By Michael Chibuzo
It is barely 20 days into the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and it feels like we are already past his first 100 days in office. That’s how eventful President Tinubu’s early days has been to the point that the landmark removal of fuel subsidy now seems like an event that happened a lifetime ago. The mere fact that a very delicate act as subsidy removal with all the potential political flares that comes with it seems a distant memory less than 20 days later tells you a story of President Tinubu’s dizzying pace of governance .
Within his first 16 days in office, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has affirmed subsidy removal, unified the multiple exchange rates (effectively allowing for market-determined rates), signed four landmark pieces of legislation (Electricity Act, Student Loan Act, Data Protection Act, as well as the Constitutional Alteration Bill No. 37 unifying retirement age of judges) and made bold calls to suspend the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Within this period, the President has also arrested two industrial actions – that which was embarked upon by JOHESU before he assumed office and the earlier planned nationwide strike by the NLC and the TUC to protest the decision of the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy. He followed that up by marathon meetings and engagements with major oil marketers State Governors, Traditional Rulers and many other groups to get everyone on the same page. President Tinubu also within this period helped the newly inaugurated 10th National Assembly to deftly navigate a tricky leadership election, which led to the emergence of Sen. Godswill Akpabio and Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas as the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.
The list continues almost endlessly, and this is coming from someone many unfairly described as sick and suffering from dementia during the Presidential campaigns! A cursory look at the immediate and long-term implications of some of President Tinubu’s decisive calls so far, shows that for a starter, he has succeeded in generating so much hope in a new Nigeria, in fact he has actually starting Renewing the Hope of Nigerians in Nigeria! Many who doubted his suitability for the job of the President, including many of his most vocal bloc of opponents (the Obidients) have started expressing marvel at the decisive steps he has been taking back to back.
The fuel subsidy removal in one fell swoop sounded the death knell on the exploitation of Nigeria’s scarce revenue to subsidise the fuel consumption of not just Nigerians but most West African and a few Central African countries. Yes, fuel pump prices readjusted upwards to reflect market prices, but it opened the door for many major oil marketers to rejoin petrol importation (which hopefully will shift to purchase from Dangote Refinery soon), thereby relieving NNPC Ltd of this great albatross. With this bold decisions, more investments into the downstream oil sector is expected due to the greater clarity in the market.
The unification of the multiple exchange rates and windows on its own has begun the restructuring of our fragile economy. Less than 24 hours after the circular from the CBN announcing liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, the market capitalisation of the Nigerian stock exchange gained N992 billion at the close of business on 14th June, 2023! The Naira initially depreciated in the I&E window to around N750 before rallying back to N664 for one dollar.
In one single stroke President Bola Tinubu has decisively dealt with arbitrage in the foreign exchange market and fuel supply in the country, freeing a lot of resources for development in the process. The confidence of investors in Nigeria is rising at a fast pace. Meanwhile, all these are happening even before the President has constituted his cabinet, which shows the clarity of vision and level of preparedness of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In less than 20 days in office, the President has fulfilled or significantly fulfilled not less than four of his landmark campaign promises without breaking a sweat.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his campaigns repeatedly promised to hit the ground running from Day 1 once elected as President and on the surface of present realities, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not just hit the ground running on May 29, but he is now running like Usain Bolt!