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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
The Presidency and the ruling All Progressives Congress have dismissed the prospect of any opposition coalition unseating President Bola Tinubu in 2027, describing recent moves by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and ex-Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as futile and politically opportunistic.
Their reactions followed the high-profile visit by Atiku and El-Rufai—accompanied by former governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), and Achike Udenwa (Imo)—to former President Muhammadu Buhari at his Kaduna residence last week.
Although Atiku maintained the visit was merely a post-Sallah courtesy call, political observers and members of the ruling party believe it was part of broader opposition coalition talks aimed at weakening Tinubu’s political base.
“There is a plan for the major political parties to come together and form a strong opposition. But it is not part of our visit,” Atiku told reporters.
In recent weeks, concerns have risen within the APC over speculated coalition efforts and the potential exit of the Congress for Progressive Change bloc from the party, following defections to the Social Democratic Party.
But the APC’s National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, waved off the speculations in a phone interview with The PUNCH, questioning the credibility of the so-called CPC defection narrative.
“It is not true. Which CPC bloc did you people say is leaving? Was El-Rufai or Atiku a CPC member? Is our Vice National Chairman (North-West), Garba Datti Mohammed, and even former Governor Al-Makura not in the CPC? Have you heard any of them saying he is leaving?” Bashiru queried. “I don’t know why the media keeps giving these sorts of people unnecessary attention.”
Also reacting, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, criticised the coalition talks, dismissing them as a desperate power grab by political misfits with no shared ideology.
“This coalition is an association to grab power,” Bwala said. “That’s why you will hear Peter Obi say they are only there to grab power. Tomorrow, he will say he is considering joining. As for my senior brother, El-Rufai, I like what he is doing. He is using them to play ping pong.”
Bwala added that internal resistance within the Peoples Democratic Party had already disrupted El-Rufai’s attempts to lure the opposition into the SDP.
“When El-Rufai came, he thought he would move all of them to SDP. But His Excellency (Sule Lamido) screamed, ‘Hold it there!’ He reminded them that it was the PDP that made El-Rufai minister twice and gave him political relevance. Now, he wants to drag them out? We’re not going anywhere,” Bwala recounted.
The Presidency insists that despite the rising political noise, President Tinubu remained focused on governance and would not be distracted by alliances it described as unstable and self-serving.
Credit: PUNCH
An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has dismissed a suit contesting the nomination and installation of the Olugbon of Orile Igbon, Oba Francis Alao.
In his ruling on Monday, Justice K.A. Adedokun nullified the case for lack of jurisdiction.
Four members of the Akingbola family who instituted the suit contested the selection, appointment, and approval of Oba Alao as the Olugbon.
Justice Adedokun held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter, saying that the claimants had no locus standi to file the suit.
He ruled that the case was defective as it failed to include Surulere Local Government, the authority legally empowered to initiate the selection process and approve the traditional ruler’s appointment.
Oba Alao, whose installation as Olugbon was ratified by the Oyo State government and traditional institutions, is the current vice chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned a Chinese, Liu Beixiang, over alleged false information to an officer of the agency.
Liu was arraigned yesterday before Justice Ayokule Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The charge reads: “That you, Liu Beixiang (a.k.a Lao Liu), sometime in December 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did give information, which you knew to be false, to an officer of the Federal Government of Nigeria in the discharge of his duties and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 16 (1) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.”
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the offence when the charge was read to him. In view of his plea, the prosecution counsel, Babatunde Sonoiki, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed that the defendant be remanded in a correctional facility.
But in his response, the defence counsel, F.A. Dalmeda, informed the court of an application submitted to the EFCC seeking a plea bargain.
“We filed an application for a plea bargain, and we also filed a motion for bail, which the EFCC responded to this morning.
“We need a date for us to report on the plea bargain.
Consequently, Justice Faji adjourned the matter till June 23, 2025, for a report on the plea bargain and remanded the defendant in a correctional centre.
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