•In all, a promise
It is often a tricky adventure to assess a president’s first year in office, especially if that president is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His legitimacy many did not want to accept. He has been laden with, perhaps, the most burdensome stewardship as the country’s leader since General Yakubu Gowon had to cobble the country together from the rubbles of an internecine bloodbath of 30 months.
The past year has been fraught. When the judiciary was at work, subverts were at war against it. He stepped into boiling water as president. Howls of protests, especially online, dared to imperil a democracy.
The parties were at one on the view that both fuel subsidies and foreign exchange regimes should perish, but when the president took the plunge, the same opposition looked the other way and said he ought to have done them differently or at another time. So, on the economic front, the situation has been dire in the past 12 months. Inflation has leapt, the naira has tumbled, and the cost of food and transportation has made life more than a little adventurous for the average Nigerian.
But from what the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance have revealed, the damage the country suffered under the previous administrations, especially under his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, was a criminal profligacy and reckless disregard for due process and the sanctity of the life of the nation’s future. Perhaps we faced existential omen of a Venezuela if we sustained our excesses. Charles Soludo, Anambra State governor and former CBN chief described it as “a dead horse standing.”
The CBN went on a mythical spree with a near unsupervised glee. According to the records, the country had squandered N30 trillion in printed money, and billions of dollars in various accounts around the world that Nigeria has to exploit its diplomatic muscle to retrieve. The exact amount is not disclosed. The nation was told that in the United Kingdom alone, five hundred million pounds lies cradled at our expense.
The nation’s indebtedness also included airlines like the Emirates and Nigerians could not only not fly it but were a pariah to the United Arab Emirates.
To ease the problem, the Federal Government ran into a crisis of integrity in an attempt to muster a register to distribute palliatives. Then the minister in charge of humanitarian affairs, Betta Edu, was wrapped up in a corruption scandal that led the president to suspend her. A committee was set up to review the list of the very poor in order to ensure that palliatives did not go to the well-fed rather than the very poor and vulnerable.
So, while the effects of the economic measures have kicked in with fury, the softening balm was held down by bureaucracy. Here, though, the states ought to have supported the government since most of them now receive more than double the boost of their monthly allocations. Some of the states have tried like Lagos, Kaduna, Ekiti, Ogun and Akwa Ibom. But most have been tepid and have allowed the hostile climate to bother the vulnerable among us. This prompted the president to ask the governors to “spend the money, don’t spend the people.” Yet, the tardiness of the Federal Government to sort out the palliative problem is of concern as hunger does not answer to patience.
The foreign exchange problem with the naira’s instability is still a matter of struggle. It fell to almost N2,000 to a dollar before it rebounded to about N1,000, and then back up to a neighbourhood of N1,500. But it seems the Federal Government does not want to spend much to bolster it but relies on cash inflows. All currencies must be subjected to a central bank control so long as such a sacrifice is not so high as to endanger the economy. That seems to be the path the CBN under Yemi Cardoso is taking.
On the fiscal side, the Federal Government has taken quite a few significant measures. One, the unveiling of three gas plants. Two, investment evangelism spearheaded by the president himself. Three, many hectares of agricultural projects and farms, especially in the north. Four, a single window to streamline import and export businesses. Five, making all oil receipts domicile in the CBN.
The question of power may be what his stewardship may be judged by. He has started slow, but the distribution of meters, band calibration and payment of the backlog of debts may be a sign of a repair ahead. We need speed in this regard, especially with many dams across the country for hydro ballast.
Others include cutting foreign trips, merging some ministries to cut costs, etc. We go by the president’s assurance that he has stopped the bleeding.
