Just as the news broke of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu swelling his cabinet to 48 [the largest of all time] and members of the House Representatives taking delivery of 360 brand new Japanese-made Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS] released its latest report on inflation in Nigeria, which has risen to an 18-year high at about 27 per cent. For the many Nigerians that are grappling with the existential challenges of aggravated hunger, poverty, deprivation and hopeless socio-economic dislocation, the misery goes on. Since the inauguration of Tinubu in May 2023, he has overseen the rapid decline of the already declining socio-economic condition of the Nigerian people, no thanks to his ill-thought-out and wrong-headed economic policies.
The twin policies of removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira against the dollar and other major currencies of the world by the Tinubu administration set Nigeria on the road to Zimbabwe and Venezuela simultaneously, with the country suffering the double jeopardy of energy and currency crisis. The cumulative effects of this have been increased cost of production, which has resulted in a debilitating form of cost-push inflation as the price of goods of services are no longer within the reach of most Nigerians. A low production, import-dependent country, where the monthly minimum wage is N30,000 with its national currency exchanging above N1,000 to the dollar is clearly in an economic hellhole that may become a bottomless pit of hopeless misery.
In the midst of all of these self-inflicted socio-economic challenges, the political leadership of Nigeria is behaving like drunken sailors of a sinking ship. No new and progressive economic thought processes as the members of the Tinubu economic management crew appear lost at sea as to the direction to steer the economy towards recovery and for the many politicians Tinubu has rewarded with cabinet positions, it is business of state capture and patronage as usual. Consequently, the current administration has continued on the path of its predecessors in endless borrowing that will result in endless sorrowing. Unfortunately, this borrowing is largely deployed to service the corrupt appetite of the captors of the Nigerian state and their cronies.
Seeing how devastating its wrong-headed twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and floating of the naira has been on the economy, one would have thought that the Tinubu administration would be patriotic enough to admit the economic hellhole it has plunged Nigeria into and stop digging. If a new administration can’t make life better for the people, it should not make it worse. The Tinubu administration will do well to return Nigerians to the point he met them in May 2023 by reversing the twin policies of subsidy removal and naira float. To this end, the Tinubu administration should restore subsidies on petrol without further ado to the status quo he met upon assumption of office. And if can tame corruption in foreign exchange management and tackle the dollarization of the corruption in Nigeria, he will find enough dollars to support the naira at reasonable rates.
To permanently solve Nigeria’s energy and currency crisis will be for the current administration to fix Nigeria’s refineries and build new ones to guarantee energy security at home to conserve scarce foreign exchange and export overseas to increase its inflow. A natural energy resource-endowed country like Nigeria cannot continue to import refined petroleum products for domestic production as a matter of economic common sense.
However, the political leadership of Nigeria must reach the decision to commit class suicide now that they still have the luxury of time and privilege of opportunity on their hand. The situation is grim and Nigerians are getting desperately agitated about their hopeless helplessness. In committing class suicide, the political leadership of Nigeria must redirect their priority towards absolute fidelity to constitutionalism and good governance. The governments they lead across arms and tiers must begin to deliver on their constitutional mandates for the common good of the greater majority of the Nigerian people.
A country that cannot afford energy and food security for its citizens should not be seen affording luxury cars and executive jets for its political leadership as it is not only insensitive but provocative. The continuous failure of political leaders to deliver on their constitutional mandate of providing welfare and security for the people has thoroughly diminished the legitimacy of democracy in Nigeria, leaving many to question its relevance to their national socio-economic development. And if the political leaders of Nigeria continue to behave like drunken sailors in charge of a sinking ship, the people on board may be compelled to take their destiny into their own hands in a bid to salvage the sinking ship of the Nigerian state.