Temptations of the Jagaban
Last September, five months after he took office, Nigerian leader Bola Tinubu recalled all but two of Nigeria’s ambassadors from their foreign posts. “The president is determined to ensure that world-class efficiency and quality, will henceforth, characterize foreign and domestic service delivery to citizens, residents and prospective visitors alike,” a presidential aide said. Four months […]
President Tinubu
Last September, five months after he took office, Nigerian leader Bola Tinubu recalled all but two of Nigeria’s ambassadors from their foreign posts.
“The president is determined to ensure that world-class efficiency and quality, will henceforth, characterize foreign and domestic service delivery to citizens, residents and prospective visitors alike,” a presidential aide said.
Four months after Nigeria’s diplomatic representations began to suffer from lack of leadership, the government last week announced that it will “soon” set up a committee to select replacement ambassadors.
In Rivers State, the man they call ‘Jagaban’ intervened in the political turmoil between the governor and his political godfather and predecessor, whose side he has taken, brandishing a presidential directive, clearly breaching the constitution in the process. He had followed a similar path in Ondo State.
Tinubu cannot deal away the Nigerian Constitution
It is Christmas, the season of the greatest travel in the country, and Jagaban’s first as president. “In the spirit of Christmas and the end of year festivities [and] “in another demonstration of his love for Nigerians,” said Minister of Solid Minerals Dele Alake, Tinubu “approved a 50% slash in the cost of public transportation and free trains rides across the country” between December 21 and 4 January.
Tinubu is on solid ground here, and I commend his initiative. But there are two critical mis-directions. First, there are only three scheduled train services in the entire country. Two of them have two daily services in each direction, and the third, just one. If the government were less cynical, it should have announced several more services each day, with enhanced security.
Second, Tinubu appears not to understand the meaning of “public” transportation in a capitalist economy. His scheme requiring private operators of bus services to slash their costs by half was an unworkable idea to begin with, given that the government does not, and cannot, control private operators, their routes or their rates that were going to rise during the season anyway.
Worse still, it turns out that of the hundreds of such operators in the country, the government reached out only to five, and they cover only 28 routes.
That is far less than a drop in the old bucket, but I will give the president a pass on this one. What happens next?
Tinubu’s flawed intervention is another reminder of how poor our transportation infrastructure is, and this 9th year of APC’s administrations underlines our hopelessness. It is remarkable that despite the loud tales of heroism of President Muhammadu Buhari and Babatunde Fashola, the man who ran his road infrastructure policy for eight years, even key roads such as Abuja-Kano (AKR) and Lagos-Ibadan have yet to be completed. The southeast harbours some of the most atrocious highways.
Similarly, Tinubu ought to have been directing his Christmas proclamations in rail travel this Christmas principally to the Lagos-Calabar rail; the Lagos-Kano, and the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri.
Unfortunately, the incompetence, willfulness, and indolence of the Buhari administration means that very little progress was made in its eight years. The theme of the Buhari adventure, for those who forget, was “CHANGE:” to move the nation from its catatonic state into a new day free of corruption and mismanagement. Buhari barely mentioned it in practice.
But his APC manifesto had begun by asking whether there was a government in Nigeria.
“Yes, there is a federal government in Nigeria,” it answered. “A government that thrives on chaos, corruption, impunity, injustice and the systematic exploitation of ethnicity, religious sentiments and other primal instincts to divide and rule Nigeria.
Among its conclusions: “The challenge facing us as Nigerians is whether we have the will and courage to unite to radically reform, modernize and move our nation forward-not looking backward to the failed policies and practices of the past. It is no longer a question of choice but of will and courage!”
It continued: “This Manifesto outlines our side of the social contract with the people; what APC will do to change Nigeria. We cannot do it on our own, we need the people’s consent and participation. Below we outline eight pledges for a better Nigeria. They form a new, honest contract with Nigeria.”
Those pledges included jobs by the millions, “three million new jobs a year through public works programmes and shifting the economy towards value-added production will be our primary economic target.”
APC noted: “Despite 50 years of independence, 60% of Nigerians live in poverty, just 3% have healthcare coverage, while barely half of our children transfer from primary to secondary school. Our roads and rail systems are in disrepair. Less than 35% of our people have access to electricity, and those that do are subject to running blackouts and chronic power shortages.
“In the midst of this penury and economic hardship, small elite live in almost unimaginable wealth and luxury,” it said, affirming, “The Nigerian people need relief; relief from mismanagement, relief from the grinding poverty many of us face; relief from a failing Nigeria. An APC government will provide this relief.”
But that APC government provided no such relief. If anything, it worsened the plight of Nigerians, deepened their poverty, and exacerbated corruption.
“Nigeria’s infrastructure is crying out to be rebuilt, modernized and expanded, ranging from modern roads, airport, waterways and rail networks to a new generation of power stations, to a desperate need for new schools, clinics, potable water and housing. The new APC government will put Nigeria to work, building a modern economy through a series of massive public works programmes.”
It was a ruse, all designed to get APC and Buhari into power, and Buhari himself confirmed it in April 2023 as his days in office wound down: “I got what I wanted and will quietly retire to my hometown.”
That is why, after squandering eight years in office, and allegedly towards making Christmas bearable to traveling Nigerians, the government is in 2023 ordering private bus companies to slash their rates by half at its pleasure. This is a government that does not care how those buses are bought and maintained, on what roads they are deployed, the insecurity that they face during every trip, or what the cost of a gallon of petrol is.
But like Buhari, indeed more than Buhari, Jagaban got—indeed, took—what he wanted. He called his manifesto “APC Renewed Hope 2023: Action Plan for A Better Nigeria.”
As he embarks on his second half-year in power, it is remarkable to consider his emerging style of imposing himself on national problems, perhaps in temptation as to the limits of presidential power and privilege. The question is whether, by this time next year, he would have started to distance himself from his predecessor in practical terms, and to solve problems.
Remember that APC itself once said, “The Nigerian people need relief; relief from mismanagement, relief from the grinding poverty many of us face; relief from a failing Nigeria. An APC government will provide this relief.”
Yes, Nigerians need relief. Nigeria needs relief. Will this APC government provide that relief from that APC government? Or do we await another?
Merry Christmas, Nigeria.