similar to mine. Would you consider reading mine which will be published soon, and writing a review?”

The writer offers to send me their book. I’ve done two, and just agreed to another. I turned down a couple when the topic didn’t appeal to me.

Today I looked at a video that tells me how to get lots of reviews! It also says that lots of reviews are the way to sell lots of books!

One method is to search Amazon for books in my genre. That would be memoir, or even more specific – Nigeria memoir, or African memoir? I look at who reviewed books. Sometimes people include their email addresses, according to the video. I should write to them.

Another is to search for blogs about memoirs. Write to the bloggers, the video said.

Every method seems to point to writing to many people. Expect a 5% return, the video told me!

Will You Help?

I have 14 reviews now on Amazon – that’s good, but not great. I have 17 ratings and just 1 review on Goodreads.

If you’ve read the memoir and not yet written a review, please do! Let me know so I can thank you.

It Rained on Our Parade

I had expected to have pictures from Westport’s Memorial Day Parade to share with you. But the rain intervened.

Actually by parade time the rain had pretty well stopped. But the decision-makers had to decide by 7 am since parade line-up starts at 8.

I was planning to ride with the Democratic Women of Westport on their truck, and jump off part-way through to march with the Rainbow Task Force from The Unitarian Church in Westport.

Clem said, “If we were in Nigeria, someone would have consulted the rain-maker. He could have kept the rain away!”

That’s what happened for his father’s funeral in 1979. Only Clem didn’t know about it at the time. I had gone with his uncle to the rain-maker to request his help!