Tinubu’s one year reign as President, by Kola Amzat
Steadily and surefootedly, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu moves, to complete one year in office. The symbolic day constitutionally scheduled for this event remains May 29, 2024.
Instructively, the president’s one year in office looks like 10 years and, even, more.
There are many factors that surround this.
Asiwaju Tinubu has for long been operating as ‘president’ before he eventually assumed power & authority as Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The doubters of this submission should make spirited attempts to interface and interact with all who matters in the nation political sphere, even including Alhaji Atiku Anubakar and Peter Obi; they would tell the story better.
Of course, the iconic 15 Burdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos for decades, especially since the turn of 4th Republic in 1999 has been a ‘political power house’ where Nigerian successive presidents, as well as those who have been occupying exalted offices of national assembly leadership, and several governors irrespective of party affiliations, were been identified and chosen.
So, the illustrious and mercurial ex-Lagos state governor has long been divinely empowered with a mysterious aura, clout, influence, power and authority, ever before he ascended the presidency. Indeed, for him, the office of the president is just an icing on the cake.
And, therefore, with that political majesty and royalty, he got inaugurated as Nigeria president after the most tempestuous, acrimonious, ill-tempered and rancorous election presidential election that has ever been conducted in the annals of this nation, to begin what is turning out to be an eventful and busiest reign in the country political history.
Unlike in the previous regimes where weeks of ceremony used to follow the inauguration of president, Tinubu didn’t only surprise Nigerians by returning to work in Aso Villa immediately after he was inaugurated, he gave the citizenry so much to think about with his pronouncement of outright removal of petroleum products subsidy, as well as new regime of floating of exchange rate of nation currency, subjecting the naira to market forces; the two issues that have long remained very sensitive and major determinants of direction of the nation economy.
The pronouncement at the inauguration came as thunderbolt rocking all the stakeholders-Nigerian people, business and political leaders, employers of labour, oil marketers, local & foreign investors.
These are two major contentious issues that have been decades a no-go area for the successive administrations, even, with the military regimes with their might.
For a new president with zero tolerance for frivolities, indolence and idleness in governance, series of events and policy announcements began to roll in torrents.
The president immediately mandated the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries, with a total rehabilitated sum of $1.58 and $1.45 billion respectively paid, as well as ordered timelines for their completion.
The immediate privatization and commercialization of NNPC was announced, with a new name NNPCL coming into being, with new Board of Directors.
Other subsidiaries were also created from the hitherto behemoth Federal government Agency to take charge of gas resources and other petroleum related activities.
Meanwhile, in a bid to stabilize the economy and refocus the monetary system, as well as giving Nigerians a fresh breath of air, the Godwin Emefiele led Central Bank of Nigeria was swept away out of office in one fell swoop.
This development didn’t came to the citizenry as surprise as Emefiele had in the twilight of Buhari administration constituted himself as a tin god, terrorizing the entire nation, even including the president, with his barbaric and very draconian currency redesign policy.
It’s therefore a case of good riddance.
In his bid to ensure the smooth running of government, and having in his consciousness that the executive indeed need legislative and judiciary arms of government to optimally function, the president ensured a smooth and seamless emergence of national assembly leadership, with members collaboratively and willingly elected accomplished, tested and trusted members amongst themselves to occupy those offices.
The ex-Lagos state governor also ensure that the judiciary is properly funded and empowered with timely resources to enable this important arm of government to contribute meaningfully to governance, with respect to speedy administration of justice.
The president announced the constitution of a Tax review committee and saddled them with responsibility of reviewing the overall tax administration and management of tax revenues in all its ramifications.
Thereafter, a new helmsman in the person of Zaach Adedeji, an accomplished accounting professional, was appointed as Executive Chairman, FIRS, with a new mandate to reposition and reengineer the Agency, with a view to significantly increasing tax revenues for the government activities.
In a commanding and most unexpected move that jolted the ranks of military authority, the president announced the appointment of the new service chiefs, an exercise that significantly in tandem with federal character.
In the same vein, he surprised the nation through the appointment of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a retired Assistant General of Police as National Security Adviser (NSA).
More importantly, the president made a pronouncement that the era of service chiefs and their teams working at cross-purposes at the expense of nation was over and sternly instructed that, the new team and National Security Adviser must work in collaboration and unity of purpose, with a view to drawing the curtains on the barbaric activities of the insurgents, kidnappers, religious sects, marauders and all other criminals that were holding the nation by the jugular.
