There is no gainsaying that Nigerians passed through excruciating hardship and suffering in 2024 on account of harsh economic policies of the federal government. The hasty removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market rates, inflation and sliding value of the naira against major international currencies worked in concert to worsen the situation. With high cost of petroleum products, the cost of living spiraled to an uncontrollable level. The government’s efforts to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal did not yield the desired results. Apart from the hunger protest of August 2024, Nigerians embarked on #End bad governance protest in October 2024.
Although President Bola Tinubu anchored his administration’s programmes on Renewed Hope Agenda, many Nigerians are of the view that the hope is fast receding in an atmosphere of misery and uncertainty. The opposition has also criticized government’s profligacy amidst mass suffering, bloated governance structure, and insecurity in the land. In spite of the shortcomings of the Bola Tinubu administration, the Dangote refinery rolled out its petroleum products, the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries commenced operations. Government must also ensure that the Kaduna refinery is operational too.
The government is also tackling insecurity headlong and has recorded some notable achievements, especially the rescue of abducted schoolchildren in Kaduna State and others. However, the government should also prioritize tackling the festering insecurity in the South-East region, where some criminals are controlling some local government areas and imposing sundry taxes on the citizens. As a listening administration, President Tinubu has appointed members of the opposition in his cabinet and reversed some policies Nigerians opposed, especially the 18-year entry requirement for university admission. The government’s best achievement in 2024 was the granting of autonomy to the local governments, even though the governors are working assiduously to undermine it.
The President also held his maiden media chat in 2024, where he explained some of his policies. It is expected that more of such media chats will hold in 2025. His most ambitious move in 2024 was the tax reform bills, meant to harmonize taxation in Nigeria. Despite the envisaged gains of the tax reform bills, some Nigerians from the North strongly opposed some aspects of the bills. There is hope that all the grey areas in the contentious bills will be resolved in 2025.
Our tumultuous experience in 2024 notwithstanding, Nigerians eagerly expect the best from the federal government in 2025. President Tinubu should actually use the New Year to demonstrate to Nigerians that he is capable of renewing their hope and end the enveloping misery in the land. Nigerians also expect the best from the governors and local government chairmen in delivering democracy dividends. Those in charge of the three tiers of government must endeavour to fulfill their campaign promises. It is sad that in our 25 years of uninterrupted democratic dispensation, our politicians have proved stronger in campaign rhetoric and less in fulfilling campaign promises. We earnestly call for a reversal of that ugly narrative in 2025. Governing Nigerians and doing the right things is not a rocket science. Ensuring good governance is doable.
We call on our sundry political office holders to use 2025 to instill morality and truth in politics. Without them imbibing the aforementioned virtues in our political praxis, our nascent democracy is doomed. Without honesty in governance, achieving development, especially the attainment of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a mirage. No amount of rhetoric will do the magic. We also call on those serving the government at any level, including ministers and special advisers and commissioners, to embrace the culture of truth and morality in the course of their duties.
With our enormous material and human resources, the rising level of poverty in the country is lamentable. With much arable land for agriculture, Nigerians should have no pact with poverty. Having over 133 million Nigerians as being multi-dimensionally poor is unacceptable. The federal and state governments should stop paying lip service to lift these unfortunate Nigerians out of poverty. Let there be systematic and deliberate efforts to develop our agriculture, which was hitherto abandoned in the wake of bountiful oil revenue. The development of our agriculture remains our best launching pad to industrial development. We can learn a lot of lessons in this regard from China and other developed nations. No nation can truly develop when it cannot adequately feed its citizens.
Although the government has embraced short-term measures, such as distribution of rice and other food items, and cash transfers to vulnerable groups to end poverty, it has become so glaring that these stop-gap measures cannot effectively address the growing hunger in the country. Even the reliance on food imports will only amount to postponing the doom’s day. We must begin now to grow the food we need.
In 2024, the human rights of some journalists, writers, lawyers and other Nigerians were trampled upon by agents of the federal government, especially the police, on account of their opposing views to the government. Since ours is still a democratic government, we call on President Tinubu to uphold and defend the Nigerian Constitution and ensure the human rights of the citizens as enshrined in the constitution. The growing repression of the media and holders of opposing views is highly undemocratic and must be jettisoned forthwith. Let the government enthrone free speech and the rule of law.