By Eric Elezuo
By May 29, 2025, President Bola Tinubu will be marking his two years in office after he was sworn in, following his victory at the 2023 presidential election, where he defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party to the second and third places respectively.
But analysts, stakeholders and critical observers are lost as where to swing the pendulum considering the president’s scorecard as the midterm anniversary draws closer, with many concluding that gloom has remained the other of the day while Tinubu and his men continue to play the grandstanding game.
“When Nigerians complained at the initial, the president’s men defended that it was too early to make conclusion. They assured that after one year, Nigerians should take stock. However, after one year, the same people said it was still too short to make a definite judgment of the administration, saying two years will make a difference. It’s two years now, but the story is still the same. This is purr politically grandstanding,” a social commentator volunteered.
While the leadership of the ruling party believes that Tinubu has shown remarkable leadership in two years, leading to their adopting him as their sole and unopposed candidate in 2027, the rest of the Nigerian public thinks otherwise.
The APC has noted that the Tinubu administration has paid off IMF loans just as governors have more funds at their disposal to see off projects and give adequate welfare to their teeming workers.
It would be recalled that Nigerians relapsed to a worse form of hardship on May 29, 2023, when Tinubu while making his inaugural speech declared that “subsidy is gone”. The aftermath of the declaration has been a ricochet and avalanche of unhealthy living conditions that have spread wildfire against both the poor and the very poor.
Ever since the pronouncement, the President has unleashed one reform after another that further pushes Nigerians towards the brinks of collapse while being repeatedly urged to be patient with the administration as they drive the nation towards economic growth. Two years down the line, the promise remains a promise while reality seems a far off.
Following the removal of the fuel subsidy, tariff on essential items including electricity, have been hiked, prices of goods and services have skyrocketed, naira has been floated, causing more hardship, but Tinubu stressed that the pain is temporary; and two years of endurance have washed off so far, and succor is no where in sight.
On the streets of Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Jos, Maiduguri, Enugu, Kaduna, Minna, Damaturu, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Aba, Calabar, Osogbo, Akure, Abakiliki, Bauchi, Uyo and more, the story remains the same; hunger, depravity, hopelessness, gloom and uncertainty.
“Nigerians may not know if there would light at the end of the tunnel, but the truth remains that as at today, two years after the the coming of Tinubu and his policies, Nigerians are not happy. All we hear are promises, that do not look good coming to pass,” a respondent told The Boss.
The two years of far fetching limbo tends to make Nigerians regurgitate over Daniel Bwala’s remarks in 2023 as follows: “When people talk about being patient and waiting, you have to look at the time frame the public officer is expected to execute the work. The President has just been voted into a term of four years. He is eight months into the term, which constitutes 31.8 percent of the total time that he has. He has less than 70 percent time in government; when is that going to happen? When President Buhari took over in 2015, it was the same language, and we patiently followed and he finished the first term and finished the second term. When there is a fundamental problem with policy, time is irrelevant; 30 years, it will not work.”
Bwala, who also noted that once one joins the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), his brain stops working, is now a member of the APC, and a media assistant to President Tinubu.
Amid the excruciating hardship faced by Nigerians since the advent of the Tinubu-led administration, the government has continued to issue policy reforms that seem to continue to impoverish the populace. But feelers from the Presidency has remarked that the harshness of the policies notwithstanding, Nigerians are heading towards Eldorado, and have every cause to be happy.
This therefore, posits the question if the president has not been grandstanding all along with orations and call for patience as well as attempts to prove that all is well.
Making a case for the policies, which have seen to high inflation rates, inability of the naira to compete in the capital market and dearth of excess liquidity for rainy day mandates, Tinubu and many of his lieutenants, on many and separate occasions, have stoutly defended the policies, giving the economy a clean bill of health and suggesting that the country and Nigerians are on the right track of recovery and renewal.
In 2024, at the All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Tinubu, represented by his Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, vigorously defended the economic policies of the administration, declaring that it is yielding the desired fruits.
Before about 300 editors, Tinubu said his administration took a bold step to end the ruinous fuel subsidy regime that deprives Nigeria from investing in critical physical and social infrastructure and the foreign exchange regime that was prone to unimaginable levels of arbitrage and abuse.
“While oil remains a significant source of revenue for Nigeria, we are investing heavily in other sectors to diversify our economy for sustainable growth.
“The launch of the Presidential Initiative on CNG is a deliberate strategy to harness our abundant gas resources.
“This is to bring down the high cost of transportation by about 60 per cent and also foster a clean and healthy environment for our citizens.
“This initiative has unlocked close to $200 million in private sector investments in the last one year,” he said.
He added that “You can also access funds from the Bank of Industry at a single-digit interest rate for the development and expansion of your business.
“Our goal is to ensure that the benefits of growth reach every Nigerian, especially those who have been marginalised.
“The Social Investment Programme has been retooled to ensure economic relief is provided for our most vulnerable groups systematically and transparently. At the last count, 25 million Nigerians received N25,000 under the Conditional Cash Transfer.”
In the same vein, and also in 2024, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, added that non-implementation of economic reforms by past administrations is the reason Nigerians are in pain, discomfort, and difficulties under Tinubu’s reforms.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Federal Civil Service Policies and Guidelines on Rewards’, Edun stressed that despite the pains and discomforts and difficulties experienced by Nigerians due to the policies, the successes and gains are coming through.
“After 18 months of bold and necessary reforms that Mr. President has implemented, the country has changed, and yes, the reforms were so long overdue that it caused an element of pain, discomfort, difficulty, and increased cost of living. But the successes and the gains are coming through.
