The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was recently quoted as saying that her husband, President Bola Tinubu, would not wave a magic wand to solve all of the country’s problems in a flash.
She had been speaking an inter-denominational church service last Sunday, to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day. She noted that her husband inherited the current challenges in the country, but that he is determined to fix them rather than blame past leaders….CONTINUE READING
However, her comment has triggered reactions from many Nigerians, prompting some to aver that though Senator Remi Tinubu is, perhaps, the most learned First Lady the country has ever produced under the Fourth Republic, her record shows she is perhaps the most controversial.
“All we inherited are things that had happened many years ago. We are not here to put blame on any administration but to fix what has been damaged.”
“My husband is not a magician. He is going to work and I believe and hope that we will have peace in this country. The best is yet to come to us.
“Good governance can only be impactful if the people follow the example of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who embodied the fruit of the spirit, including love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance and forgiveness.
“A Nigeria of abundance has begun, and to be part of the greatness that God has started in the nation, Nigerians must look beyond their current realities and embrace hope anew,” she had said.
But in a swift reaction, Garba Shehu, immediate past spokesman of former President Muhammadu Buhari, reacted by saying that his principal was the one responsible for rescuing Nigeria’s economy.
He debunked the First Lady’s allegations that Buhari’s presidency contributed to Nigeria’s current economic woes and that the incumbent inherited a damaged economy from him.
According to Shehu, no previous administration had experienced the degree of economic suffering that the Buhari administration had, noting that the nation had to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic and a fall in oil prices.
The recent altercations between Remi Tinubu and Shehu brought to memory various controversies in which the incumbent First Lady had gotten herself involved in the past.
For instance, she had been in the news for exchanging verbal punches with a former Senator from Kogi State, Dino Melaye. Melaye, then an All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Kogi West had proposed heavy sanctions against fellow senators who connived with the Executive branch of the government to criminalise the then Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, on a case of forgery of Senate Rules. But the First Lady responded by saying the Kogi lawmaker behaved like a child and thug. It took the intervention of other Senators to pacify Melaye.
In 2019, the First Lady also had an altercation with the Igbo in Lagos, saying, they were ungrateful after being “accommodated” in the state, just as she called her former senator colleague and fellow party man, Smart Adeyemi, a wolf in sheep’s clothing because Adeyemi compared the level of insecurity in the country under the immediate past administration to what was obtained during the civil war. The incidence happened in 2021.
In May 2021, the First Lady was also reported to have called a woman a ‘thug’ for protesting discrimination at an event in Lagos. Even when she was the First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, Senator Tinubu was known for her no-nonsense posture and her readiness to respond if provoked.
The Guardian had once reported that though her rich academic and political background and experience would be a great asset to her husband, some schools of thought advocate that as things stand today, she might need to do more of offering support to President Tinubu in the background rather than continue to have open altercations that may be counter-productive.
Some observers have also suggested that with the recent development, there might be need for Nigeria to put in place compulsory training programmes for public officers on public speaking etiquette.
They noted that what Senator Remi said that triggered Shehu’s reaction ought not to have happened in the first place, bearing in mind the fact President Tinubu was a major factor that brought the immediate past president into office in 2015 and in his re-election in 2019.
Another poser raised is that considering the numerous hardships occasioned by some policies of the incumbent administration on Nigerians, the First Lady ought to have been involved in more of appealing to aggrieved Nigerians than engaging in blame game since Tinubu’s government is a continuation of Buhari’s administration on the same APC platform.
Another retort against the First Lady’s comment was that President Tinubu has often claimed that he is the most prepared man to rule Nigeria having nursed the plan to become president for over 25 years ago. With such, Nigerians never expected to witness the kind of economic hardship they are currently undergoing.
For instance, less than five months into his administration, it does seem like he has been in office for a long spell. This feeling, for many, derives from the chain of actions the administration has taken since taking the reins and the chain-reactions that have followed across various segments in the polity.
President Tinubu has introduced some economic and policy reforms with attendant effects on people. These have consequently drew plaudits and criticisms from economic and policy experts, diverse trade and labour groups, socio-political groups and other interest groups across the country.
While some commentators expressed the view that Nigerians, especially leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union of Congress (TUC), should exercise patience with the new administration to adjust some of its policies, which are assumed to have created more hardship and escalated the cost of living since May 29 2023, some schools of thought believe since Mr. President had decided to rule like a dictator by making policies without thinking through the after-effects on his countrymen, he deserves no such consideration.
To be sure, one of the current government’s policies, which have had harsh impact on the people, is the fuel subsidy removal. This has led to over 100 percent increase in pump price, bringing the price of fuel from the N195 as of May 29 to about N620 currently. Consequently, prices of essential commodities have escalated, pushing the cost of living of an average Nigerian almost beyond reach.
