On May 29, 2023, a kingmaker finally became king as Bola Ahmed Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria’s 16th president. However, it’s been barely six days since the grand commander of the BAT army has been in power, and we don dey see different levels of shege.
Let’s look at some key things that happened in Tinubu’s first week as Nigeria’s president.
Bye-bye to fuel subsidy
During Tinubu’s inaugural speech, he announced the removal of fuel subsidy, and this has caused nationwide panic as the price of fuel and transportation has doubled, queues are gradually returning to filling stations across the country, and many Nigerians are discovering that trekking has many health benefits.
You and I know that the problem isn’t in the fuel subsidy removal, because it would have happened sooner or later, but in how the announcement was made. Tinubu went off-script by proclaiming that the fuel subsidy was gone instead of stating it would be “phased out”. Also, no provisions have been implemented to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. This is leading Nigerians to expect the worst from his administration.
We have a new Chief of Staff
On June 2, Femi Gbajabiamila, the outgoing Speaker of the House of Representatives, was announced as the new Chief of Staff to the President.
Nigeria’s dollar bonds surged
Tinubu’s fuel subsidy announcement has a bright side — it caused Nigeria’s dollar bonds to gain value. Bonds are like IOUs or promises. When Nigeria needs money, it can issue bonds to borrow money from people or investors. These bonds are in dollars. Now, why is the surge a good thing?
When the bonds rise in value, more people are interested in buying them. This shows that investors have confidence in Nigeria and believe it will repay the borrowed money. It also means that Nigeria can borrow money at better terms, helping the country’s economy and government finances in the long run. Although we lowkey don’t want the new government accumulating more debt, we’re yet to recover from the one Buhari put us in.
Tinubu’s baddie doesn’t belong in the other room
One thing we won’t miss about former President Bubu is how he always served us international disgrace. We’ll never forget his “My wife belongs to my kitchen, living room and my other room” speech. But it looks like Tinubu is more open-minded about gender roles.
On June 1, pictures of his wife, our First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, sitting in on a meeting between the President, vice-president Kashim Shettima, CBN governor Emefiele Godwin, and group chief executive officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, emerged on the internet. We can at least give Tinubu points for being progressive by being present with his wife in an economic meeting.
While things aren’t starting off on a high note with the new government, hopefully they will pull a miracle that shocks all their haters.
What else happened this week?
The Nigerian Customs Service Embraces Technology
If you’ve ever been to a federal agency, you’ll first realise how tedious many processes are because they failed to modernise their system of operation.
Thankfully, this is going to change soon, particularly for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), as on June 2, the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd), inaugurated a $3.2 billion modernization project to end manual operations. This project is geared towards fully automating the NCS, improving transparency and effectiveness, and eliminating corruption.
The project is expected to last over 20 years and generate over $200 billion in revenue.
Video of the week
Question of the week
The recent increase in fuel prices has caused a hike in the price of transportation. How do you plan to move around this period?
Ehen one more thing…
A prince from Ile-Ife faces death by hanging for the murder of an OAU master’s student. Find out the events leading up to this case here.
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