₦airaland Forum

afrodoc:
That inflation rate statistic shows that Buhari was slightly worse in that regard sha.

liveLongNprospa:
How can buhari have a better scorecard than you?

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.

Beyond regular meetings with the security chiefs, Tinubu seems to have no strategy for taming the violence. His lack of a plan is seen in the rampage by bandits, Islamic terrorists, Fulani herdsmen attacks on farmers, and abductions across the country. Like Buhari, Tinubu ensconces himself in the Aso Rock fortress without identifying with the victims of violence by visiting the scene of the crime. He should show more empathy.


Undoubtedly, state capture has not receded in the past year. It is business as usual for the degenerate political class. Take the National Assembly. To undertake constituency projects – a cesspool of sleaze – ranking senators directly received between N200 million and N500 million in their accounts. This is wasteful, a brazen extortion of the commonwealth. Strangely, Tinubu applauded the lawmakers, saying “your integrity is intact!” It is not; it is state capture.

Nigeria still suffers from massive electricity shortages under Tinubu. The only good aspect is installed capacity, which hit 14,000 megawatts in 2023. It has not affected supply: the sole national grid often collapses if fed more than 4,000MW.

True, Tinubu inherited a hollow economy with a debt stock of N87 trillion (centre alone). The infrastructure is shabby, needing $150 billion annually over 30 years to bridge, per the World Bank. Social services, particularly education and health, are in a shambles.

Undeniably, it is not all bad news. Apart from speedily delivering the rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge, and the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos, the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway at N15 trillion over seven years is ambitious. Abandoned since conception in 1978, the Tinubu administration is commencing work on the 1,000km Badagry-Sokoto Highway. This is in addition to the 330 federal roads and bridges the President virtually commissioned on Sunday. Combined, these projects are expected to begin an era of infrastructural renewal. Tinubu should ensure that none of them is abandoned.

Regularly, the military scores big against Islamic terrorists in the North-East. This has limited the reach of the insurgents.

The economy is suffering partly because of the importation of petroleum products. This reportedly gulps between 30 and 40 per cent of forex, putting enormous pressure on the naira. With the Dangote Refinery set to commence the production of petrol, the economy is set for a boost. The positive effect of the Dangote Refinery is already being felt in the cost of diesel.

As he embarks on the second year of his four-year term, Tinubu should govern with more compassion. He should cut back on his travels and be there for Nigerians during celebrations and mourning.

The President’s private sector background should quicken the pace of economic growth to reclaim its pride of place on the continent.


Surprisingly, he has not embarked on privatisation. Tinubu should privatise the 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.

Theflint1:
Fashola don already use Lagos own, after 4 or 8 years of Tinubu tenure another master plan go don dey for Nigeria...nothing concern Tinubu with governance.

raumdeuter:
Favorite President - Too early to say but Looking like Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Favorite governor - Undisputed Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Worst Governor - Adebayo Alao Akala

Theflint1:
You'd think the person he's rubbishing Fashola for isn't failing as president...maybe he's still fighting FG

raumdeuter:
If Fashola was good enough to be best governor in the whole of Nigeria for the past 25yrs, How come ministry of Power he wasnt good enough?

You were already giving excuses for Fashola in Power the position where he didnt have Tinubu clear road for him

Both are good, But Tinubu was the best governor in the past 25yrs

raumdeuter:
Non of these 2 people are card carrying APC emembers



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqjLDuNQhE0

raumdeuter:
All these low impact ministry like interior. He for try works, Finance, Power or ministry wey public focus go always dey ontop, That performance metric is delivering passports in a few weeks and announcing public holidays abi

90% of Nigerians will never interface with the works of Tunji Ojo as they dont have nor need passports, unlike in Power, Works or finance ministry
What else, Look calendar and declare October 1 as Public holiday? If its not by force to have 36ministers should we have a minister dedicated to telling us that Dec 25 is Christmas?

What makes Tunji Ojo a fit for interior ministry, did he study Interior design in school?

