President Tinubu: ‘Focus on Security, Economy, Infrastructure and Judiciary’s Independence’

Against all odds, and even as the Presidential Election Tribunal continues sitting, Senator Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, GCFR of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was sworn in as the 16th President of the Federal Republic on Nigeria on May 29, 2023. What are the earnest expectations of Nigerians from the Tinubu administration? How realistic are these expectations? Onikepo Braithwaite and Jude Igbanoi sought the views of a cross-section of Nigerian Lawyers in this Special Edition

Senator Ndoma Egba, SAN – Make Nigeria Attractive to Foreign Investors

We expect a secure, peaceful and prospering Nigeria in which every Nigerian, irrespective of tribe, religion or gender, will be an acknowledged stakeholder; in which every Nigerian has equal opportunities to the opportunities and resources the country offers. I expect the from our responsible domestic behaviour we begin to earn global respect, and Nigeria becomes the country of choice for Nigerians and foreign investors; a country where every  citizen is able to realise his or her potentials through honest exertions.

Former A-G Ogun State, Wemimo Ogunde, SAN – Engage the Youths Productively

The Tinubu administration should make the teeming youth population more productive, by turning their heads from aspiring for mere University certificates to technical education and qualifications. There is sure immediate employment for automobile technicians, slaters, plumbers, tilers, factory technicians, agric technicians, tractor drivers, for at least 50% of those presently drifting around.

To begin, in cooperation with Governors, a redistribution of the population of Lagos State by the revamping of the power sector. Power supply and employment in the hinterland, would make many to leave Lagos. 

To strengthen our revenue base and the value of the Naira, by making us look inwards for basic needs: clothing, food and medicare.

Chief Layi Babatunde, SAN – Restore the Dignity of Nigerians

Mr President, without prejudice to the pending and on- going, electoral processes, be faithful to your oath of office and oath of allegiance. Obey the Constitution and the Law, and respect those who administer our laws. Restore our dignity as Nigerians. Unite the people in truth, words and deeds. Borrow ideas and people that will profit our country, even from those who do not belong to your party, or may even hate your guts! 

Keep your electoral promises and change those things, your conscience and the demands of the moment, demands of you to change, having regard to your previous experience in governance and the challenges that confront us a traumatised people. Restructure governance and administration of the country, for good. Be accountable and rule with the fear of God. May Nigeria, under your watch, take it’s rightful place in the comity of Nations.

Sam Ologunorisa, SAN, Abuja – With Courage, Tackle Multiple Exchange Rate and Subsidy Scam

The Government has shown courage and commitment, to confront the principalities that held us down as a nation. I am impressed by its courage to confront the multiple exchange rate and the payment of subsidy, which we have all agreed is a scam. 

My sincere hope is that it will show commitment in the area of electricity, so as to rejig the small and medium scale enterprises for economic growth.

Past NBA General Secretary, Muyiwa Akinboro, SAN – Tackle Japa Syndrome

I simply want him to be President of Nigeria, to carry all sections along, and be a father to all.

He should tackle insecurity, and make the country safe. Apart from economic considerations,  security has a big role to play in the Japa syndrome that is currently emptying our country of our youths, who are the leaders of tomorrow. 

He should work with the best hands available across board to reposition the economy, and aggressively tackle our infrastructural deficiency.  

The truth is that the expectations are high, from both the people that voted for him and those who did not. He has a reputation of a performer, and God will help him to succeed.

George Oguntade, SAN – Focus on Power, Basic Infrastructure and the Economy  

My expectations of the President Tinubu administration, are very high indeed. This is majorly borne out of the fact that I expect that he will assemble a team of young, smart and innovative technocrats/professionals, to advise and implement policies. I expect that the President will put a mechanism in place to monitor progress, such that adjustments may be made along the journey. 

Furthermore, it is patently obvious that Nigeria is faced with a myriad of problems, all of which cannot be resolved in the next four years. Some sort of long term Action Plan should be laid out identifying all these problems, and then prioritising the most crucial ones to be confronted, namely, Power, Basic Infrastructure and the Economy generally. I think once a good foundation is laid, successive administrations can then build on this, to move the country forward. 

The President Tinubu Administration should not attempt to be resolve all problems at once, and end up back at square one, resolving nothing.

Usman Sule, SAN – Take Nigeria Out of Present Decay, Bad Economy and Poor Infrastructure

Taking from his wealth of experience, Tinubu has the exposure and intellect to govern Nigeria well. Some us are students of history, from what Tinubu did in Lagos, his transformation agenda then in Lagos gives us hope that Nigeria will witness a lots of transformation in infrastructural development, in the area of roads, and grass roots projects like water and agriculture.

I watched keenly his campaign speech in Kaduna during his presidential campaign tour, and if those items on the list of what he promised Nigerians are addressed, then we should expect that President Tinubu will take Nigeria out of its present state of decay, bad economy and poor infrastructure.

