There are high expectations that Buhari, who defeated
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
in March elections, will turn around Nigeria's fortunes, with the country riddled with corruption and the crude-dependent economy reeling from global oil shocks.
But the 72-year-old, elected on a promise of cleaning up Nigeria's dirty politics and ending Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
's Islamist insurgency, indicated the funds to deliver were not immediately available to do so.
"I hope we are starting and this culture of 100 days (in power) is bringing so much pressure, with (the) treasury virtually empty, with debts in millions of dollars, with state workers and even federal workers not paid their salaries," he told news hounds in Abuja.
The former military ruler, whose 20-month tenure in the 1980s was characterised by a war against graft and "indiscipline", described the situation as "a disgrace for Nigeria" and warned people could take to the streets if nothing was done.
Nigeria, which is Africa's leading oil producer and dependent on crude for a massive 90 percent of foreign earnings, was already feeling the effect of the halving of global oil prices from mid-2014 even before Buhari took over.
Squeezed government revenues forced this year's budget to be revised and federal projects scrapped or halted while state employees have gone months without being paid.
In the week he took office on May 29, the country virtually ground to a halt because of fuel shortages linked to alleged government defaults on subsidy payments to fuel importers.