Tinubu’s first year: The Report Card, by Ugoji Egbujo

 One year has passed. The bold economic reforms Tinubu started have faltered. On day one, he had removed petrol subsidies with a pumped fist. But one year after sounding revolutionary at oath-

taking, his government now pays petrol subsidies through the backdoor. And because nobody bothers with transparency, Tinubu hasn’t informed the public how much he now spends on petrol subsidies. Policy reversals have become a permanent feature of his government. Critics say the president does more soundbites than thorough planning and has been too arrogant to admit his mistakes. The opposition says the myth is unravelling itself. Tinubu’s ardent supporters believe he is an oracle. They think he only needs time to tame the tempest. 

When Tinubu floated the naira, investors were delighted. It was supposed to open up the economy to foreign capital and investment. Tinubu said he had taken the bulls by the horns. But soon, the local currency tumbled off a cliff. The CBN  seemed helpless. It said the naira was seeking its true value. Soon, speculators were made the scapegoats. Apparently,  the new government hadn’t looked at the books before going for the bulls. Without a critical appraisal of dollar liabilities and liquidity, Tinubu embraced an option he didn’t have the resources to prosecute efficiently. After running helter-skelter and dashing to the Middle East, pan in hand and returning almost empty-handed, Tinubu must have realised he wasn’t a magician after all. But a man who perpetually brags about his accomplishments and taunts his opponents is unlikely to be in a hurry to manage expectations. Millions have been left disappointed.

The failure to stabilise the naira has imposed ruthless hardship on the masses and a scorching fever on the economy.  When food protests began, the government said it was the handiwork of its enemies. Propaganda might hoodwink, but it can’t fill stomachs. So, after some conspiracy theorising, the FG read the handwriting on the wall and opened its wallets and pantry to do some firefighting. Though the government inherited warts, haphazardness and thoughtlessness have been its greatest undoing. On the one hand, it has tried to remove subsidies and impose high interest rates to raise revenues and curb inflation. On the other hand, it has subsidised religious pilgrimage wantonly and engaged in carefree cash handouts. It hasn’t espoused cost-cutting. It hasn’t lived frugally. This reign of confused policies and attitudinal ambivalence has helped neither investor nor public confidence. Critics say Tinubu has a penchant for simplistic reduction of complex matters. His fans say he is the financial engineer who built Lagos and tamed the Atlantic. 

By the time Tinubu formed his government, some of his most stubborn supporters realised it wasn’t precisely the Tinubu of the early 2000s. Cronies were rewarded. Political hustlers who did dirty jobs during the elections were appointed to high offices. Tinubu no longer cared about professional competence or moral appeal. Some said he actualised Awalokan, the mother of Emilokan. Others said it was more narrow-minded because it was all about Lagos. Brazenly and contradicting his prior nationalistic bent, he reserved the most critical offices for people from his section of the country. That, he called meritocracy. Some said he had taken his eyes off posterity to service his political dynasty. Others said, “We warned you.” 

Tinubu, the first politician to occupy the office of president in the fourth republic, showed shocking tunnel vision in his appointments. A man who once had an uncontested reputation for inclusion is now being compared with other champions of tribalism. But it wasn’t just ethnicism or sectionalism. The talent hunter appointed redundant former governors, some of whom the electorate had rejected at the polls for bad governance, many of whom were wanted by the EFCC for corruption. Those who thought the president had seen it all in politics and would dedicate the rest of his life to building a virile nation and enviable institutions witnessed startling, short-sighted, self-serving political gamesmanship instead of statesmanship and knew right away that hopes had perhaps been deferred.

The vetting process lasted months, but some of the ministerial nominees were dropped off the screening list at the door of the venue of the confirmation hearings. Five months after a minister was handed over to the EFCC for alleged misuse of funds earmarked for the vulnerable, she is yet to be prosecuted or exonerated. The former EFCC chairman was arrested and detained for four whole months. The public hasn’t been informed whether he was found culpable or not and why he was held for so long.  The talent hunter has shown early signs of unpreparedness, abject lack of thoroughness, and a knack for arbitrariness.