By Chris Onyekachi
In a few weeks, the President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will be sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th President. With the country reeling from a gloomy economy, epileptic power, abysmal infrastructure, and unemployment rate projected to hit 37 per cent this year, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), and a near disillusioned citizenry, there’s almost no time for revelry. He has to seize the cudgels to immediately deliver on some low-hanging fruits in order to present what may look like a sop to Cerberus.
In terms of his mechanics of work, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has shared some hints that the Tinubu Presidency will see a closet monitoring of the work of Ministers and other aides as opposed to the outgoing administration. “Unlike President Buhari who puts up a tram and allows them to work and hardly interferes in what we do as ministers, Tinubu is a micro-manager. He will give you a job and stays with you as you execute your tasks,” Fashola, also a former chief of staff to Tinubu, quips.
Given his pedigree as Governor of Lagos State between 1999-2007, where his imprints as a deft manager of men and resources are legendary, Tinubu, who’s expected to rekindle his sagacity and ability to hunt the best talents from across the country into his cabinet, is aware of the challenges and burden of history as he becomes the new tenant in Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. He says his administration will not only lift our dear country Nigeria to a higher pedestal but fight and eliminate corruption.
“My mission is to better Nigeria’s position as a prosperous country for the coming generation since this is crucial to achieving sustainable security.”
At an engagement with the members of the Federation of Construction in Nigeria (FOCIN) in Abuja, he says, “We don’t want to scare away investors of today and tomorrow, but we promise you, we will eliminate corruption. Part of it is that we look at ourselves too. Not just enforcement but to reduce the propensity for corruption.
“What we must look at are our numerous challenges but our destination is a prosperous, better Nigeria, not for me as an individual but for our children and their children. If we fail to invest in the future of those children and we take ours away to a foreign country for better education, neglecting the children of the poor, the result is what we are seeing today in the form of insecurity. They become a threat to your own investment,”
No doubt, Tinubu who clinched victory in the February 25th, 2023 Presidential Election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), will need to do some drastic cuts in the bloated running cost of governance in order to free more funds to take care of education, healthcare, infrastructure, and other critical social welfare areas. In particular, he needs to embark on projects that will not only generate massive jobs for our teeming youths who are leaving the country in droves but also reflate the economy to enhance the people’s purchasing power. Tinubu must resolve to improve on the achievements and successes of the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In spite of mounting flakes against the policies of the Buhari administration, blamed for making Nigeria the poverty capital of the world, his government more than any other in the last 20 years, has committed more money to education, healthcare, and infrastructure. It has built the second Niger Bridge, which has been on the drawing board for more than 40 years, the Loko-Oweto bridge to shorten commuting from the Southeast to Abuja by four hours, and is on the verge of completing the rehabilitation work of the Lagos-Ibadan and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways. The government has also shown more determination to rebuild the railways which long became decrepit. These are laudable projects that will not only facilitate the commuting of passengers but also movements of cargo around the country.
Tinubu should ensure that the rehabilitation of highways like Okeke-Benin, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Lagos-Abeokuta, Enugu-Onitsha, Benin-Warri, Ota-Idiroko, Agbor-Uromi, and many other vital link roads across the country are also prioritized and completed. Although the $2.5 billion 4th Mainland Bridge is being built by the Lagos State Government under a PPP arrangement, the Tinubu administration should also support it given its magnitude via the Sovereign Wealth Fund to reduce the burden of the huge financial outlay involved in the project.
The Tinubu government as a deliberate policy must put more money in the pockets of the average Nigerian who are presently famished and improve their spending capacity that has been undermined by inflation, the low exchange rate of the naira, high cost of fuel, and the geometric increase in the cost of foodstuffs and other social services.
The indices confronting the new government are a bit scary and could instill fright in the not too strong-hearted but not Tinubu who is reputed to surmount this with his Midas touch. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 22.04 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March 2023. This is according to the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for March 2023 released in Abuja on Monday.
The report indicates that the figure is 0.13 per cent points higher compared to the 21.91 per cent recorded in February 2023. It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2023 was 6.13 per cent higher than the rate recorded in March 2022 at 15.92 per cent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in March 2023 when compared to the same period in March 2022.”
The report said the contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are food and non-alcoholic beverages at 11.42 per cent and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel at 3.69 per cent.
One sure way to tackle the despondency arising from the acute cost of living is to create jobs via support for agricultural production and agro-processing industries both for export and local production in many virgin areas. Taking a cue from many Asians who are setting up big farms in different parts of the country, Nigerians must be equally equipped to set up farms focusing on different agricultural products. But we must first create a safe and congenial environment for farming by dealing with the security issues that have driven many away from their farms.
•Onyekachi is a Political Analyst based in Abuja