- By, Comrade Daniel Donald Onjeh
From the irrefutable feelers put out on the streets of Nigeria, the first 32 days of the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Presidency have been a huge positive disappointment to many cynics. The energy, decisiveness, precision and courage of President Tinubu’s administration have left many of his ardent critics confounded and perhaps humiliated, though they may not admit it publicly yet due to the steep manner in which passions were strained in the course of the 2023 presidential campaigns.
However, more and more Nigerians are now building confidence in the Tinubu Administration, including those that earlier obliviously swallowed lock, stock and barrel, the propaganda and fake news peddled against President Tinubu by the opposition parties and his detractors in the build-up to the last general elections. In fact, someone recently quipped that President Tinubu actually hit the ground speeding rather than running and I cannot agree less.
Hitherto, Nigeria had slid on all socioeconomic and political indices to the point where it required only a visionary, experienced, resolute and selfless President to rouse a radical positive rebirth aimed at rebuilding the foundation of a new, prosperous Nigeria, reminiscent of the feat achieved by Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. And from every indication, President Tinubu is the first Nigerian President that was truly prepared for the herculean task of political leadership at the country’s pinnacle of power. Therefore, if any political leader is poised to replicate the Lee Kuan Yew magic right here in Nigeria, it is certainly President Tinubu.
Little wonder, in his legendary inaugural speech as our 16th President and Commander-in-Chief, Asiwaju Tinubu spared no time in giving clear indications of his administration’s policy thrusts, including the total removal of the humongous scam tagged fuel subsidy. By the mere declaration of fuel subsidy removal, President Tinubu quashed the ignoble cartel that had been feeding fat on the fuel subsidy regime to the detriment of the teeming populace.
In a recent interview with Channels Television, former Governor of Bauchi State, Mallam Isa Yuguda, while backing President Tinubu’s policy on fuel subsidy, stated that previous administrations lacked the political will to implement its removal, adding that a friend of his in the oil industry had once called a former President aside during an economic think tank meeting, and pleaded with him to stop fuel subsidy, as they were tired of making money.
While the debate on fuel subsidy raged on for decades, several reputable economic and financial experts repeatedly advised that the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) would impact the nation’s cash flow positively in the long run. Although subsidy had been removed on Diesel and Kerosene by previous administrations, every prior effort to deregulate Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) had been met with stiff resistance by some segments of the populace, before President Tinubu decisively took the bull by the horns.
Consequently, the media recently widely reported statements credited to the President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPMAN), Mr. Chinedu Okonkwo, that by the removal of fuel subsidy, the Tinubu Administration had saved the country N400 billion within just one month! Of course, in one of its most recent policy briefs, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) revealed that Nigeria had spent over N13tn ($74bn) on fuel subsidy from 2005 to 2021 alone. That sum of money could have completely turned around our crucial economic sectors such as health, education, agriculture, critical infrastructure etc.
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Indeed, Nigerians will be temporarily constrained by the policy of fuel subsidy removal due to the high consumption of fuel by Nigerians, but deregulation will encourage healthy market competition and improved efficiency of the petroleum sector. The full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector will eventually shift the pricing governance of fuel to the market forces of Demand and Supply; and in any market-driven economy, the customer is always king. In the long run, it will result in reduced product prices across the country.
We should not forget in a hurry, how we started with the GSM just barely 20 years ago. A SIM Card sold for as high as N23,000 in 2003. But today, practically anyone who truly desires to own a mobile phone and a SIM Card can afford them. As a trained Economist, I am convinced beyond doubt that with the enabling business environment that President Tinubu’s Administration will engender in Nigeria, the costs of petroleum products will surely plummet over time to the point where the poorest of the poor in our society can afford them.
And while the bold move to end fuel subsidy was still dominating national discourse, President Tinubu expeditiously signed the Students’ Loan Bill into law. The Bill is a masterstroke that is poised to make tertiary education affordable to the low-income earners in the society and ameliorate the sufferings of indigent students, hence drastically reducing the dropout rate in higher institutions. The law will equally enable indigent students to focus on their studies, rather than taking time off in search of menial jobs to pay for their tuitions and upkeep.
