On May 29, 2023, one of Nigeria’s political godfathers, who has spent a significant amount of time leading the political affairs of Lagos State as senator and governor, took the oath of office as Nigeria’s 16th president.
His name is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his campaign name is BAT.
The “Jagaban” right here
Many young Nigerians do not particularly like Tinubu, and many of them find his highly contested victory hard to swallow.
Citizens in our WhatsApp community share the same sentiments. Based on their suggestions, Citizen have identified key promises made by Tinubu and pressing issues they need the new president to address within his first 100 days in office as president.
This is a dare for the new presidency.
Let’s dive in:
Start clearing Nigeria’s ₦77 trillion debt
At the start of Nigeria’s democracy, Obasanjo inherited $28 billion (₦12.9 trillion) in debt.
In 2010, Yar’Adua inherited $2.11 billion in debt after Obasanjo secured a write-off of the London and Paris Club debts, with Jonathan inheriting $3.5 billion shortly after.
In 2015, Buhari inherited $10.32 billion in debt and is now leaving Tinubu with a debt of ₦77 trillion.
How we imagine Tinubu when he sees Nigeria’s account balance
Even though settling debt as high as ₦77 trillion seems like a daunting task, we advise that he take action towards minimising the country’s debt profile.
May God ‘epp’ us
Revisit Tinubu’s drug trafficking allegations
As Tinubu’s administration begins to make efforts to build trust with its leadership, the first place to start is by having the new president address his drug trafficking allegations. Not many will forget this; the bombastic side eye will still roll.
Despite APC lawyers insisting that the new president was never indicted for drug-related offences, there is still the case of the Illinois government forfeiting $460,000 in two of his bank accounts, as well as $2 million in several of Tinubu’s accounts linked to heroin trafficking.
Nigerians want Tinubu to come out and plainly confess or vindicate himself on the issue.
Eliminate multiple FX regime
In October 2022, Tinubu promised Nigerians to eliminate multiple foreign exchange rates in the country, as it affects the costs of imports, the competitiveness of exports etc. He also mentioned in his inaugural speech that solving Nigeria’s forex issue would be a priority.
Hopes are high with his promise in this regard. This is given that the nation’s currency currently stands at N460 to a dollar at the CBN rate for Nigeria’s dollar-to-naira exchange. Black market prices currently revolve around N770 or higher.
Establish budgetary reform
In his inaugural speech, Tinubu announced he would establish budgetary reform to stimulate the economy without causing inflation.
If you don’t know why, let’s bring back the N21.83 trillion budget signed at the beginning of the year as a refresher. This consists of a debt service cost taking over nearly 31% of the budget at N6 trillion, which many financial analysts see as a poor decision.
Answer the question, “Who gave the order?”
It’s been three years since the Lekki Toll Gate massacre, and one question that the Buhari administration never answered to was “Who gave the order?”
This is a question that is highly important to Nigerians for the newly established Tinubu administration to pay attention to and give an answer to especially since he has an interesting relationship with the governor of Lagos State.
Phase out fuel subsidy
Our new president vowed to remove a big and important chunk of expenditure on Nigeria’s budget: the fuel subsidy.
In March 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) revealed that the nation spends over N400 billion every month on fuel subsidies.
Tinubu promised to “re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care, and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.” Citizens are saying, “Shall he remove it?”
Improve on power generation
If you live in Nigeria, you know that having a constant power supply is almost a distant dream. But with Tinubu, not anymore.
The president has assured Nigerians that they can expect electricity to become more accessible and affordable for businesses and homes. There will be double of Nigeria’s power generation, and transmission and distribution networks will get improved. He also promised to encourage states to develop local power generation sources. Who won’t be happy with stable electricity?
Make Nigeria safe again
According to the Nigeria Security Tracker, no fewer than 63,111 people were killed under the Buhari eight-year regime.
Nigerians experienced cases of terrorism, banditry, and pastoralist vs. farmer clashes. We also recorded several communal crises, cult clashes, and extrajudicial killings.
In his inaugural speech, Tinubu promised to answer this “debacle” by improving the security personnel with better training, equipment, pay, and firepower.
Even though this helps, we also need the president to take stringent legal action against the 96 financiers of this terrorism. This was compiled by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for the Buhari government and never addressed.
A year-long supply of cassava, garri and Ewa
While we’re still significantly interested in agriculture and looking for ways for framers to make more money, let’s not forget our new president’s love for root crops like cassava, garri, ewa, and corn. We can expect to see more of this become part of our diet.
Hold Meffy accountable
It is strange that someone who created a naira redesign policy that eventually led to a nationwide cash scarcity that significantly affected Nigerians has not been properly checked for citizens to know what’s up.
In these next 100 days, we need Tinubu to hold the CBN governor by the neck. We also need to make him accountable for his actions in playing with Nigeria’s economic and financial situation.
Expect a “money rain”
There’s hope that Tinubu will run a more liberal economy than Buhari.
We want Nigerians to begin testifying to this within his 100 days in office. We should be seeing the “Tinubunomics” equation and theories make sense.
Don’t dare censor social media
Due to the June 2021 events that followed former President Buhari’s ban on Twitter in Nigeria, a community member raised this particular challenge.
Even though Tinubu claims not to use social media, please don’t let us experience evil anymore. Please don’t.
Work with foreign bodies to end conflict
In light of the recent crisis in Sudan and Nigerians stuck in the crosshairs, the BAT has assured Nigerians that peace and stability in West Africa and the continent at large will be his watchword.
To achieve this, he promises to work with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU). This is in order to end and resolve new conflicts.
With all this, can we trust our new president to keep his promises? And would we see significant progress within his first 100 days in office?
Well, only time will tell.