After obtaining approval from the national assembly, the president announced the commencement of Student Loan, a financing exercise that gives needy Nigerian students in Tertiary Institutions access to funding for their education.
The sweeteners here is that the Loan is free of Interest rate.
The president also gave effect to the commencement of new Electricity Act, an Act of the federal government that enables the private investors, state government and even, private individuals to obtain license, with a view to participating in electricity supply, distribution and generation.
The Act stripped Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) of its monopolistic power of overall management & administration of electricity.
Ogoni land environmental cleaning that had lingered for decades before the assumption of president to the office received presidential approval for cleansing and cleaning, with a timeline for completion promptly given.
In a view to drawing the curtains on the illegal bunkering in the deep shore of Niger Delta and to stabilize the Nigerian OPEC approved oil production quota of 1.8 million/day, the president mandated Tantita Security outfit to return to deep shore with a view to ensuring zero tolerance for illegal bunkering.
A whopping contract fees of ₦4 billion/month was approved for this project and its clear, this initiative remains one of the wisest decision of the Commander in Chief, as there appears some level of decorum and orderliness at the deep shore.
The Oronsaye report meant to reposition, restructure and refocus the nation civil service and give her a measure of contemporariness and modernity, that had almost been consigned to dust bin of history by the successive administrations suddenly came alive with the president directive that, he was prepared to implement it to the letter.
The president has since constituted a committee to see off the report.
Since he assumed office, Asiwaju Tinubu has made spirited efforts to maintain and even, strengthen the unity of the nation, giving every Nigerian from the six Geo-Political zone across the country, sense of belonging, irrespective of creed, religion, sex, religious bias, political affiliations.
This writer and quite a number of Nigerians are of the view that the president has significantly improve the fortunes of the Igbos in governance, with juicy appointments in the Federal Executive Council, as well as ceding to them helmsman/woman of key federal government Agencies.
In a long while, an Igbo man, precisely from Enugu state firmly occupies one of the service chief’s offices.
In term of infrastructures, the president has given go-ahead to the construction and completion of about four highways in the South East, linking the zone to other Geo-Political zone across the country.
Governor Hope Uzodinma is the Chairman of APC governors Forum, a strategic slot ceded to the zone with a view to ensure the relevance and reintegration into the governance. Of course, this was at the instance of the president.
In just one year of Tinubu administration, Lagos-Coastal road, an iconic, historic and gigantic project in all its ramifications has started in earnest, with billions of dollars already earmarked for its completion.
The project; a statement project of this administration is a testament to the president’s audacity, developmental mind, wild thinking, discerning mind, helicopter views on issues and his self-belief, that nothing is impossible.
Of course, the gargantuan project has the capacity to launch Nigeria fast into the midst of develop nation.
In his one year reign, the president has travelled to more than eighteen (18) key business and investment fora and meetings around the world at the instance of key presidents, business figures and investment leaders.
For emphasis, he’s been to Paris for business and investment meetings, New York in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for world interactive session, New Dehli for investment meetings, Doha and Riyadh twice, as well as Dubai for business forum, Netherlands for political and investment forum, United Kingdom and Germany, also for business meetings.
President is the current Chairman of Ecowas, the office he’s elected by his West African president colleagues in an election held in Bangui.
The Nigerian president was in Dakar to attend African Union meetings during this one year where he made an historic pronouncement that African would no longer allow the Western world to invade and pilfer on their natural resources. He also submitted at the forum that the developed world should henceforth regard African as resourceful and productive environment, rather than the land of poverty, kidnapping, insurgence and religious fundamentalism.
The president also attended the inauguration of the new Senegalese president, as well as registering his presence at the 63rd Independence Anniversary Ceremony of Republic of Benin.
While this writer wish the president well in advance of his one year reign in office, it’s important to remind him of the imperative of rejigging and reshuffling his cabinet to wield away those cabinet ministers that Nigerians are of the strong view, have not imbibed the philosophy and tenets of Renewed Hope 2023 and therefore have not contribute much to governance.
There are trusted, tested, passionate and very accomplished professionals in all fields waiting on the wings, willing to contribute their quotas to national development.
It’s therefore important that Commander in Chief should take cognizance of this, with a view to giving Nigerians a new cabinet that would be more resourceful, productive, loyal, patriotic and prepare to serve the country with everything they have.
Kola AMZAT (FCA, FCIB)
Lagos based Financial & Management Consultants,
09077509348.