We have also seen the Federal Government engage in ambitious projects like the Lagos-Calabar expressway, which drew criticisms from opposition leaders. This is one of the most consequential projects on roads the country has ever known. The issue as to whether it underwent due process drew so much din that it has been left to the discerning to understand that the cacophony did not address the wisdom that David Umahi, the works minister, explained over and over again. It is as though they want it to fail more than they want it to be right. Their excuse is that there are other bad roads that need fixing. But the minister has been seen in the news addressing about 40 of the roads and bridges in progress, some of which the president is commissioning in the course of his one-year anniversary. For instance, the minister made headlines when he berated the contractors of the East-West Road. No one can forget the renewal of the Third Mainland Bridge, and work that is ongoing and near completion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. More ambitious designs are in the offing, including Lagos-Sokoto, the trans-Saharan express and Lagos -Abuja superhighway. Societies thrive on big dreams, not hidebound imaginations.
On security, there were instances of great fear like the kidnap of students and sporadic attacks, especially in the north. We acknowledge that the situation remains bad in spite of the fact that his new service chiefs have been more accountable. The recent sweep of Sambisa Forest indicates an armed forces at work. The terrain across the north remains rocky and challenging, and this may savage the work of the security forces. Hence, we enjoin the president to tap into current technologies, especially satellite innovations that could make it less onerous to track and eliminate the threats. There is a wedding between security and prosperity.
The President’s social programmes are the most potent so far, and may be the key to the national revival he is pursuing. These include the credit programme and student loans. They target the poor and grassroots. They have just been set in motion and we hope that their implementation will be thorough. It can liberate the impoverished and instill pride in the lower class that have ambition for self-fulfillment.
The economic programmes cannot yield fruits as quickly as many want. The damage was done in decades, and with the policies gradually settling in, it is hoped that in the next year Nigerians will see the fruits.
This is the first time that a government in Nigeria, since Awolowo, would tackle the economy with ruthless imagination and methodical rigour. It has had its stumbles, like in the reversal of some tax and appointment decisions. The government must not allow overzealous lieutenants to derail good intentions. No government is without its flaws. Its willingness to rethink is a virtue, so long as it does not become frequent.
President Tinubu has also been a target of scurrilous attacks and malicious umbrage. But he has shown the streak of a statesman and risen above taunts, abuses and traduces. He has not allowed himself to be distracted. He has done much for one year in spite of headwinds. We believe that, going forward, some of those distractions will conduce to a healing land.
It is often a tricky adventure to assess a president’s first year in office, especially if that president is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. His legitimacy many did not want to accept. He has been laden with, perhaps, the most burdensome stewardship as the country’s leader since General Yakubu Gowon had to cobble the country together from the rubbles of an internecine bloodbath of 30 months.
The past year has been fraught. When the judiciary was at work, subverts were at war against it. He stepped into boiling water as president. Howls of protests, especially online, dared to imperil a democracy.
The parties were at one on the view that both fuel subsidies and foreign exchange regimes should perish, but when the president took the plunge, the same opposition looked the other way and said he ought to have done them differently or at another time. So, on the economic front, the situation has been dire in the past 12 months. Inflation has leapt, the naira has tumbled, and the cost of food and transportation has made life more than a little adventurous for the average Nigerian.
But from what the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance have revealed, the damage the country suffered under the previous administrations, especially under his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, was a criminal profligacy and reckless disregard for due process and the sanctity of the life of the nation’s future. Perhaps we faced existential omen of a Venezuela if we sustained our excesses. Charles Soludo, Anambra State governor and former CBN chief described it as “a dead horse standing.”
The CBN went on a mythical spree with a near unsupervised glee. According to the records, the country had squandered N30 trillion in printed money, and billions of dollars in various accounts around the world that Nigeria has to exploit its diplomatic muscle to retrieve. The exact amount is not disclosed. The nation was told that in the United Kingdom alone, five hundred million pounds lies cradled at our expense.
The nation’s indebtedness also included airlines like the Emirates and Nigerians could not only not fly it but were a pariah to the United Arab Emirates.
To ease the problem, the Federal Government ran into a crisis of integrity in an attempt to muster a register to distribute palliatives. Then the minister in charge of humanitarian affairs, Betta Edu, was wrapped up in a corruption scandal that led the president to suspend her. A committee was set up to review the list of the very poor in order to ensure that palliatives did not go to the well-fed rather than the very poor and vulnerable.