The removal of official controls on the foreign exchange market by floating the Naira exchange rate in the open market in the first two weeks of Tinubu’s assumption of office, has also depreciated the Naira both in the official and black markets. The government also initiated new taxes policies with about 40 per cent hike in electricity tariff, among others.
The bogus cabinet President Tinubu selected is also a big concern for Nigerians, with many saying that it has unnecessarily bloated the cost of governance with the present state of economy.
With escalating cost of living, the government had remained optimistic just as it continued to appeal for better understanding from Nigerians, the NLC and TUC, that those policies, though tough in the beginning, would soon begin to yield dividends.
While defending some of the policies, the government explained that in what has been described as a revenue windfall, the three tiers of government, the federal, states and local councils shared N907.054bn as FAAC allocation for June 2023.
The total sum is a N120.893 billion increase from N786.161 billion that was shared in May 2023, which according to it, is the highest since January when a sum of ₦1.14 trillion was shared.
This rise in the federal allocation for the month of June may have been attributed to removal of subsidy from oil and other economic measures adopted by the government. As a result, state governors may have been left with more money allocations than usual.
But Nigerians are currently paying through their noses to survive. Rising transportation cost continues to stifle people while cost of food items is getting out of reach. Recently, NLC and TUC went into another round of dialogue with the government. The unions are still bent on embarking on strike if the hardship persists.
IN a critique, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna chapter, Reverend Joseph Hayab, said the problem is that President Tinubu failed to give Nigerians enough time for dialogue before introducing the policies that translated into untoward hardships.
He said the people are reacting because of the immediacy of the implications of the policies and the seeming insensitivity of those in government in terms of even their own spendings. “Because they are human, they have the right to think and also analyse the situation. The palliatives we are talking about are an after-thought.”
Hayab said the palliatives of N8000 per month, which was initially contemplated, will not solve the problems generated by these policies. “The government is asking us to reduce cost and moderate our lifestyle but they are increasing cost of governance. The same government that is calling for moderation, appointed bloated cabinet and you know what it means to maintain a minister in Nigeria.
He said the removal of the subsidy came with a fiat. “For instance, they initially said there was no subsidy in the budget but that’s not true.
“I think Tinubu should be bold enough to correct whatever wrong policies he took and not push the burden to Nigerians. I believe we need a tough leader to take tough decisions, but we must address certain things in the country. The leader must be aware that such decisions must be balanced. The decision should not just be for the people to suffer while those in the political offices continue to enjoy. Once it is like that, people will react.”
Hayab also faulted how Tinubu’s lieutenants have been deploying language, saying that the subsidy was a scam. “This is wrong. It is not the subsidy that was a scam, but its management and the stories surrounding it. There is a simple logic to calculate it. What was the difference in subsidy? The total amount of subsidy that is different is not more that N104. The moment we removed the subsidy, the money moved up to N500 to N600, but if we add the N104 to what we pay for pump price before subsidy was removed, the current pump price cannot be more than N300 to N350. So where is the additional one coming from?”
Hayab, however, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government. He also urged government to always give Nigerians proper and true information, stressing that, otherwise, Nigerians will continue to misconstrue things. “We should stop running government like a secret cult.”
National Chairman, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ralph Nwosu, on his part, believes Nigerians have no choice than to give the government time to fix itself. He said whatever industrial actions NLC and TUC are proposing now, could only accelerate President Tinubu proactiveness. “One issue is that we cannot afford to inflict more pains on what Nigerians are already going through. My suggestion is that Mr. President should be humble enough to reverse himself if he discovers that some of his policies are too harsh to the people.”
The Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, also appealed to Nigerians to bear with President Tinubu and give him a chance to fix the country.
Adegbite, who is the Methodist Bishop of Ikeja Diocese, commended the President for taking proactive steps to persuade the NLC and TUC to suspend their strike. He described fuel subsidy as “a misadventure profiting the rich and politically-connected.”
The cleric said Tinubu had demonstrated that “we indeed have a listening President who is interested in getting things done in national interest.”
Also a former chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Enugu chapter, Ben Nwoye, assured Nigerians that President Tinubu will not take them for granted. This was as he urged Nigerians to give Tinubu time to fix the hardships in Nigeria. He said what the president needed from Nigerians, is to give him the benefit of doubt and be more patient with him.”
In another reaction, a Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Babafemi Badejo, said, it is too early to condemn any of President Tinubu’s policies and programmes.
The Southwest leader of New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Bisi Olopoeyan, opined that nobody can challenge Tinubu over his choice of ministers but the president must just look for a means to address the high cost of pump price of fuel, saying, “It is not explainable....CONTINUE READING
