Tinubu: Troubled year, uncertain future, By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf

Workers are increasingly being retrenched. Unemployment has increased. Transportation costs have risen tremendously. Inflation keeps soaring. Uncertainty is increasing, leading to fear, exhaustion, strained relationships and family breakdown. Children trek long distances to school. Nigerians are resorting to the use of charcoal to cook, leading to deforestation and increasing desertification. State-society relations have further degenerated.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this Wednesday, 29 May, marked a rocky first year as the president and commander-In-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He had, during the 2023 presidential campaign, promised to right the misrule of President Muhammadu Buhari. Any scrutiny of Tinubu’s performance must, thus, discard excuses and propaganda. However, what he met on ground must be highlighted.

No administration, since independence in 1960, inflicted as much suffering and pain on Nigerians like the Buhari government did. His era witnessed the gargantuan looting of our commonwealth. It accumulated colossal internal and external debts, the volume of which had never been experienced before then. It bastardised, humiliated and belittled the naira. It virtually halted teaching and learning in our universities by refusing to reach an amicable agreement with the Academic Staff Unions of Universities (ASUU) on issues of great importance. It left the health sector to rot, and people to die in hospitals.

Buhari balkanised society by employing ethnicity and filial relations in government business. Shia Muslims who were taking part in the 2015 Quds Day procession in Zaria were massacred. They were also killed for peacefully protesting against the illegal detention of their leaders. Peaceful #EndSARs protesters were killed in Lagos.

Buhari failed to secure the nation. Boko Haram and the Eastern Security Network liberally slaughtered innocent people. Banditry, abduction of school children, kidnapping, the raping of women, and desecration of worship places were rife. Villages were sacked, harvests destroyed, lands seized and security officers killed by bandits.

While allegedly repentant terrorists were fed, accommodated, trained and compensated, the victims of terrorism were abandoned. Some soldiers were even punished for allegedly dealing decisively with terrorists in battlefields.

It was against this background that Tinubu came to power. Yet, he promised to “continue” with Buhari’s legacy. He is frantically doing that!

Tinubu has persisted in delaying the upward review of a new National Minimum Wage (NMW). He met the NMW at N30,000, plus a pittance of N12,000 that the Buhari administration added for federal public servants. This brought the total package to N42,000. In September 2023, Tinubu added N35,000 as “wage subsidy” for six months, pending the outcome of the negotiation for a NMW. This brought the total to N77,000.

Tinubu inherited the petrol pump price at N238:11 per litre. He remorselessly increased it on 30 May, 2023 to N540/litre and in July, to N617/litre. Petrol is currently selling in some southern states as high as N1,100 per litre. In some northern states, it sells at between N1,500 and N1,800/litre, while a litre of fuel is N3,000 in Sokoto. Only the NNPC filling stations in Abuja sell at N617 per litre. The diesel price rose from N844.28/litre to N1,415.06/litre. The price of a 15.5 kilogramme of cooking gas rose from N9,537.39 in May 2023 to N15,060.38 in February 2024.

Tinubu regularised the apartheid in electricity distribution, in which quite rich citizens and businesses are supplied electricity more regularly, whereas the marginalised are provided with highly epileptic power, and the rural areas are completely neglected in terms of supply. The President mercilessly hiked the electricity tariff from N68 per kilowatt hour (KWH) to N225/KWH for customers who “enjoy” 20 hours’ average supply. But in reality most customers scarcely enjoy electricity supply for 20 hours in any given day. Even the poor were categorised with the rich! People are wickedly compelled to pay for darkness, and services not rendered.

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Buhari left the exchange rate of the naira to US dollar (USD) at N464.51/$1 at the official market, and N762/$1 at the parallel market. Tinubu devalued the naira in June 2023, pushing the official rate to N664.04/$1, and the parallel market rate to N773.25/$1. The naira, as at 28 May, was sold for N1,383/$1 at the official market, and N1,500/$1 at the parallel market. Tinubu, therefore, has continued the bastardisation and humiliation of the naira.

Tinubu has persisted in delaying the upward review of a new National Minimum Wage (NMW). He met the NMW at N30,000, plus a pittance of N12,000 that the Buhari administration added for federal public servants. This brought the total package to N42,000. In September 2023, Tinubu added N35,000 as “wage subsidy” for six months, pending the outcome of the negotiation for a NMW. This brought the total to N77,000.

The N77,000, when converted to US dollars, amounts to a parity of $51, as at 28 May. This cannot buy a 50-kilogramme bag of rice. Besides, Nigeria’s NMW is the lowest, when compared to its neighbours. Niger Republic pays $60; Cameroon, $62; Benin, $70 and Chad, between $250 and $330.

Yet, the government, during the NMW negotiation, proposed N48,000! The organised private sector, which currently pays a minimum of N78,000, proposed N54,000. Both were, therefore, proposing a downward review of the NMW. This shows the retrogressive nature of the regime. It exposes its lackadaisical attitude towards the survival and welfare of Nigerian workers. It has shown its disdain for the labour movement, and a “see-me-finish” of the working people.

The reckless killing of Nigerians by the security forces have continued under Tinubu. Eighty-five Nigerians were killed, and many others severely injured on 3 December, 2023. They were “erroneously” bombed by the Nigeria Air Force while celebrating Maulud in Tudun Biri in Kaduna State.

Workers are increasingly being retrenched. Unemployment has increased. Transportation costs have risen tremendously. Inflation keeps soaring. Uncertainty is increasing, leading to fear, exhaustion, strained relationships and family breakdown. Children trek long distances to school. Nigerians are resorting to the use of charcoal to cook, leading to deforestation and increasing desertification. State-society relations have further degenerated.

The military also invaded and occupied Okuama in Delta State, over the killing of 17 soldiers, said to be on military assignments on 14 March. In retaliation, the military killed many, levelled the community and forced its residents to take refuge in the forest. But the Okuama people insisted they “had no hands in the death of the soldiers.” The military further raided the Igbomotoru community in Bayelsa State, in search of the killers of the 17 military men. They killed 20 youths in the process.

Tinubu pays no attention to Nigeria’s interests in foreign policy. He has continued the sheepish acceptance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) dictates, which under-develop the economy; undermine human, civil and democratic rights; nourishes state–society antagonism, and further balkanises society. The very slow denial that the administration wanted to grant military bases to US and France show how our foreign policy has shamefully and pitifully regressed.

Tinubu has played the role of an obedient servant of Western powers in West African. He organised the suspension of Niger Republic from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and disconnected electricity to that country. He led the imposition of various sanctions on the Nigerien people. He also tried to level war against the Sahel country, but was stopped. Tinubu’s reactions were clearly at the behest of France and European Union. The coup was popular with Nigeriens, but extremely unpopular with the French government.

The cascading effects of Tinubu’s policies are numerous. The cost of production of goods and services have risen astronomically. The capacity of Nigeria’s industries to compete has been drastically reduced. The quality of goods and services have reduced. Profit margins have been eaten up, thereby potentially reducing capital growth, investment and expansion. No wonder that at least 767 manufacturing companies have shut down operation and another 335 are in extreme financial distress!

Workers are increasingly being retrenched. Unemployment has increased. Transportation costs have risen tremendously. Inflation keeps soaring. Uncertainty is increasing, leading to fear, exhaustion, strained relationships and family breakdown. Children trek long distances to school. Nigerians are resorting to the use of charcoal to cook, leading to deforestation and increasing desertification. State-society relations have further degenerated.

The first year of the Tinubu administration have been a troubled one, while the future seems choked with a lot of uncertainties.

Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: aaramatuyusuf@yahoo.com