By Bola BOLAWOLE
How time flies! May we not be indebted! Because if you promise to pay back in four years’ time and then go to bed, thinking you still have time, four years will stealthily creep on you like the biblical thief in the night and become tomorrow before you knew it! Hence the saying of the wise that a thousand years will soon become like tomorrow!
In soccer parlance, the language that many of our soccer-loving compatriots will better understand, this is half-time for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his first four-year term as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Two years down; two more to go. Never mind that the politicians are already looking beyond 2027, not reckoning with another saying of the elders that mocks anyone promising heaven and earth tomorrow when he has no guarantee he would witness the end of today. No one knows tomorrow!
A standard football match is divided into two equal parts of 45 minutes each. At half-time the teams enjoy a period of rest when strategies are reviewed and changes made, where necessary. These days, novel ideas keep finding their way into the popular sport, such as the VAR and the introduction of half-time within each half-time for the players to cool off.
President Tinubu may have borrowed a leaf from FIFA. During the half-time of the first-half of his first term (that is, when he was one year in office), he reviewed the performance of his ministers; some got the boot while fresh (?) blood was injected into the bloodstream of his administration. Many, however, expressed displeasure over some ministers who retained their slot despite the widely-perceived impression that they have not done well.
Now at the half-time of his first four-year term, the President is again taking a hard look at his cabinet and may be minded to tinker with it again. That is a prerogative no one can deny him as he possesses the power to hire and fire. We, as a people, however, have a duty to guide him as to who should go and who should stay. To do this, let us look at the critical sectors that impact the life of citizens most. This is so because the whole duty of the government centres around making life more meaningful – and better liveable – for the citizenry.
The Utilitarian School long ago settled the debate that the purpose of Governments is to ensure – and provide – for the greatest happiness of the greatest number of its citizens. In other words, the government cannot make everyone happy or satisfied at one and the same time. There are many reasons for this, which need not detain us here, but suffice it to say that because resources are scarce and demands often outstrip supply is one of such reasons. Another is that a number of differences – personal, ethnic, religious, political, cultural, social, and economic – always create an atmosphere of conflict and disagreement that make100 percent unanimity on any issue hard to build.
That said, there are basic fundamentals upon which a consensus can be built by the vast majority of the people. Mercifully, the fulcrum of the democratic system that we operate posits that while the majority may have their way, the minority must be allowed to have its say. Grandma taught me that if you get persistent with that part of your body that itches, you will scratch yourself to the bones. Therefore, instead of half-empty, I will say half-full here today. I am sure you understand what I mean!
So, what are those areas where life can be made more meaningful for Nigerians? The first is in the area of security of life and property. The most basic and fundamental human right is the right to life. Without life, nothing! The Tinubu administration inherited a very, very bad security situation, made worse by the generally-perceived duplicity and complicity of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the insecurity that whacked the country, especially the Fulani herdsmen and bandits’ atrocities all over the country. But two years down the line, how has the Tinubu administration fared?
To the government, a lot has been achieved and insurgency will soon be defeated. Kudos to our fighting forces: they have made, and continue to make, immense sacrifices to rid the country of terrorists of all hues. But to the people – and as some of those in power have also attested to – there is yet no cause for cheers. The war against insurgency is, at best, a ding-dong affair, a back-and-forth kind of exchange between our gallant military and those despicable elements.
The war against insurgency has been made doubly difficult to wage because of many factors: Fifth columnists within the fighting forces themselves, exacerbated by the (deliberately mischievous and sinister?) integration of so-called Boko Haram repentants into the armed forces; religious, tribal, traditional, and political elite’s complicity with the terrorists; corruption within the military and the government itself, external plots and interference, to mention but a few.
The President may, this time around, with the advantage of another cabinet reshuffle, take a hard look at his security architecture. That sector is not performing well at all. The daily cases of massacres across the country and the incursions and advances the terrorists are making into new areas of the country must be checked.
Insecurity impacts so many other facets of our national life. The country is bleeding. Funds that could have been channeled into other productive activities are wasted on this never-ending war, which has become the pot of soup and bottle feeding many influential persons who may not want an end to it. The blood-letting is gushing.
The dislocation of economic activities, especially farming, has compounded inflationary trends, especially as they affect the cultivation of food crops. Recourse to importation adds more strains on the Naira. High exchange rates frustrate businesses. Business closures and trim-down worsen the unemployment situation. Lack of jobs means more exodus of able-bodied and highly-qualified Nigerians in what has come to be known as the JAPA syndrome. Those who cannot JAPA remain an army of disgruntled, hungry, and angry elements waiting for the catalyst that will propel them into violent action.
Ticking time bomb! Crime is on the rise. If the Tinubu administration can overcome the insecurity noose tightening around the country’s neck, he would have reduced the country’s problems by half.
The other half is the economy. A weak currency is at the heart of the country’s economic hardship. How can we make the Naira stronger? Ramp up local production and reduce dependence on the importation of foreign goods and services. Reduce corruption and wasteful expenditure. Explore new sources of income by creating new wealth, rather than taxing an already-impoverished citizenry to death and removing subsidies on every conceivable item.
Every country subsidises one item or the other for its citizens, especially to drive its economy. What is the Nigerian government subsidizing for Nigerians to drive the economy? Subsidies on fuel and Naira exchange rate have been removed and the deleterious effects are still with us two years after, offering no respite despite the coming on stream of local refineries. Nigeria, an import-dependent economy floated its currency and turned it overnight into paper-weight, sending it crashing into the abyss as one of the worst-performing currencies in the world. What local exports have the devaluation promoted?
Subsidies on power have massively been removed. Even the Presidency is running away from paying the so-called market cost of power! Still, the power-mongers in the power sector of the economy are baying for more blood from a hapless citizenry. So, if the Presidency cannot pay, who, then, can? Telecom charges have hit the roof and Nigerians’ access to one another and to the outside world is being constrained. In the sense in which we are closing down every sector of the economy, pricing it beyond the reach of the vast majority of the people, how do we then develop the country? Can the few of them in power do it all by themselves?
This time around, the various ministers and aides saddled with economic and other matters that directly impact the life of Nigerians must have their tenure reviewed by the President.
End insurgency and make the country safe again. Revamp the economy and end the hardship in the land. These are the two tasks before the President. So far, has the Tinubu administration failed or has it succeeded in these two important areas? I will say mildly that it is still work-in-progress. Yes, Buhari’s administration ruined the country beyond imaginations, but after two years in office, the blame for the parlous state of affairs can no longer be Buhari’s alone. The question must now be asked: In the past two years, what have been Tinubu’s own contributions to the salvaging – not savaging – and rescuing mission?
LAST WORD: Did you see our President in an English suit shaking hands with the new pope? For God’s sake, who advised Tinubu to wear an English suit to the occasion? It didn’t fit at all, to say the very least! Maybe, when was the last time he wore one? He looked strange in it. Our native attires fit him better and would have been more appropriate for the occasion – to showcase our culture. Next time, please! Next time!
* Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of the New Telegraph news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.
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