As History Beckons on Tinubu…

Judging from the circumstances surrounding his emergence as president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cannot afford to fail Nigerians, Shola Oyeyipo writes.

Though the 2023 presidential election has come in Nigeria one can’t say it is totally gone because some aggrieved presidential candidates of opposition political parties are still not pacified. They have taken their cases to the election tribunal, hoping to upturn the outcome of the election.

Meanwhile, some supporters of the incoming president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu are getting more animated as the May 29 handover date draws closer.

From the look of things, the date will come, and Tinubu will take the mantle of leadership of the most populous black nation on earth. 

To say Tinubu has his work cut out for him is to say the least; Nigeria has seen tumultuous economic, security, social and infrastructural setbacks in recent past than it has seen at any point in its history, and all these call for urgent and immediate redressing.

The delicate fault lines among the citizenry in the different sections of the country are another source of huge concern.

Tinubu can’t feign ignorance of these issues. He fought tooth and nail to succeed outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, so it is will be totally unacceptable if he assumes power and begins to point fingers to factors that will make it impossible for him to address the woes betiding Nigeria and depressing Nigerians. 

Expectations were high when President Buhari won the 2015 election. He had goodwill among Nigerians, but it all filtered away in 2023 with his eight-year rule coming to an end by May 29. No doubt, he came to power hoping to make a significant difference, but the president himself must know that a lot of Nigerians are not satisfied with his performance.

One of the biggest impediments to his government was the so-called ‘cabal.’

The cabal seemed to pilot the affairs of the country remotely. The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, bravely raised the alarm long ago about those sinister individuals who didn’t allow her husband to perform to expectation. They also shielded him away from the likes of Tinubu, who could have put the government on track.  

Speaking with some of the die-in-the-wool Tinubu supporters, their fear is not that the president-elect will not be sworn in or that the legal challenge of the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Mr. Peter Obi is capable of unseating him, no!

The concern is that, like, his predecessor, Tinubu, can not afford to fail! The reason is not far-fetched, Nigeria is on the precipice. Nigerians have been through a lot of disappointments and dashed hopes.

Amid plenty, poverty walks on all fours. Corruption is untamed. The waste in the petroleum sector is humungous.

Lives are lost with reckless abandon because of insecurity. All these and more are fueling the incessant sectional agitations. 

In their usual nature, Nigerians are already settling down to give the incoming new administration a chance to prove its critics wrong, but while that is being done, the hawks, eagles and vultures that usually feast on the souls of successive governments are already in the corners waiting to hijack Tinubu’s government for their personal gains. These include the international community, some political jobbers in Nigeria, and some powerful players in business, especially in the oil and gas sector. All they want is the preservation of their business and sources of income. This always comes at the detriment of larger Nigerians.

Tinubu can only toe this path at his own peril and the ultimate end of Nigeria. Nigerians are too overwhelmed and aggrieved and are not going to accept a lackluster leadership in this coming administration. 

While not necessarily drawing an agenda for the Tinubu administration, the incoming government must have milestones and benchmarks on some very important national issues. Whatever must be done must be done to secure Nigeria and its people.

If the Tinubu government begins the rhetoric of previous administrations and fails to bring down the Boko Haram insurgents and other non-state actors, it will be a clear and immediate indication of failure.

While Buhari failed to name and shame the terrorist sponsors, Tinubu could not go that way. Those funding the unending killings must be brought to justice. The country must decisively deal with its enemies within and without.

Reliable economic and agricultural strategy must be urgently put in place to tame the activities of the herdsmen. The Nigerian security architecture must be revamped to truly provide security to the people without sacred cows syndrome. 

It is expected that the state of poverty in NIgeria will haunt Tinubu, so it must be on the front burner. Not a few people have wondered how he intends to lead Nigeria if he is not planning how to tackle poverty and bring Nigeria out of its current rating as one of the poorest places on earth.

It is old news to say Nigeria needs to diversify from oil. Fact is, it is only by diversifying the economy that Nigeria can raise its income and distribute wealth.

But while diversifying is of utmost importance, the greatest fraud against Nigeria, the oil subsidy, must stop.

If Tinubu does not do this, it will mean that he has no business being Nigerian leader.

The Nigerian oil subsidy must end! The World Bank and every well-meaning Nigerians have harped on this. The sooner palliatives are put in place and full subsidy removal is implemented; the sooner it becomes obvious that Tinubu truly means business. 

One of the reasons why local and international observers can’t stop wondering about the niggling state of poverty in Nigeria is because of the monumental resources under the Nigerian soil. There must be urgent steps to put in place legal frameworks that will ensure that states where resources are deposited get maximum benefits from them. Among the resources in Nigeria, the Ajaokuta Steel Company, will be an important yardstick to measure the success or failure of the Tinubu administration. The interest of some foreign nations should not continue to jeopardize the benefits Nigerians should be getting from the all-important steel deposit despite that the steel plant is over 95 percent completed. Rather than sourcing for $800 million grant from the World Bank as palliative to some few Nigerians to cushion effect of eventual subsidy removal (which may at the end of the day go to individual pockets), such a fund could be channeled to putting the Ajaokuta Steel Company to work. We can not but block leakages and fight corruption to standstill. 

The government’s business and economic decisions must be such that they drastically reduce unemployment. It should go beyond the N-Power and all that. Nigeria must shift from a consumer economy to becoming a producing country. And, very importantly, the educational curriculum must be redesigned. Courses in schools must be tailored towards problem solving and national development.

A lot of Indians are into mathematics and ICT, and there is a huge demand for them internationally. Nigeria can borrow a leaf from that.

History, geography, biology, and some other obsolete educational paths need to be redesigned to meet global markets. 

No doubt, it is a plethora of issues, and maybe Tinubu cannot fix everything at once, but some actions and inactions on the part of the incoming government will soon begin to show whether a new Sheriff is in town or not. One of the earliest pointers to that will be the caliber of people that will constitute his cabinet. 

With good performance, of course, Tinubu can lead Nigeria to economic and political restructuring. A chance beckons on the former Lagos governor and one person believed to have been well-prepared and with requisite understanding to write his name in  gold  in the annals of Nigerian political history.