After eight dismal years, Nigeria prepares to replace President Buhari

“Buhari hasAPCAPC given us very big (trouble),” says Usama Sani, a student in Kano, the biggest city in northern Nigeria. “There is and unemployment,” he complains, before shouting: “We are going to kick Buhari aside!” President Muhammadu Buhari used to be popular in Kano; he won landslide support there in two presidential elections. Now, says another student, Umar Garba Umar, “we are so hungry for change.” Even members of Mr Buhari’s own All Progressives Congress () are down on the outgoing president. Kashim Shettima, the ’s vice-presidential candidate, concedes that Mr Buhari has done only “modestly well”.When Mr Buhari was first elected, in 2015, many hoped Nigeria was about to turn a corner. This newspaper . Yet he has floundered on almost every measure. Between 2015 and 2020 the average income per person (adjusted for purchasing power) slid from $5,400 to $4,900 a year. The share of Nigerians living on less than $1.90 a day, which had fallen from about 43% to 37% in the previous five years, increased to almost 40% in 2019, before covid-19 hit.