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Tinubu’s First Anniversary: Era Of Pain – Punch Editorial
A year into President Bola Tinubu’s tenure, the infectious optimism of liberty, economic progress, security, and well-being heralding his inauguration on May 29, 2023, has turned to dying embers. In the President’s first year, all Nigerians see is hopelessness, misery, privations, and pain. The despair is evident in the numbers: the cost-of-living crises, hyperinflation, joblessness, and naira depreciation.
Amidst the supercilious backslapping in government circles, poverty, and bloodshed are intensifying. Tinubu should retrace his steps in the remaining years of his tenure to bequeath a redoubtable legacy to the country.
Under Tinubu, Nigeria is a harsh contrast to Abraham Lincoln’s “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Instead, only a tiny band of politicians, their families, and sycophants are laughing all the way to the bank. From his “subsidy is gone” pronouncement on Inauguration Day, which cancelled petrol subsidies, chronic hardship has defined his tenure.
From N187 per litre pre-Tinubu, petrol now sells between N568/l and N800/l. Without well-implemented safety nets, most citizens have found it difficult to cope with the astronomical rise in transportation and food costs. This has heightened poverty. It stood at 46 per cent in 2023 or 104 million citizens, per the World Bank.
Two other policies have combined to bankrupt citizens. The first is the merger of the naira rates through floatation. The second is the cancellation of subsidies for Band A electricity consumers in April.
Consequently, the naira has depreciated significantly. It exchanged at N464 per $1 in May 2023, plunged to N1,900/$1 early in 2024 before trading at around N1,400/$1 currently despite a raft of artificial policies to shore up its value. By February, it had lost 68 per cent of its value.
The impact goes beyond Nigeria. Formerly reckoned as Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria has ceded the top three continental slots to South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria respectively. It is now fourth in Africa with a GDP of $252.73 billion on the back of currency depreciation.
From N68 per kilowatt-hour, the tariff for the Band A segment climbed to N225/kWh before dropping to N206.80/kWh in May.
On the monetary policy side, the Central Bank of Nigeria has moved the benchmark interest rate from 18.50 per cent in May 2023 to 26.25 per cent, after three consecutive hikes in 2024.
All this has jerked up prices, though the Tinubu government is yet to implement a wage review. He met the national minimum wage of N30,000 per month. Businesses are complaining about the increased costs of borrowing funds.
In April, inflation spiked to a 28-year high of 33.69 per cent. Food inflation worsened to 40.63 per cent. Imports are priced steeply because of the depreciation of the naira. This is devastating to everyday living. Medicines are out of reach of citizens.
Tinubu, who has fulfilled his lifelong ambition to govern Nigeria, assumed office during the economic downturn. But there was hope initially of a revival after a largely successful eight-year tenure in Lagos State (1999-2007). In truth, that optimism is blowing in the wind.
Under him, governance is not much different from the preceding era of locusts supervised by the clueless Muhammadu Buhari (2015-2023). Abductions and killings are an epidemic. This is reminiscent of the Biafra Civil War (1967-1970).
While 63,111 died in violence on Buhari’s watch, 6,931 were killed in Tinubu’s first 10 months. Beacon Security and Intelligence counted 2,583 killings in the first quarter under Tinubu. SBM Intelligence reported 4,777 abductions when Tinubu assumed office to early May 2023. The worst-hit states are Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, Kogi, Katsina and Borno.
refineries, the airports, seaports, the Ajaokuta Steel Company, and the railways. This will save the government on running costs and boost foreign direct investment.
The President should redirect focus on security. Without this, farming and business will continue to depress. There is a growing trend of brutality among the security agencies. They are abducting journalists with impunity. This is against the rule of law. Nigeria is no longer under a military regime so Tinubu should rein in their excesses.
His cabinet is bloated. He should have a compact team of performers to reduce the cost of governance.
Tinubu is toeing the path of his predecessors on restructuring. This is ludicrous. It is wishful thinking to believe that Nigeria will make progress without restructuring. The President should make restructuring a priority. It will unleash Nigeria’s productive capacity, rebuild trust in governance, improve security, and de-escalate inter-ethnic tensions.