Another strategic area which the Tinubu presidency has dumbfounded cynics is in his appointments thus far of round pegs in round holes. Indeed, one of the qualities of a good leader is the ability to assemble the right team to carryout tasks for the common good, and Asiwaju Tinubu has a track record of that. Mr. President’s appointments critically factor-in core competence, uncommon reward system of tried and trusted political associates and longstanding devoted party members, geographical spread and every other factor worthy of consideration.
In analyzing President Tinubu’s appointments thus far, for the sake of space, I will focus only on the earlier appointments of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Chief of Staff to the President (CoS) and the National Security Adviser (NSA).
An undisputed veteran in the Nigerian political landscape, our new SGF, Sen. Dr. George Akume, is a consummate technocrat and politician rolled in one. A retired Federal Permanent Secretary, former two-term Governor of Benue State, former three-term Senator of the Federal Republic, former Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Special Duties and currently the Leader of the APC in Benue State, Sen. Akume is a quintessential gentleman who is endowed with rare patience, tolerance and a keen eye for details. As the engine room of the federal government, the Office of the SGF is properly constituted and positioned to lubricate the machinery of the Tinubu Administration.
President Tinubu’s relationship with Sen. Akume probably dates back to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum from 1999 to 2007; and later the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which along with other parties, merged to form the APC in 2014. Mr. President’s appointment of Sen. Akume as SGF was a huge reassurance to many APC chieftains and members that Mr. President and by extension the current political order, truly recognizes and rewards old friendships and party loyalists. Indeed, any politician that climbs up to the pinnacle of power and forgets his family, old friends and associates has every tendency to equally forget the electorate and teeming masses that supported his ascension to power.
Meanwhile, even the worst skeptics will testify that the Chief of Staff in the Tinubu Presidency, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, is a man of profound erudition, political sagacity and dexterity. Aside from his unmistakable loyalty to, and age-long relationship with President Tinubu, he is the perfect gatekeeper at the State House. Rt. Hon. Gbajabiamila is adroit at managing and regulating political relationships in manners most beneficial to his principal.
Having served as the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives and earned the respect and admiration of the majority of his former colleagues at the National Assembly, many of whom are back to the federal parliament, the Chief of Staff is eminently capable of cementing the relationship between the Presidency and the National Assembly, because the current administration will certainly need the full cooperation of the National Assembly in order to actualize its lofty policies and programmes.
As regards the appointment of our new National Security Adviser, the cerebral Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, President Tinubu knows very well that utmost sincerity, patriotism and firmness on the part of the managers of the country’s security architecture are fundamental to fixing the myriad security challenges bedevilling the country. That’s why while some opinion blocs argued that a retired military officer would be appointed as the National Security Adviser, Mr. President opted for Ribadu, a retired police officer.
Furthermore, the former anti-corruption icon and pioneer Chairman of the EFCC is a long-time loyal friend and trusted political associate of President Tinubu. The level of trust that they both share is very crucial to avoid any acts of political sabotage on the Federal Government.
In terms of the excruciating but practical foreign exchange rates convergence, a feat achieved by the Tinubu Presidency within its first two weeks in office, the differential between the bank and parallel rates has edged towards zero for the first time since 2015, when both markets exchanged at about N195 to a dollar. This has greatly eased tensions at the parallel market across major cities of Nigeria, as the dollar now exchanges for about N750 across board, hence significantly easing the demand for the dollar. The idea is for the interplay of Demand and Supply forces to peg the equilibrium exchange rate. Recall that sometime last year, when the interbank rate was about N450/$, the exchange rate went as high as about N900/$ at the parallel market.
From the foregoing, it is very clearly that President Tinubu prepared adequately for the Presidency. Of course, no previous Nigerian President had stood in the frontline of the vanguard for democracy like Asiwaju Tinubu. Mr. President had paid his dues for the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria as a kingpin of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), therefore he has envisaged an ideal Nigeria and we can forecast with confidence that he will surpass the records of all his predecessors.
While the coming days will reveal more of what President Tinubu has in stock for Nigeria, I wish to conclude by appealing to all Nigerians, especially the teeming masses who have been the worst victims of successive leadership foibles, to give President Tinubu all the necessary support he needs to succeed in office. We are now blessed to have the right person we’ve been looking for at the rudder of our national affairs, to pilot us safely on the turbulent journey of nation building. Nigeria must get it right this time around, once and for all.
Onjeh, the APC 2023 senatorial candidate for Benue South and former Chairman, Governing Board of PRODA, Enugu, writes in from Abuja.