So, while the effects of the economic measures have kicked in with fury, the softening balm was held down by bureaucracy. Here, though, the states ought to have supported the government since most of them now receive more than double the boost of their monthly allocations. Some of the states have tried like Lagos, Kaduna, Ekiti, Ogun and Akwa Ibom. But most have been tepid and have allowed the hostile climate to bother the vulnerable among us. This prompted the president to ask the governors to “spend the money, don’t spend the people.” Yet, the tardiness of the Federal Government to sort out the palliative problem is of concern as hunger does not answer to patience.
The foreign exchange problem with the naira’s instability is still a matter of struggle. It fell to almost N2,000 to a dollar before it rebounded to about N1,000, and then back up to a neighbourhood of N1,500. But it seems the Federal Government does not want to spend much to bolster it but relies on cash inflows. All currencies must be subjected to a central bank control so long as such a sacrifice is not so high as to endanger the economy. That seems to be the path the CBN under Yemi Cardoso is taking.
On the fiscal side, the Federal Government has taken quite a few significant measures. One, the unveiling of three gas plants. Two, investment evangelism spearheaded by the president himself. Three, many hectares of agricultural projects and farms, especially in the north. Four, a single window to streamline import and export businesses. Five, making all oil receipts domicile in the CBN.
The question of power may be what his stewardship may be judged by. He has started slow, but the distribution of meters, band calibration and payment of the backlog of debts may be a sign of a repair ahead. We need speed in this regard, especially with many dams across the country for hydro ballast.
Others include cutting foreign trips, merging some ministries to cut costs, etc. We go by the president’s assurance that he has stopped the bleeding.
We have also seen the Federal Government engage in ambitious projects like the Lagos-Calabar expressway, which drew criticisms from opposition leaders. This is one of the most consequential projects on roads the country has ever known. The issue as to whether it underwent due process drew so much din that it has been left to the discerning to understand that the cacophony did not address the wisdom that David Umahi, the works minister, explained over and over again. It is as though they want it to fail more than they want it to be right. Their excuse is that there are other bad roads that need fixing. But the minister has been seen in the news addressing about 40 of the roads and bridges in progress, some of which the president is commissioning in the course of his one-year anniversary. For instance, the minister made headlines when he berated the contractors of the East-West Road. No one can forget the renewal of the Third Mainland Bridge, and work that is ongoing and near completion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. More ambitious designs are in the offing, including Lagos-Sokoto, the trans-Saharan express and Lagos -Abuja superhighway. Societies thrive on big dreams, not hidebound imaginations.
On security, there were instances of great fear like the kidnap of students and sporadic attacks, especially in the north. We acknowledge that the situation remains bad in spite of the fact that his new service chiefs have been more accountable. The recent sweep of Sambisa Forest indicates an armed forces at work. The terrain across the north remains rocky and challenging, and this may savage the work of the security forces. Hence, we enjoin the president to tap into current technologies, especially satellite innovations that could make it less onerous to track and eliminate the threats. There is a wedding between security and prosperity.
The President’s social programmes are the most potent so far, and may be the key to the national revival he is pursuing. These include the credit programme and student loans. They target the poor and grassroots. They have just been set in motion and we hope that their implementation will be thorough. It can liberate the impoverished and instill pride in the lower class that have ambition for self-fulfillment.
The economic programmes cannot yield fruits as quickly as many want. The damage was done in decades, and with the policies gradually settling in, it is hoped that in the next year Nigerians will see the fruits.
This is the first time that a government in Nigeria, since Awolowo, would tackle the economy with ruthless imagination and methodical rigour. It has had its stumbles, like in the reversal of some tax and appointment decisions. The government must not allow overzealous lieutenants to derail good intentions. No government is without its flaws. Its willingness to rethink is a virtue, so long as it does not become frequent.
President Tinubu has also been a target of scurrilous attacks and malicious umbrage. But he has shown the streak of a statesman and risen above taunts, abuses and traduces. He has not allowed himself to be distracted. He has done much for one year in spite of headwinds. We believe that, going forward, some of those distractions will conduce to a healing land.
