Tinubu: Now that the Eagle Has Landed

Eddy Odivwri

Last Monday, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, became the 16 th President of Nigeria, in fulfilment of

his life ambition. He had emerged against all the odds. To his credit, he fought a dogged fight.

He was prepared for the contest in all dimensions. That was one of the reasons he didn’t wear

out. His eyes were on the ball. His faith in his capacity to win the election never wavered. He

spoke with oracular certitude on his chances of winning the election. Even when certain

government policies and political developments seemed to be adverse to his ambition, he

forged on with uncommon courage and optimism. He was verily prepared for the race. He said

it was his turn to be President. And truly, he got it. Never mind that some of his co-contestants

are challenging his victory in the court

So, last Tuesday, he marched into the Presidential Villa, after the ceremonial swearing-in of te

previous day, ready to hit the ground running. But he actually started the running before he hit

the ground. The declaration of “fuel subsidy is gone” in his inaugural address showed he would

not be scared of taking tough decisions. But he must be wary of hasty decisions, just so he can

give the impression of what we describe as “action president”. On the day of the inauguration,

the 2023 budget still made 32 day provision for petrol subsidy. Therefore, the declaration that

“subsidy is gone” was somewhat hasty and a determination to sound and appear

impressionistic. As it turned out, it was a declaration that caused great chaos and unease in the

society. Two hours after the statement, fuel queues emerged at filling stations. Some “wicked”

petroleum markets had promptly adjusted the meter price. By the following day, the queues

not only lengthened, the nasty and bitter experiences of the Buhari years was re-enacted and

relaunched with fresh fervour. It was a wrong take-off signal. It was so bad that the groaning in

the land was sounding like the moan of a dying folksman. The media team of Mr President had

to issue a clarification which technically reversed or moderated what Mr President said at the

inauguration. The statement said the removal of the subsidy is not immediate, as the provision

for subsidy will subsist till end of the month. But it was an explanation that came too late. Like

bullet fired from the gun which cannot be recalled, the declaration of the President had done

all the damage it could do in the society. Not only have chaotic queues returned at the gas

stations, petrol marketers, including NNPCL, ahead of any negotiation with organized labour

and co, have even adjusted their prices to between N468 and N900 per litre across the country.

Difficult days are here again! “Renewed Hope” is wearing the toga of renewed hardship.

Already, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress which met with some

officials of the Tinubu administration last Wednesday failed to reach a consensus on what to

do. The meeting was inconclusive. We are back to the days of back-and-forth.

The “renewed hope” of better days have been dealt a severe and early blow. We hope the

experiences ahead will not make Buhari look like a benevolent angel.

If the silence of the presidency remains on this matter, it would mean that the 32 or so days

subsidy provided for in the budget will simply go the way of the crooks: get stolen. Would that

be how the Tinubu administration want to start?

But while Nigerians are getting the rough squeeze of a new government, the first family

appears to be settling down to what promises to be a long stretch of presidential drama. The

curtain to Act One Scene one opened on Wednesday, when the “first daughter” who dubbed

herself as Iyaloja General of Nigeria (no longer Iyaloja of Lagos), Chief Mrs Folashade Tinubu-

Ojo, 61, launched a Friends of Iyaloja Initiative (FOI Initiative) with the aim of “using my little

wealth of experience, connections and human resources available to my (sic) to support my

Dad’s administration”. At the launch last Wednesday in Abuja, the Iyaloja was seen reading a

speech with her Aide De Camp (ADC) standing behind her as she regaled her invited guests,

relishing in a presidential aura and carriage. This launch is coming way ahead of the programme

and initiative of the First lady, Mrs Remi Tinubu. The launch of her initiative appears to still be

in consonance with the determination to hit the ground running. Those who understand the

intra-political dynamics in the First family say there will be running context between and among

the various sub-forces in the family for space and power wielding. The days ahead will be

manifestly intriguing with the drama that is bound to unfold.

But before that drama loads properly and fully, the contention for the principal officers in the

National Assembly promises to be the prologue to the theatrics that will characterize the

Tinubu administration.

Already, there is internal protestation over who the principal officers of the tenth national

assembly will be within the red chamber as the duo are keenly interested to run for the senate

presidency and its deputy, respectively, despite the micro-zoning arrangement approved by the

National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Will the duo of kalu and

Yari “scatter” the APC cohesion in the upper chamber?

The duo of Orji Uzor Kalu and Abdulaziz Yari and both former governors in Abia and Zamfara

states respectively have formed an alliance with non-APC members in the National Assembly to

upset what the NWC has decided. Will they succeed? Will they fail? We all are watching.

The NWC of the party has chosen Senator Godswill Akpabio and Jubrin Barau, as President and

Deputy Senate President of the Senate, respectively. Akpabio was the first aspirant to announce

that he was stepping down for the candidature of Bola Tinubu, at the party’s national

convention on June 28, last year. It is thus not unlikely that choosing him to become the Senate

President may be a pay-back time for his perceived loyalty. But that on its own poses a problem

of compromising the expected independence of the senate, if Akpabio really emerges the

Senate President. The freedom of the lawmakers to elect who their leaders should be, has been

circumscribed by this over-bearing meddlesomeness of the NWC of the APC. Will there be a

repeat of the Saraki leadership drama as it was in the 8 th assembly?