Of importance, President Tinubu’s administration has the ability to bring Nigeria out it’s current state of poor remuneration of the Judiciary. The Judiciary must be given adequate funding, to enable it meet the onerous task of delivery justice to people.

Taking from his wealth of experience, Tinubu has the exposure and intellect to govern Nigeria well. Some us are students of history, from what Tinubu did in Lagos, his transformation agenda then in Lagos give us hope that Nigerian will witness a lots of transformation in infrastructural developments in area of roads, grass roots project like water and agriculture.

I watched keenly his campaign speech in Kaduna during his presidential campaign tour, and if those items on his list of what he promised Nigerians are addressed, then we should expect that President Tinubu will take Nigeria out of its presents state of decay, bad economy and poor infrastructure.

Of importance, President Tinubu’s administration has the ability to bring Nigeria out its current state of poor remuneration of the Judiciary. The Judiciary must be given adequate funding, to enable it meet the onerous task of delivery justice to people.

NBA Lagos Chairman, Ikechukwu Uwanna – Improve Financial Independence of the Judiciary

I look forward to his administration fully implementing the financial independence of the Judiciary, as is now constitutionally enshrined.

I also hope that the ease of doing business will be improved upon, and there will be absolute respect for the rule of law.

Nigeria is currently at a precipice. So, it will be great if this administration can focus on putting in place the right structures to move the economy forward, and improve the standard of living.

Jonathan Ikiebe – Overhaul of the Entire Security Architecture

I expect a “better life for everyone”. High hopes! On a serious note, I expect that he pays close attention to the following three issues:

An overhaul of the entire security architecture in the country, to ensure a safe and secure environment for persons and for businesses to thrive. Business can only thrive in a secure environment.

Deal with the issue of power (electricity) to grow the productive sector, especially in the light of the deregulation in the petroleum downstream and the attendant rise in the fuel price. A boost in the energy sector, will definitely translate into a boost in the business (especially small scale productive) sector. Every effort must be made, to stimulate growth in the productive sector. We cannot continue to fund other economies, to our own detriment.

Deliberate policies must be put in place and strictly enforced, to reduce the current prohibitive and unsustainable cost of governance at the three tiers of government.

Ed’Malik Abdul –  Address Fuel Subsidy Removal and Prices Immediately

As an ordinary Nigerian, I want to add my voice in the subsidy quagmire. In real terms, the removal of subsidy is not the problem, but provision of safety nets to cushion the effects.

Secondly, I thought we are deregulated now and therefore, wonder why NNPC is fixing prices for petroleum products? That’s  contradictory. They said removal is the President’s directive, even when they seemed to have backtracked on the timeline for implementation. But, talking seriously, the President didn’t think to put in place how the poor will commute, before announcing this decision. It’s a case of speaking before thinking.

For instance, transportation of people, goods and services is the engine of the economy, and the spill-over effect of an increase in transportation costs will be adverse. That is why every developed economy still subsidises public transportation, because even the poor have something they contribute to the economy, Otherwise your cleaners, drivers,  cooks, laundry man etc, cannot show up for work. They do not subsidise fuel, but they subsidise public transportation and other social services like health, education, housing etc.

Correctly, the public transport system in Nigeria largely depends on petroleum products, and even at that, there’s no efficient and organised public transportation system that people who normally have to ride their private vehicles can shift to. The President did not speak about any alternative system of public transportation.

I would have expected that he would have devoted his first year to putting the public transportation system in good shape, while sensitising the people about the need for removal of subsidies and the good things that the resources can and/or will be channelled into.

Frankly, he didn’t exhibit smartness in this matter. He only needs to humble himself and recant, and then, go back to the drawing board instead of this abrasiveness. Good governments think in this vein. See?!

Dr Kayode Ajulo, Abuja

Summarising my expectations from this present administration in three paragraphs simply implies my adopting the quote of Dwight D. Eisenhower which states: “We believe that our truly urgent need is to make our nation secure, our economy strong and our Dollar sound” (in this case, our Naira). He further placed emphasis on the fact that “For every American, this matter of the sound Dollar is crucial. Without a sound Dollar, every American family would face a renewal of inflation, an ever-increasing cost of living, the withering away of savings and life insurance policies.” It is therefore, in the light of the above that my scope of primary expectations hinges around the following:

i. Tackling Insecurity

ii. Economic Development

iii. Fostering and upholding of the promised unity in the country.

E.R. Stettinius Jr. said “Happiness has many roots, but none more important than security”. Every rich man with a treasure in his house builds high fences and barricades to guard his treasures, so does every poor man have a door in front of his house in a bid to guard the little he can afford, all these are testaments to how important the issue of security is to everyone, both rich and poor. Hence, a vital reason why insecurity has to be curbed by His Excellency with utmost priority. 