Punch
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Jubilation as Senator Manu links Gunduma to national grid, commissions, power project (Photos/Video)
…provides another transformer for Emir’s Palace and environs
Finally, after 15years of blackout, Senator Manu Haruna of Taraba Central Senatorial District has officially commissioned the Gunduma Ward Electricity Power Project.
Senator Manu during the electioneering period had promised to link Gunduma to the national grid.
It’s indeed a promise well fulfilled as his constituents Jubilate.
This marks a historic moment for the community, which has been without electricity for the past 15 years. This transformative initiative underscores Senator Manu’s commitment to addressing critical infrastructure challenges and improving the lives of his constituents.
During the commissioning ceremony, former Federal Lawmaker of Taraba Central, Senator Dahiru Bako, commended Senator Manu for his dedication and vision in delivering this essential project.
Hon. Musa Chul Member House of Assembly Gassol II,Constituency TRHA described the achievement as a monumental milestone, emphasizing its potential to significantly enhance economic activities and improve the standard of living for the residents of Gunduma Ward.
The Gunduma Ward Electricity Power Project represents a significant step towards infrastructural development in Taraba Central and reflects Senator Manu’s proactive approach to governance and service delivery.
Manu also presented a new Transformer with specifications of 300KVA Valtage CL: 35KV and standard TS:EN60076-1 to the His Royal Highness Alhaji Justice Sani Sulaiman Duna the Emir of Mutum-Biyu for the Mutum-Biyu Environs.
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The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, says claims by the military leader of Niger Republic, Abdourahamane Tchiani that Nigeria is colluding with France to destabilise his county are despicable propaganda.
He declared that the claims were aimed at inciting Northern Nigeria against President Bola Tinubu.
Bwala said the military leader deliberately chose a local language in the North.
The media recalls that Abdourahamane Tchiani, military leader of Niger Republic, made the claims in an interview on Wednesday.
Tchiani, who spoke in Hausa, alleged that France is negotiating with terrorists in Nigeria to destabilise his country.
According to him, France made a substantial payment to President Bola Tinubu to establish a military base in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, shortly afterwards, dismissed the allegations and described them as baseless.
Reacting to the allegations in a video posted on his X page on Friday, Bwala said the claims are baseless propaganda, designed to create chaos and incite bad blood in northern Nigeria against Tinubu.
“Yesterday I came across a video, a despicable propaganda piece by the military head of state of the Niger Republic against the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and this is what you often see with military interregnum,” he said.
“The honeymoon is over; he has not been able to address economic situations in his country; everything is turning against him, and in the desperate gasp for breath, he decided to resort to cheap false lies and propaganda against Nigeria.
“The choice of words used by the military leader is quite insultive for what his intentions are; probably in cohoot with politicians in Nigerians; you never know.
“But the whole idea is to create chaos and bad blood in Northern Nigeria against the President,” he added.
Bwala explained Nigeria’s longstanding leadership role in West Africa and its commitment to fostering bilateral relations with neighbouring countries.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has said it is not investigating the claim by online personality, Vincent Martins Otse aka VeryDarkMan’s that N180 million meant for his non-governmental organisation, NGO, has gone missing.
Vanguard reported, Friday, that VDM had alleged that over N180 million was stolen from his NGO’s account after it was hacked.
In October, Otse launched the Martins Vincent Osei Initiative, raising over N35 million in donations within hours. Shortly after, he announced receiving a N100 million contribution from music producer Michael Collins Ajereh, popularly known as Don Jazzy.
Otse further explained that he had to shut down the NGO’s app for maintenance to prevent further breaches and promised to provide updates on the situation.
VDM has in the video claimed that he had reported the matter to the police and he was also travelling to Jos because one of the hackers had been found.
According to reports, the FCT Police Command spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, clarified that the command was not involved in the matter.
She said, “The FCT Police Command has no information regarding any missing funds involving VDM, nor is there any ongoing investigation into the matter. The individual concerned should be contacted directly for details on where the case was reported, as we have no record of such a case with our command.”
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