Dan-Sokoto, who had previously narrated how life has changed in the hitherto embattled Birnin Gwari and its environs, further reiterated the continuous successes in stabilising his part of Nigeria. To the names I reeled out of high-profile bandits silenced for good, he added one Dogo Mai-Rasha, who he said was notorious around Birnin Gwari but was recently killed in combat somewhere in Niger State. I was jolted by these revelations because they represented genuine testament from down the ladder.
Surfing through my WhatsApp messages a few days ago, a message popped in from Umar Dan-Sokoto, a contact based in Kaduna’s Birnin Gwari town. It was a short voice note. Thus, despite my aversion for that messaging format, I didn’t hesitate clicking to listen to it. The voice message, he said, was a response to my interview, which he listened to over the radio on the milestones recorded by the Tinubu administration. “But you have forgotten some significant achievements,” he remarked. “Just before this government came in, a measure of maize flour sold for N4,000; now it’s N2,000. At a point, a bag of maize sold for up to N100,000. How much is it now?!” He asked rhetorically. But the pleasant answer is one that Dan-Sokoto and other Nigerians who patronise that stable food very much know.
Dan-Sokoto, who had previously narrated how life has changed in the hitherto embattled Birnin Gwari and its environs, further reiterated the continuous successes in stabilising his part of Nigeria. To the names I reeled out of high-profile bandits silenced for good, he added one Dogo Mai-Rasha, who he said was notorious around Birnin Gwari but was recently killed in combat somewhere in Niger State. I was jolted by these revelations because they represented genuine testament from down the ladder. It also vindicates the fact that no matter what nay-sayers say, ordinary Nigerians follow and count their blessings.
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No one denies that we had gone through tough times. But it amounts to dishonesty and even a betrayal of God’s mercies if we do not acknowledge that we are witnessing a calm, after the storms. This administration came at a tough time, but as the saying goes, when it gets tough only the tough gets going. And, indeed, unusual moments demand unusual actions.
On arriving on 29 May, 2023, President Bola Tinubu wasted no time in grabbing the long-avoided bull by the horns. For decades, everyone side-stepped the difficult route to our surest path to growth. No one wanted to unsettle the status quo, especially one that had the elites feeding on the national cake, while they had built a Potemkin’s village of sort for the poor; a fool’s paradise. As I noted elsewhere, President Tinubu showed a clear difference between politics and governance. He had the option to remain politically correct by window-dressing the walking corpse and remaining popular. But as the true leader that he is, he took the commendable decision of doing the right thing for the country, even if it would make him unpopular in the short-term.
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It was akin to a choice to fly into a gathering storm or endlessly wait in uncertainty. He chose the first option. The ride hadn’t been easy. The storm was huge. But, like a well-trained pilot, President Tinubu stayed on course, with absolute trust in the correctness of his decision and belief in the ability of the steps taken to deliver the plane out of the storms.
The eureka moment is now here. We have turned the corner on most indices and ordinary Nigerians, who patiently went through the storms, are now beginning to see the full glare of the light at the end of the tunnel. Glory be to God!
When this administration came, what it met was a dry well. In fact, though no one penned a stark note like what former British secretary of Treasury, Liam Byrne, left for his successor, in 2008 (“I’m afraid, there is no money!”), the fiscal indices show exactly that. Many states were struggling to pay salaries. Debt servicing had stopped. Our debt-to-GDP ratio was hitting the ceiling. Oil production had dipped to lower than a million barrels. The state was gasping.
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But even during the campaign, President Tinubu had sensed the situation of the well and had said he was ready to – and indeed stated that he knew how to – draw water from the dry well. However for the well to recharge and bring out the needed water, it was imperative to block leakages and stop wasteful spending. This was what he did.
Now, everyone now and then, some cynics ask, rather cheekily; “where is the subsidy money the government said it has saved?” A cursory look reveals so much being done at both the federal and sub-national levels, indicative of prosperity. Civil servants in states which used to go for months without salaries have forgotten that era. Those who were paid in bits and pieces now get paid in full, despite the new minimum wage implemented. Pensioners no longer stage protests. ASUU has had no reason to close the classrooms.
Meanwhile, this government has waved off the burden of school fees from hundreds of thousands families. President Tinubu has literally put entire Nigerian students in tertiary institutions on scholarships. The loan scheme administered by the Nigerian Educational Loan Fund (NELFUND) is so easy to access, and very soft on repayment. By now, over 300,000 Nigerians have benefitted from it, with their tuition fees and pocket allowances being paid. It’s been a huge relief to their teeming parents.
Then came massive investments in infrastructure. In economics, the idea of investment in public infrastructures serves multiple purposes. First, it is a means of pumping money into the economy through the productive sectors, not fraud-prone subsidies or handouts. Two, it is meant to generate jobs and take youthful members of the population away from crime and idleness. Third, and perhaps what everyone sees, is the economic growth that such infrastructures eventually spur, directly or indirectly. In the aftermath of economic downturns like the Great Depression, governments put money into infrastructure projects to drive these benefits.
The Tinubu administration is massively investing in infrastructures to yield all these benefits. Nigeria is today one big construction site with investments in roads, railways, housing, schools and hospitals. Let’s start from the latter.
In the last two years, over 1,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) have been rebuilt. At the moment, over 5,000 others are in the works as part of government’s ambitious plan to revitalise 17,000 PHCs nationwide by 2027. Sixty-one tertiary health institutions and diagnostic centres are undergoing a similar turnaround. The idea is to have truly specialised institutions in different aspects of healthcare delivery that would help cut down our huge medical tourism bill. Besides revamping healthcare, these are jobs and money in the pockets of Nigerians.
Inherited and fresh road projects are going on all over the country, with attendant catalytic impact on growth and development. It’s the same with rail and power projects, including unprecedented investment in renewable energy.
In education, this government has established more universities and other tertiary institutions than was done in the last decade. Each institution established is hundreds of direct jobs and hundreds more indirect ones. It’s also educational liberation and empowerment of the people.
What the Tinubu administration has done in the past two years is to recalibrate our economy away from flippancy to productivity. It has also pulled our national priorities from living ala the stereotypical Abuja big boy who lives above his means and without recourse to the future. A culture of long-term and strategic investment where it matters is now being installed. Productivity – in agri-business, clean energy, housing, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, IT start-ups and entertainment – is now being rewarded. Steadily, we’re reaping the fruits of tough smart decisions. In due course we’ll all be happy that we followed a man who knows the road through the storm into a calm bright tomorrow.
Abdulaziz Abdulaziz is senior special assistant to the President on Print Media. Email: [email protected], X: @Abdulfagge
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