Kudos to the President for the meeting held with all Service Chiefs and Heads of security agencies led by Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor on 1st June, 2023, concerning measures to strengthen the nation’s security. However, Nigerians are anxious and awaiting the positive effect of same, as writing on the wall without implementation amounts to a nullity. In effect, alongside the promises of the President of a topnotch Secured Nigeria in his manifesto, officials involved right from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to the least security personnel are to safeguard the provisions of Chapter II and particularly, Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). 

All regions of the State should receive adequate security attention, and the lives of each and every citizen should matter and count in this present administration, as against the former. In a nutshell, the meeting held, and the administration’s achievements should not only produce a Nigeria secure from oil theft, but, rather, a Nigeria with zero kidnapping, bombing, terrorism attacks, killings and on the whole, a safe Nigeria, as the latter should be prioritised than the former in considering equity, good conscience and morality. 

In view of the above, it is also expected that the President will review the nation’s security architecture and relieve the Service Chiefs of their commission, to pave way for new ones, the choice of the National Security Adviser should be a seasoned, intelligence and diplomatic Chief with the ability to coordinate the nation’s security teams, as well as to liaise with the diplomatic community effectively. 

David Cameron said: “The economy is the start and end of everything. Nigeria can’t have successful education reform or any other reform, if we don’t have a strong economy.” At this point in the country, a holistic economic policy is to be adopted by the President combing through all sectors, and running safe of the lane of myopic stream of profit orientation or revenue generation for the country. It should principally be noted that a single sector at this point cannot for instance, employ the millions of populations existing in the country. In essence, beyond oil production and availability, what next? A million and one promises have been made in several interviews, manifestos and even during the speech of the President, on how a better economy would be enhanced during his administration, some of which includes the removal of subsidy on fuel, adoption of a unified exchange rate, premium investments in the agricultural sector, amidst several other outlooks and scopes. 

I would however, on the whole, admonish the President to include in his spectrum measures of improving productivity in the country, that is, graduating Nigeria from a consumption nation to a producing nation. In doing this, several other measures are necessary, beginning from improved legislation and establishment of several other statues, acts and laws that would enhance infrastructural development with which ease in production would thereupon exist. Note that with the oil sector, our nation already has a huge foreign inflow, and in this transition to a producing nation, where standard products are made (proponent to laws existing and bodies created to supervise their quality), existing markets are not just at hand, but several other inflows will as well be enhanced, and the economy through purchase of our products in large numbers, will grow uncurbed. 

I use this medium to commend the President on the bold move of subsidy removal, to curb further exploitation by suppliers of petroleum, who in their wisdom created pseudo-scarcity, hoarding the fuel on the President’s announcement of his intention to remove the subsidy on PMS in his inauguration speech. 

However, the approach had its faults, as the President ought to have done due diligence by creating several palliatives that should have alleviated the resultant hardship of same on the citizens. For instance, His Excellency, before this move, should have made available alternative transportation systems with lesser cost for ease of movement of people, as well as agricultural produce from one State to another (the railway option or waterway options, could have been put in place), in-depth checks and balances could have been done to allegations raised of several individuals benefiting from the subsidy and depriving the nation of the benefits of removal of same, as these checks would curb embezzlement of the proceeds of this act and would allow the focus of the administration in boosting the growth of the economy be actualised; and finally, issues of restructuring our local refineries, either by the Government or privatising same for private individuals to restructure them and create a competitive market when it comes to the refining of our oil within the nation.

Conclusively, Yoshihide Suga said “A strong economy is the source of national strength”. In essence, once our economy is thriving, it rubs off on our national strength. I therefore, remind His Excellency to implement the fostering, upholding and fortification of the unity of our country as a whole. This cannot be downplayed by the present administration, as it is sacrosanct to the development of the Nation as a whole and futuristically. 

The major appointments so far made by President Tinubu are a clear testament of zoning of offices, to foster the country’s unity and involvement of all regions. The act of the President upholding the country’s unity and getting it to a better state, preserves the labours of our heroes past, curbs it from being in vain, and on the whole, helps the nation to attain great lofty heights, as stated in the second stanza of the country’s national anthem, with a resultant effect to build a nation where peace and justice prevails. 

Akpor Mudiaga Odje, Warri – Upwardly Review of 13% Derivation

We expect Mr President to source  his appointees from the gifted technocrats in our country, as well as tackle corruption and insecurity frantically  head on.

Funds from fuel subsidy removal must be channelled to develop infrastructure, create wealth and jobs, as well as revamping the health and educational sectors of our beleaguered nation, by also shoring up the value of the devalued Naira.

