Tuesday Column By VICTORIA NGOZI IKEANO
vikeano@yahoo.co.uk | 08033077519
The next momentous moment for our country in the calendar year 2023 happened in May. A new dawn literally broke for Nigeria as a new president was sworn in on May 29. Nigeria has been swearing in new presidents over the years of course. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the 16th president. What was really new about this handover is that this is the first time since the 4th Republic which started in May 1999 that we are having a president who is prepared and yearned to be the nation’s number one citizen. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had hardly come out prison, had hardly savoured the air of freedom so to speak, when he was more or less ambushed by the powers that be, to enter the political fray, made a presidential candidate and declared winner by the electoral umpire then. At end of his constitutionally permitted eight-year tenure, spanning 1999 to 2003, he was succeeded by Umar Musa Yar’adua whom he handpicked and who of course, won the election. Yar’adua a former lecturer and governor of Katsina state did not aspire to be president as such. He was more or less forcefully plucked from his comfort zone in Katsina state where he was serving his people at state level as governor.
Rivers state governor, Peter Odili it was widely believed, would be Yar’adua vice but it was not to be; the lot instead fell on Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan had just won election as Bayelsa governor and was looking forward eagerly to his first full term as governor (having succeeded his boss DSP Alamieseigha who was impeached midterm) and had mapped out what he would do during this tenure. Then, like his second boss, Yar’adua, he was suddenly catapulted to the post of vice president of Nigeria. Yar’Adua passed on unexpectedly and then Jonathan accidentally became president. Mohammadu Buhari had to all intents and purpose, vowed never to contest anymore to be Nigeria’s number one citizen, after three unsuccessful attempts. But he was cajoled out of his retirement; and he succeeded at the fourth try, becoming Nigeria’s 15th president, served out his two terms, totalling eight years and he formally bowed out on May 29,2023.
All of Nigeria’s presidents since the fourth Republic from 1999 stumbled unto the presidency rather unwillingly. It is different with Tinubu. For the first time Nigeria has a willing man on the saddle as executive president. President Tinubu had been longing to be president, had been preparing to be president for decades by building bridges, human capital, collaborations and structures over the years. And now the time has come for him, he has achieved his apparently long term ambition of becoming president. He is now the 16th president and Commander-in-Chief of the most populous black nation in the world. President Tinubu is taking over the mantle of leadership at a most difficult time in the nation’s history and the challenges confronting him are rather herculean in reality.
The economic, social and other indices are not bright. Consider that he is inheriting record levels of debts, record levels of unemployment, record inflation rate, pervasive poverty, social deviants, deep seated hatred, mistrust among the populace and so on and so forth. One is inclined to feel sorry for him, given that these problems look insurmountable. President Tinubu is touted in some quarters as a man with a midas touch who can cure all of Nigeria’s problems (here is of course, no such man in Nigeria). There are therefore, high expectations from him. Out gone President Buhari did his best but Nigerians are expecting President Tinubu not just to perform better than his predecessor in terms of delivering the dividends of democracy but to perform BEST overall. A tough call this is, given the circumstances under which he is stepping in. This high expectation derives apparently from what has been described as his exceedingly high performance in Lagos state where he was governor for eight years. We are expecting him to replicate such ‘exceedingly high performance’ in Lagos state at the national level.
It is true that Lagos state is like a mini Nigeria, a melting pot of people from all parts of the country and classes. But the times are different, they are two different kettles of fish. He was governor between 1999 and 2003, over two decades when many Nigerians would say, ‘things were relatively better’. Much water has passed under the bridge as there have been many changes at regional, national and international levels since then. President Tinubu is credited with having laid the foundation for a flourishing Lagos state with a long term master plan that governors coming after him are mandated to strictly adhere to. Lagos has in the last 25 years been governed successively by a progressive party, now APC. Can Tinubu replicate such long term master plan and its faithful implementation at the federal level without turning Nigeria into a one-party state?
Having set rather high expectation for his presidency, am afraid that he would be judged by higher standards every step of his presidency. He and his team should have moderated the expectations or warned Nigerians enough about the difficult times ahead, at least in the initial years and so lessen whatever disappointment there might be. As it is, President Tinubu’s announcement of immediate suspension of fuel subsidy has hiked retail price of petrol with spiral effects on prices of other goods and services, leading to further rise in inflation rate. Already experts hint that the nation is technically broke. President Tinubu has a mountain to climb so to speak. Yet, he has been saying all along that he would not disappoint Nigerians. In fact President Tinubu said without equivocation: ‘’Don’t pity me, I asked for this job, I campaigned for it. I will not let you down”. Such confidence!