“Market-based pricing of foreign exchange was fully in place. The result was immediate benefit to the federal coffers, to the state coffers, and to the local government coffers because an amount of 5 percent of GDP is what goes to subsidies,” he said.
But the defence of the government and its agencies and cronies notwithstanding, situations and reports have proved that everything is a mere rhetoric and grandstanding as hunger and untold hardship continue to ravage the populace.
“It is a fact that the National Bureau of Statistics’ October 2024 headline and food inflation figures rose to 33.88 percent and 39.16 percent, respectively, weakening the purchasing power of many Nigerians,” An economic analyst told The Boss.
Also, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) joined their voice in calling for a review of the policies, which have become a harbinger of hunger and economic hardship in Nigeria, saying that citizens are dying.
NANS noted that fuel subsidy removal and floating of the country’s currency done simultaneously by the Tinubu-led government have further sunk Nigeria into the economic abyss, heightened hunger and raised the cost of living of millions of Nigerians.
The body pointed out that many Nigerians had hoped that the economic mess created by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari would be cleared by the Tinubu administration, but the country had only witnessed skyrocketing increase in prices of food and other essential commodities. And the end seem not in sight.
A statement by the group concluded as follows: “As representatives of the Nigerian students, we are making a passionate call on the president to tailor and rev up his economic policies to provide short term, medium term and long term reliefs for Nigerians. Things need to improve as many Nigerians are finding it difficult to survive,” the statement read.
Also condemning the policies and expressing how unhappy and frustrated Nigerians have become, the leadership of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), speaking through its National Chairman, Falalu Bello, in a statement in Abuja titled ‘President Tinubu, Your Policies Killing Nigerians’, made a passionate appeal to the president to reconsider.
He condemned the Federal Government’s assertion tgat there are no alternatives to the ‘harmful’ policies, arguing that it was a contradiction to the basic tenets of economics, which advocate for the exploration of alternatives in addressing socio-economic challenges.
He said, “Such statements, especially coming from someone of his status (Vice President Shettima) in the current administration, are not only misleading but also indicative of a severe disconnect from the realities faced by ordinary Nigerians today. The population has been urged to endure these difficult times with the promise of relief on the horizon.
“However, we see no tangible evidence of this assurance in the actions of President Tinubu, his cabinet or the broader government apparatus. Instead, we witness a continuation of profligate lifestyles, excessive spending and the dissemination of dubious economic statistics that do little to alleviate the suffering of the Nigerian populace.”
The PRP Chairman reminded Tinubu that Nigerians are suffering, and are not happy with him as a person and his administration, generally except there is a recalibration to prioritize citizens’ welfare.
“We strongly urge Tinubu to recalibrate his approach, implement a governance framework that prioritizes the welfare of citizens, and embrace homegrown policies that reflect the realities of our people rather than succumbing to externally imposed, anti-people measures that stifle progress.
“It is imperative that we act swiftly. Our nation is at a critical juncture, with time running out for meaningful intervention. Mr. President, it is time to act decisively for the sake of the nation’s future. Let us rescue our people from the grip of despair so that you may indeed dance before the music comes to an end,” he said.
Perhaps, the most effective evidence of the feelings of Nigerians regarding the Tinubu Policies, is reflected and summarized ìn the statements issued by the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi ever since this administration took power.
A statement signed by the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, after a meeting of stakeholders in Jos, Plateau State in November, stated in part that “The Forum empathizes with Nigerians who are groaning under the oppressive economic hardship foisted on the nation by the policies and decisions of the APC-led Federal Government.
“The Forum calls on the President to urgently review both macroeconomic and fiscal policies that will address the welfare and well-being of Nigerians.
“The Forum wishes to pledge that all PDP Governors will continue to aggressively pursue policies and programs that will reduce the hardship and ensure progress and development.”
Today, however, one or two of the governors at the meeting have unfortunately joined Tinubu’s APC.
A summary of the kind of leadership Tinubu has provided Nigerians since inauguration, is contained in Atiku’s remarks, where he accused the administration of fueling division to distract from its failures.
“The Tinubu administration has no achievements to stand on, no credible record to defend. Its only strategy is chaos and division, because that’s the last refuge of the incompetent,” he charged.
“An incompetent captain does not only wreck his ship; he endangers the lives of everyone on board.”
Recall that while in Brazil at the G20 Summit, last year, Tinubu told the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, that he is committed to reducing the “hardship” resulting from the implementation of his administration’s ongoing reforms in Nigeria.
“I assured IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva @KGeorgieva during our meeting that our economic reforms are already yielding positive results. Our administration remains committed to reducing the hardship that has resulted from the implementation of these reforms, while also protecting the most vulnerable in Nigeria.
“Social safety nets, education, investments in infrastructure, and inclusive growth are key to our agenda,” Tinubu stated.
He also acknowledged the hardship associated with his policies but promised to reduce its effects on Nigerians.
He outlined that while his government is fast-tracking investments in several sectors, discussions are ongoing regarding stakeholders’ tax awareness and compliance responsibilities.
Political and economic stakeholders have unanimously agreed that Tinubu has not been able to recover from the hasty and unplanned removal of the petroleum subsidy on his first day in office, and therefore, has covered up with oratorial grandstanding, cajoling the populace to assume that all is well.
Meanwhile, a coalition of political likeminds is in the offing to challenge Tinubu’s presidency in 2027. It’s being spearheaded by Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi and Nasir El-Rufai.
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