Unarguably, one of the notable features of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the last three years is the re-establishment of Nigeria’s leadership position in Africa and its values to the world.

So, when he was appointed as Anti-Corruption Champion for the year 2018 during the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, it came as no surprise to observers.

For his position in featuring good leadership in Africa, the African leaders also unanimously endorsed Nigeria to champion the fight against corruption in the African Union.

They were convinced that the endorsement of Nigeria was in recognition of Buhari’s administration’s demonstrable commitment and glowing success in the fight against corruption.

Also, Nigeria’s prominent participation in the Anti-Corruption Summit and the Commonwealth Conference on Tackling Corruption in May 2016 in London had yielded positive results globally.

Major outcomes of events are the establishment of a Global Forum for Asset Recovery, hosted by the governments of the U.S. and UK in December 2017; and focusing on assisting Nigeria and three other countries to reclaim their stolen assets.

At the event, Buhari signed an agreement with the UK on modalities for the return of Nigeria’s stolen assets in the UK.

Similarly, Nigeria joined the Open Government Partnership and developed a National Action Plan which is already being implemented.

Apart from the agreement with UK in 2016, Nigeria also signed an agreement on the identification and repatriation of illicit funds with the United Arab Emirates during his visit to that country, the presidency said.

It said that so far, the Swiss government has repatriated 322 million dollars looted by a past leader and the amount is in a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, said that the Buhari-led government had succeeded in abolishing grand corruption at the top as attested to by the President Donald Trump of U.S.

He observed that the government had significantly brought down the level of corruption in the whole country.

“Many, who are discerning, would have read this from Buhari’s speech when he inaugurated the impressive new headquarters building of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“He narrated how and why he was overthrown as a military Head of State in the 80s; and in that speech, he said that he was kicked out because he fought corruption and those who took power freed all those that he had jailed, returning whatever they stole to them,’’ he said.

“Buhari also said at the inauguration of EFCC head office building that the building was another milestone in his determined and collective fight against corruption, acknowledging that since 2015, his administration had made significant progress in the fight against corruption.

“Everyone now knows that corrupt officials will be held to account, no matter how long it takes; we have recovered and are still recovering trillions of naira that were stolen in the past few years by people without conscience.

“We are pursuing recoveries everywhere and are making sure that anyone who has been found culpable is made to answer for his or her crime under the law,’’ he said.

He, however, noted that “the war of corruption is not an easy one to fight, because it affects so many different branches of our lives, so much so that some people do not even consider breaking trust is anymore a crime.

“It has become the norm. That is why we must fight this attitude and encourage Nigerians to change their attitudes and perspectives.’’

Shehu said that as part of deliberate efforts to enhance the image of Nigeria globally, the fragile, nearly broken relations with the U.S., UK, South Africa and neighbouring countries, such as Chad, Republic of Niger and Cameroon, had been strengthened since June 2015.

According to the presidency, the present administration has mobilised international support for the War against Boko Haram and developed strong partnerships with key countries in the fight.

“The U.S. has finally agreed to sell weapons to Nigeria and the sale of 12 Super Tucano Aircraft by the U.S. Government to Nigeria has just been finalised.

“The Buhari’s administration has revamped the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising troops from Nigeria and Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin which has contributed significantly to the weakening of Boko Haram insurgency,’’ the presidency said.

It noted further oil prices rose to 55 dollars per barrel for the first time in 16 months, following the successful negotiation of an exemption from the OPEC production freeze agreed at the 171st OPEC Ministerial conference in Vienna.

According to the presidency, the present administration has successfully launched a renewed cooperation in the areas of security, agriculture and anti-corruption with a member of friendly countries including the U.S., China, Morocco, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates, among others.

On rail transportation, Shehu said that Buhari’s recent official visit to China had unlocked billions of dollars in infrastructure funding primarily for road and rail projects.

He also said that the visit brought to reality the currency swap agreement between the Peoples Bank of China and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The Chinese government is currently investing billions of dollars in concessional infrastructure funding for critical road and rail projects.

“All trains and coaches are being modernised by the Chinese; new standard railway tracks are being laid linking Ibadan and Lagos.

“Kaduna-Abuja, partly completed when President Buhari took over, is now in use and contracts for the entire stretch, Lagos-Kano have been awarded.

“Lagos-Port Harcourt will follow and by the presidential directive, all state capitals are to be linked by the new, standard gauge railway,’’ he said.

The presidency further notes that the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, that involves a partnership with Morocco for the supply of phosphate, has resulted in the revitalisation of 11 blending plants across the country.

It says the economy has witnessed significant growth and consolidation after the recession of 2016 and 2017 as the economy recorded 1.9 per cent Gross Domestic Product growth in the first quarter of 2018.

“Inflation has fallen for the fifteenth consecutive month, while External Reserves are at their highest levels in five years and double the size as of October 2016.

“Nigeria’s Stock Market ended 2017 as one of the best-performing in the world, with returns of about 40 per cent.

“Records made available by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning has shown that five million new taxpayers had been added to the Tax Base since 2016 as part of efforts to diversify Federal Government revenues.

“It shows that tax revenue increased to N1.17 trillion in first quarter of 2018, a 51per cent increase when compared with what obtained on the first quarter of 2017 figure,’’ the presidency said.

Shehu observed further that last three years of the Buhari administration also witnessed the contribution of Solid Minerals to the Federation Account which tripled from N700 million in 2015 to N2 billion in 2016 and rose to N3.5 billion in 2017.

“Also, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the Federal Government’s medium-term Economic Plan, was launched in April 2017.

“It charts a course for the Nigerian economy over the next four years (2017-2020) to restore economic growth, invest in Nigerians and to build a globally competitive economy, among others.

He said further that to fast-track the implementation of the ERGP, the Federal Government inaugurated the ERGP Focus Labs to unlock medium-scale and large-scale investment projects held back by bureaucratic bottlenecks.

“The just-concluded Phase I of the ERGP Focus Labs identified projects worth about 10 billion dollars for fast-tracking and the bottlenecks holding them back are now being resolved,’’ he said.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udu Udoma on May 23, said that he updated members of the Federal Executive Council meeting on the positive developments being recorded by the nation’s economy.

He said that the council was impressed and encouraged by the report which showed a GDP growth rate of 1.95 per cent.

Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogheh, said that Nigeria’s rice import from Thailand had drastically dropped by more than 95 per cent and thereby saving the country billions of dollars from the importation of the commodity.

Besides, these developments, concerned citizens observed that the 2018 budget which was raised to N9.1 trillion by the National Assembly with additional N501 billion was transmitted to President Buhari for his assent.

The senate increased the 2018 budget from N8.612 trillion as proposed by Buhari to N9.12 trillion while the crude oil benchmark price of the budget was also increased from 45 dollars to 50.5 dollars.

They, therefore, believe that significant implementation of the 2018 budget will witness increase in government spending in infrastructure, observing that with the 2017 appropriation budget which is about to lapse, government’s capital spending will hit N1.5 trillion.

Analysis by Ismaila Chafe, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)