The ability of President Tinubu to rein-in the likes of Orji Kalu and Senator Yari and their

followers will be a test of his political sagacity and influence.

In all, I join in congratulating Mr President on his eventual landing the seat of power, the

number one job in the land. As an experienced political leader, President Tinubu must realise

that winning the election is one thing and governing effectively is quite another. The Buhari

experience is a perfect example, as he got power through election, but did not quite know what

to do with it, as others ran the show for him.

Now that the Tinubu eagle has landed, governance, effective and beneficial governance, that is,

most be seen to be taking place, That is what will give succour to Nigerians, not the

shenanigans of power-hungry politicians struggling for position and recognition.

Where is the Nigeria Air Aircraft?

Eddy Odivwri

Before the sun set last Friday, Mr Hadi Sirika, the former Aviation minister who had promised

that the Nigeria Air will fly before the end of the Buhari administration, made good his promise,

when, like magic, a certain aircraft Boeing 737-800, bearing the label of Air Nigeria landed at

the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. It was an interesting drama. Mr Sirika, for over seven

years had been talking about re-introducing a National carrier, arguing that it will further boost

the Nigerian economy by contributing immensely to increasing the nation’s GDP as it will fly

some 86 regional, international and local routes. But as it turned out, it was more talk and no

action. An expensive bureaucratic prank!

In July 2018, Hadi Sirika launched the logo of the Nigeria Air with so much funfare in far away

London, with a roadshow, promising that Nigeria Air will start operation by December of that

same year (2018). This is mid 2023, and all we have sighted is an eleventh-hour lone aircraft

landing on the eve of the end of the Buhari administration. Those who have closely monitored

the Sirika aviation magic have said that the said aircraft is not only back to where it came from

(Ethiopian Airline in Addis Ababa) the label paste on the said aircraft, has indeed been reversed

to its original name: Ethiopian Airline and resumed its regular flight from Addis-Ababa to

Mogadishu. And that is the end of Nigeria Air, I dare say. So Hadi Sirika deceived us all, just like

that? He owes Nigerian a lot of explanations!

This was a project launched with over N20 billion, just for a logo and road show, and you would

wonder if that much was spent on a logo, how much would the aircraft itself cost?

Sirika, in an attempt to mystify the whole exercise had contacted a consultant, a marketing

outfit in Bahrain to design the logo, then he claimed the government spent some money as

working capital and paid some transactional advisers’ fee, all at the cost of N6.25 billion.

So, Mr Hadi Sirika sir, where are the fruits of all these efforts? Where is the airline? Where is

the aircraft? Where are the staff? Where are the offices? Where are the paraphernalia of an

organization? The former aviation minister took Nigerians for granted. He carried on with the

attitude of “there’s nothing you can do me”. Perhaps because he was former President Buhari’s

in-law, he operated with so much air of arrogance and nonchalance to due process and public

opinion.

It is a notorious fact that international flights from Nigeria are far more expensive than

neighbouring countries. No thanks to the excessive multiple charges by the Nigerian Airports

Authority, not to mention the poor bilateral air relationship between Nigeria and the United

Arab Emirate, for instance, which has affected the cessation of Lagos/Abuja-Dubai flights.

Save his impressive facial optics, the likes of Hadi Sirika helped to offer Nigerians a bitter pill from the Buhari regime. We shall return to these scams later.

Help, Who’d Save Festac Town?

Eddy Odivwri

For too long, the 46-year old festival town, also known as Festac Town, in Lagos, has been a

victim of monumental neglect. The fate of the town is piteously peculiar as the running

controversy of who owns and manages the town—between the federal government and Lagos

State, has remained unresolved. At the beginning, it was a town built and managed by the

Federal Housing Authority (FHA). But over the years, the presence of FHA has continued to

wane and wear out.

The Lagos State government which had seemed to assume responsibility of the town has not

sufficiently lived up to expectation in terms of managing and maintaining the town. One would

have thought that with Festac Town being the head quarters of the Amuwo-Odofin LGA, the

town would enjoy some good measure of attention. But that has not been the case. Its

efficiency appears to be only in the collection of rates and taxes from residents.

In recent months, the town has been on a faithful degeneration, made worse by the rains. As

at today, nearly all the roads have completely broken down, dotted with craters and huge pot

holes, so much that motorists and commuters literally move from one point to the other in

tears. It has been a hell of experience commuting on the township link roads of the estate.

Almost all social services from any arm of government has collapsed.

The Chairman of the Amuwo-Odofin council, Valentine Braimoh, an engineer, seemed to be in a

governmental slumber as no effort is being made to make the experience of the residents less

hellish.