Fashola you claimed excel in Lagos state, was it in ministry of Justice?
What made Fashola successful in a whole state like Lagos but not in ministry of Power? Probably no Tinubu template

izzou:
[color=royalblue]"I pave way for you"




Tinubu na John the Baptist[/color]

raumdeuter:
Why should he avoid it?

His power ministry maybe it would have been different if he had a Tinubu who lay down the blueprint and was collecting the political bullets while he can focus on his work as administrator

raumdeuter:
What Tinubu did was more than what Fashola did

Fashola did not fight any FG unlike what Tinubu did. It was the grund work of Tinubu that made Fasholas regime relatively smooth
All the with held funds that was starved Tinubus administration, was released later to benefit mostly Fasholas administration

How will Fashola have fared if he had to go through the rigours

Its like an immigrant child who was riding bus and grew up in an apartment claiming he did better than his parents who had to trek through Sahara desert and sleep in refugee camp for years before finding their feet

raumdeuter:
Fashola cannot aspire to be president for the next 16yrs at least. The best he can be will be VP

raumdeuter:
I lived in Lagos during the regime of Tinubu and Fashola and I agree that Tinubu was the father of modern Lagos. It was the template he laid that Fashola and others after him followed

Amigoss:
Is this Fashola project in existence today?

https://www.nairaland.com/1194409/fashola-sets-october-date-10.4mw

izzou:
[color=royalblue]Dem say na Tinubu masterplan everybody dey use.

I no dey their WhatsApp group sha, but i really cannot remember any sector that the guy did not touch.[/color]

Amigoss:
Lmao,sendforth package ...Donald Duke dreamt/built a tourism economy in Cross River State so the state will not be solely dependent on FAAC,Calabar carnival inclusive... Not his fault if successive govt don't buy into the dream and ran it into the ground...

izzou:
[color=royalblue]Fashola has to be the best governor Nigeria ever produced.

This one they have ascribed every single progress in Lagos to Tinubu, I wonder what Fashola would brag about when he runs for presidency someday.

Especially roads, omoh, the man try[/color]

Amigoss:
😂😂

Fashola was said to have spent N78.3 million ($390,000) on the upgrade of his official website, N139 million ($700,000) on the drilling of two boreholes at the government secretariat and to have awarded a N640 million ($3.2 million) contract to German engineering firm Julius Berger for the reconstruction of a car park and other associated works at the Lagos House Marina, his official residence.

A white elephant project refers to an investment or project that has required a high expenditure but fails to deliver returns or serves no useful purpose

Unlimited22:
My uncles told me people were reverse-japaing when Obj was in power, especially those who escaped under Buhari (they showed me the Andrew checking out commercial), IBB and Abacha.

Amigoss:
Favourite Better

Yar adua
Donald Duke

Worst

Buhari....Tinubu might beat it at this rate in less than 2years

Lucky igbinedion

PDPGuy:
OBJ is my favorite too, because under his administration, Naija’s economy grew the fastest, when compared to his successors.

afrodoc2:
I agree on Fashola. His draconian attitude towards opposition and disagreement forced me to japa.
I will always be eternally grateful to him. Best governor ever liveth.

PDPGuy:
Tomorrow, Nigeria’s 4th Republic will clock 25 years; and Tinubu’s government will be one year old..

So, who has been your favorite 4th republic president and governor?

A40:
That is how they will suspend their 419 Coastal road as well

Ijoba onijibiti

Spy360:
This Liman is the same Kano high court judge?

Well, the oga kpatakpata of the judicial thieves is the CJN. And Tinubu is his benefactor. Chop bribe, pass judgement, clean mouth. Our judiciary is gone.

afrodoc2:
By mentioning proving you already answered my question.

So it has to be proven to be true? I thought we were just here to score lyrical dexterity and entertainment value.

If we will be needing proof let me not waste my time. I need to go and watch Terrahawks.

afrodoc2:
What is the scoring system for this bout?

Are we allowed to score points for claims that are funny and entertaining even though they are false?

OkpaNsukkaisBae:
Easy with the lies