President Bola Tinubu: It’s Good To Invest In The Future, But Let Living Also Breathe

By Sola Olatunji

In a matter of days away, some Nigerians may roll out the drums to celebrate the first year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office. Yes, to certain categories of people like those who won the coastal road contracts and other beneficiaries of this government, there is a lot to celebrate. Wait a minute, why is this government in a hurry to award these new contracts when there are other projects across the country that we haven’t been able to fund ? Why is Lagos -Shagamu-Benin -Ore Road still in a dilapidated state more than 20 years after the contract was awarded?

But to vulnerable Nigerians who had hinged their hope on the low hanging fruits of renewed hope agenda of the president, this one year has been full of nightmares and anguish experiences It’s a year of hyperinflation on food and other essential items that have defiled all Oxford and Harvard theories of Dr. Cardoso. It’s a year when dollars thrashed our currency $/1900, and the problem still lingers .It’s a year when petrol subsidy was removed without mitigation plan . It’s a year when the electricity subsidy was removed without consultation. It’s a year when vulnerable Nigerians are going to bed with empty stomachs.

It’s a year when vulnerable Nigerians were told by the president to endure hunger that Nigeria is investing in the future. It’s a year of multiple taxation of a depressed economy without deliberate attempts to reflate the economy. It’s a year when resolutions of the national assembly, the true representatives of the people, are being ignored by the executive with passion.Its a year when the office of the citizens have been consigned to the dustbin of history in any government policy. It’s a year when Rivers State governor, Fubara, and Wike, his godfather, now the minister of Federal Capital Territory, are flexing musles. It’s also a year when the political party of the president( APC) conducted a wuruwuru primary election in Ondo State, which is already raising tension within the opposition camps that 2027 general elections may also be full of magomago experience. It’s a year when everything about Nigerian is being determined by the brettonwood institutions ( IMF & the World Bank).

We have also noticed that this present administration seems to be laying much emphasis on multiple taxation of goods and services despite the fact that the economy and greater percentage of Nigerians are on the livesupport machine for survival. I also doubt that there is any nation in the world that has made progress by taxing their citizens beyond their capacity to pay. One would have thought that the president would come up with deliberate policies that would reflate the economy and put some money in the pockets of Nigerians before we can apply further taxes reasonably. In the word of the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Wiston Churchill ‘he said that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle’. Do we really think that multiple taxes are the desirable options in a depressed economy?

Mr. President, let’s take care of the living first before we can have the strength to plan for the future. In my view,there is the need to adopt the strategy that the former president of the United States of America ,Barack Obama, adopted when the US economy was in a mess at a time because of global metdown challenge. He deliberately reflated the economy through stimulus packages to prevent job losses,boost consumer spending, and also save the economy of the US. Today, most of these companies are doing pretty well in the US. Let’s replicate something like this in our textile industries and other manufacturing companies that are gasping for oxygen to survive. In agriculture, to be able to attain food security, we should deploy idle spaces in our public schools from primary schools to tertiary levels into farming and coopt these students into farming as part of their activities in schools like we used to have in the 70s and 80s. I think this will urgument whatever policy the government is driving in agriculture. I also think that we should explore every available option in our window now. Ultimately, with a multidimensional approach as enumerated above, our economy will be up again in real time.

On the political front, the president is seen today as the symbol of modern progressive politics in Nigeria. We can recall many battles he fought with others to usher in the democracy we have today. But while we are celebrating his democratic credentials, It is not yet uhuru because our public institutions are still being manipulated by public office holders, and this is a threat to the sustainability of our democracy. A situation where the political party of the president, which is the APC that should naturally lead by examples, is brazenly involved in circumventing electoral laws by organising wuruwuru primary election in Ondo State seems unimaginable.

We are also observing that the other organs of government are increasingly becoming powerless in the hands of the executive . In a recent outburst, the governor of Rivers state said that the House of Assembly of Rivers State exists because he wants them to do so. This is the case all over the country. We are more disturbed that the national assembly is almost being turned to a branch of the executive today. We are worried that resolutions of the national assembly who are the representatives of the people are ignored by the executive with passion. This does not really portray us as a serious democratic nation. We can’t be preaching democracy with one hand and be operating facism with the other hand.

Thank you.

Otunba Sola Olatunji is a Chieftain of APC and Chairman of Ikale Heritage Development Association(IHDA)