It has been a particularly eventful week for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the account of the very many events and occurrences happening almost about the same time. More than any other event or occurrence, the #EndBadGovernance protest imposed the heaviest of the weights the President had to handle during the week. Remember the buck stops at his table, including the way every Nigeria feels in his bedroom. For instance, among the people who joined the protest was a young lady who claimed she has been unmarried because of bad governance, at 37 years of age.
To be clear, the President already declared his stance about protests, including this one; he is never opposed to protests, it is a right of citizens, especially in a democracy, to express their feelings and freedom, however it must be a peaceful protest. He has led protests in the part for purposes of good governance, so he has nothing against peaceful, focused protests. The only concern for him is an agenda robed in the garb of a protest, an agenda that does not look like something directed at taking good life back to the people, a political agenda.
Protest is not the problem anywhere in the world, it becomes a problem when it becomes a cover for criminals to make life difficult for law abiding citizens, like the scenario that played out in Kano and some other states on Thursday, the Day One of the protest. The law was broken down and led to killing, looting, destruction of private and public property. He actually warned against a chaotic protest and the part that really gives him concern about it was the harsh impact it would always have on the ordinary, vulnerable people.
“We are not afraid of protests. Our concern is the ordinary people, and the damages that will be done. Till today, I cannot forget the brand new 60 and 100 seater buses, down there in Lagos that were burnt down, and we are now complaining of transportation”, he had warned exactly a week before the protest took off on Thursday. By the time the dusts settled Thursday evening, which was day one, not less than twenty persons had been counted dead from different parts of the country. His fears were confirmed and as President he definitely has been worried at the turn of events, and pained because the very reason for his sleepless nights and risks-taking is what the protest has imposed further. It was meant to primarily be a protest against hunger, but it eventually drove food prices up further, which was what he already warned against.
Gladly though, the disruption did not start early enough to take the whole week over. It started on Thursday, drove people away from their businesses, kept vehicles off the roads, at least till the last work day, being Friday, but before then events had happened, positive enough to calm nerves. Prior to the ‘Days of Rage’, very important events and activities already occurred and have eased some tension and had given assurance to some Nigerians.
For instance, Monday got marked as the day President signed the new national minimum wage bill into law. It was also the day he had to demonstration his care for the Nigerian worker by putting an ongoing Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on hold so he could attend to the leadership of the National Assembly and signed the bill they had passed into law. He has always emphasized the importance of the Labour force, without which cooperation the development of the state would suffer.
Even if it was just for the consideration of the process that led to that day, it would have been enough reason to put the FEC on hold to get it out of the way. The process of arriving at the new national minimum, you will recall, was not just a walk in the park. It was a journey that saw strikes and threats of it, activities that saw the nation, its economy and people strained and stressed. So when it eventually got to the point of playing the final role, which was signing the bill into law, putting the FEC on hold for a few minutes was nothing compared to the overall gain.
Though he would not say anything more than appreciating the National Assembly, which collaborated with him to ensure that the workforce is given something reasonably batter than the previous one, he ensured the day was achieved. After the ‘thank you’ to the lawmakers, he invited some of the members of the cabinet who have had one role or the other to play in achieving the day to speak. “All I can say is thank you very much for the expeditious act”, were his words at the ceremony.
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who led the National Assembly leadership to the Council Chambers for the brief ceremony, explained what the new law meant for the economy and how it expands beyond just a law that sees to people getting paid for their labour.
“The national minimum wage amendment is for the whole nation; for the federal government, for the state’s, for the local governments, for the private sector and even for individual employers. So I think this is a great day for the workers in the country. We are not only doubling the minimum wage, we have added something on top. Initially it was N30,000, now it is N70,000. Like I said, this is minimum, this is not maximum. Any employer that has the capacity can pay as much as you want, but no Nigerian worker will offer services and be paid anything less than N70,000 from today. That is the implication of this Act.
“It applies all over the nation and we are excited that this is happening at a time like this, through President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a man who cares for the Nigerian workers and you see what we are doing in the National Assembly, when it came the entirety of the National Assembly moved and passed the bill in one day out of excitement, we felt that this was not something we could delay. So I think the workers are happy”, he said.
Same Monday President Tinubu directed a new crude oil sale model to local refineries, including the expansive Dangote Refineries. This new system mandates the national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to begin the sale crude oil to Dangote and others, with the new deal transacted in the local currency, the Naira. Of course, the new deal is not without a targeted benefit for the local economy and the local investor. Note that the directive was meant to be operational with immediate effect.
It was the duty of the nation’s number one tax chief, Zacch Adedeji, who holds the offices of Special Adviser to the President on Revenue and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). He joined other senior government officials to address journalists at the State House, Abuja, breaking the news of the presidential directive.
“Today, at the Federal Executive Council, there was a memo by Mr. President, which is to promote the sale of crude oil within local refineries and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to deal in our local currency. The attitude of Mr. President is thinking outside the box to solve Nigeria’s problem and actually to localised the solutions to Nigeria’s problem.
“He has approved through the Council that effective immediately, that NNPC get engaged with local refineries and we are starting that with Dangote Refinery. That the sales of crude oil to Dangote Refinery be denominated in Naria and also the sales of byproducts from Dangote Refinery to distributors also be conducted in naira. What does it mean to our economy? One, the pressure on foreign exchange will be reduced.
“With this approval today through FEC, led by Mr. President, this has reduced by minimum of 90% because what we have today, will mean transaction is now done in our local currency, not only with Dangote Refinery, but to all local refineries for all our local consumptions and this will actually stabilise the pump price.
“This will also make economic predictability a reality because we will no longer rely on the fluctuations that happen in FOREX. This is an innovation to solving our problems as a country today. Just to be specific, I’ll just read parts of the benefits. Number one, which is major, is the reduction in foreign exchange pressure, as the existing process that we have today utilises $660 million per month, totally $7.92 billion annually.
“With the new approval that we have, this will reduce to maximum of $50 million per month which is annnualised to be only $600 million. This is total reduction of 94% and saving us $7.32 billion. This will also reduce finance costs, which today stands at $79 million, when you consider opening letter of credit between those local refineries and what happens”, Adedeji disclosed to journalists.
This policy step, according to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, who tries constantly to give expert views to the policies of the administration, said the new window for local economic interaction between NNPCL and local refinery will make boost the energy sector, as well as make the realization of industrialization easy.
It was still within the that he received the representatives of the banking sector, including the Chairman of the United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu; and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) who approached him for clarifications on the newly impose Windfall Levy.
The new week will come with its own excitement, but we need to stay on the #EndBadGovernance in the this week, let us see how it pans out.