Upward review of the 13% derivation to the battered people of the Niger Delta, and upgrade the 3% host community development fund contribution by oil companies from 3% to 10% under the PIA 2021.

Past NBA National Publicity Secretary, Kunle Edun – Focus on the Economy, Infrastructure and Restructuring

President Bola Tinubu is not a novice or learner, in the corridors of power. He has been preparing for this job for decades, having successfully governed Nigeria’s richest State, Lagos State. I  expect the President to focus on few areas; the economy, infrastructure and recalibrating the present Federal-Unitary structure, for accelerated development of the various geopolitical zones in the country.

The removal of fuel subsidy and the dual forex system, is long overdue. They have been official channels for stealing public funds, and the cause of the rising inflation in the country. The diversification of the economy from an oil-based economy to a multi-product economy, should be more intensified. This will require the removal of bottlenecks in the ease of doing business, and attract more foreign investment into the country.

President Tinubu has always been an apostle of true federalism. Lagos State which he led, won landmark cases against the Federal Government in respect of matters dealing with powers of the States and the Federal Government.  State Police should be a must. Items on the Exclusive List should be substantially reduced and transferred to the various States, while the Federal Government should focus more on defence, forex, currency, economic policies, foreign affairs etc. The various States need to be more empowered to be productive, so that they don’t become parasites on the revenue generated from the other States. 

It is also important that President Tinubu should appoint only competent hands into public offices, if he wants to succeed. Core Ministries and MDAs should be headed by accomplished experts, not politicians who will only mess up government business. I have no doubt that Tinubu knows that, the lives of 220 million Nigerians depend on every decision he now takes. The people should matter in everything he does. Nigerians have suffered for too long.

Dr D.D. Dakolo, Abuja – Prioritise Security and Welfare of Nigerians

The Tinubu administration cannot do magic, because he is part of the Buhari administration that has taken Nigeria through unnecessary turbulence, socio eco political. 

True rule of law, true Federalism and constitutionalism can bring back hope and a sense of belonging to Nigeria which is at its lowest now; he needs to truly take governance, security and welfare of Nigerian citizens very seriously, and top priority. 

With this, he may be able to bring us out of the mess Buharism has taken us into. 

Jay Jones, Benin City – Stabilise Power Sector

My expectations from the new administration are not farfetched, but simply drawn from President Tinubu’s antecedents on which he prides himself, as the magical master endowed with the political magic wand to astronomically raise the bar of internally generated revenue at the expense of the long suffering of the vast majority of the common man in Nigeria. 

Hopefully this projected humongous revenue that would be extracted from the “sweat and blood” of Nigerians May be channelled into stabilising the Power sector and fighting insecurity, if only he can muster the strength to resist the fragrant temptations of fraternising with tribal sentiments, rather than being guided by competence in the selection of his lieutenants.

Wahab Abdulahi, Ikeja – Adhere to the Rule of Law, Obey Court Orders

My expectation is for the new administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to adhere strictly to the rule of law, principle of equity and obedience to court orders. This will enhance development, as well as make the Government and all the officials act within the stipulations of the law and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I believe if everyone acts within the confines of the law, both the government and the governed will know their bounds and limitations, which will make us all responsible and accountable.

For a realistic development and progress, I would expect the new Government not to play much politics with any developmental projects, especially whatever the President feels will jump start and grow the economy instantly. For instance, if economic realities point to the fact that the Government needs to invest or allow private investors to develop old ports that are domiciled outside Lagos to enhance our maritime industry where more money will be generated as well as reducing pressure on existing ports, President Tinubu should not hesitate to engage investors to do this without delay.

Also, apart from the fact that over the years, Nigerians have been clamouring for true Federalism where each region will be able to harness it’s own resources which will eventually help competition and develop the nation’s economy, I will expect the Government to embark on moves that will decentralise undue powers concentrated at the centre, rather encourage the regions or States to take upon themselves challenges that will enable them to grow socially, economically and politically. This will engender much development and growth of the nation.

EPILOGUE

Will President Tinubu meet the expectations and aspirations of Nigerians? We hope so. The next 356 days, will give us some indication. Somehow, the immediate removal of the subsidy on fuel seemed to have come as a shock to many, and Nigerians appear not to have come to terms with it yet, due to the hardship the removal has caused. Apart from the increase in transportation fares due to the higher cost of fuel, the multiplier effect has resulted in the increase in prices of almost everything else. But, will the removal of this subsidy ultimately be beneficial to Nigerians? It should be, especially if for one, this administration, as a matter of urgency, puts in place a better, affordable public transportation system for the people, takes the bull by the horns and cuts its own spending on frivolities, like the unnecessarily large and extremely expensive government that has been run by past administrations, the exorbitant salaries and allowances which are paid to Governors, Legislators and other political office holders. Undoubtedly, President Tinubu is certainly under tremendous pressure, to perform.