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Two Weeks In Office: President Tinubu Has Hit The Ground Running – And He Must Keep It Up
It has been two weeks since President Bola Tinubu took the oath of office as the 16th commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As he promised in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, he has hit the ground running and seems to be taking all the right decisions as it stands.
Since President Tinubu assumed office, he has met with various stakeholders, including governors, lawmakers, security chiefs, monarchs, amongst others. Everyday, he has met one group or the other, laying out what he expects from them and how to steer the country in the right direction.
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Notably, the president’s tenure got off to a rough start after the poor communication about the fuel subsidy removal in his inaugural speech. He went off script to declare that “fuel subsidy is gone,” triggering scarcity and huge increase in petrol pump price nationwide. Although the former administration of President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that subsidy payment would elapse by the end of June, the new administration stopped paying since the start of June.
Despite President Tinubu’s team’s attempts to clean up his statement and point out that the subsidy removal was not immediate, the situation did not abate. In fact, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited increased its fuel pump prices to between N480 and N550 per litre a few days later. Unsurprisingly, other fuel stations across the country followed the NNPC’s lead and Nigerians have been buying petrol at an average price of N500/litre since the president’s first week in office.
In spite of this early discomfort and pain, there is a substantial agreement across board that fuel subsidy needed to go. However, Nigerians are hopeful that the government will raise the minimum wage and execute social safety programmes to cushion the biting effects of the fuel price hike on their finances. Even though the government is yet to take any decisive action to enact these social safety nets, there are indications it is committed to doing so.
Take away the fuel subsidy removal factor and President Tinubu has made some promising moves in the early days of his administration. Besides tasking security chiefs to deal with criminals decisively, he has charged traditional rulers to be more involved in ensuring security within their communities.
President Bola Tinubu
Moreover, President Tinubu’s most decisive action came last Friday as he suspended Godwin Emefiele as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Besides being the president’s most decisive action, it also appears to be his most popular one till date. He said Emefiele was suspended due to ongoing investigations in his office.
Emefiele certainly did not gain a lot of sympathy from Nigerians who sharply remember his cash swap policy that had detrimental impacts on individuals and businesses.
No doubt, President Tinubu’s actions in the past two weeks project a man who recognises the weight of the task on his shoulders. Former President Buhari left a dwindling economy and an angry nation that needed stable hands to fix. The incumbent president is shaping out to be the exact hands the nation needs at this critical junction.
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Besides, President Tinubu won the February 25, 2023, presidential election with about 36% of the vote. Clearly, a large majority of the electorate wanted a different person to be president. Therefore, the president still has a lot of work on his hands to convince his doubters that he is the best man for the job – and he is already on the path. Most importantly, he has to keep it up.
Philip Ibitoye writes for Eko Hot Blog. This media platform reserves all rights to this article.
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