On the front page of ThisDay newspaper of January 1, 2025 was splashed in bold print “Tough and Resilient, President Bola Tinubu is Man of the Year.” ThisDay’s Board of Editors explained its controversial choice this way. “In the face of mounting challenges and handicaps the President has remained determined and unfazed, marching on with audacious reforms to transform Nigeria.” Below the audacious headline was a sharp photograph of the President in a dark suit with his Awo style round glasses and his sharp eyes piercing through the paper to face the world. The Editors explained further the reason for their choice of a man who survived 11 days of riotous revolt in the past year as its man of the year. “From merely providing leadership to introducing very unpopular but promising reforms, Tinubu has proven to be a daring and gritty leader, driven by conviction rather than sentiments.” Correct to a T. If I had to choose a man of the year for 2024 I would choose, without any hesitation, Bola Tinubu. I would not be making the choice because he is popular – he is not – I would be making the choice because his decisions are impactful – for good or for ill. That is the basis of the man of the year concept which was established by Time magazine in 1927.
In that year the Editors of Time decided that every year they would name a person, group, idea or object that “for better or for worse” who has done the most to influence the events of the year. Mr Charles Lindbergh was the first man to earn the honour. Mr Lindbergh was the first pilot to complete the first solo transatlantic flight in May 1927 by piloting his monoplane Spirit of St. Louis from Garden City, New York to Paris, France. This pilot was recognized for a very positive achievement. But in 1979 Ruhollah Khomeini was recognized by Time for leading a violent Iranian revolution and making himself the Supreme Leader of Iran. So the decision is made because the impact made by the person is either good or bad although most people think that any person named is actually for positive reasons only.
A few people have criticized ThisDay’s decision, alleging that the paper made the choice in order to mend its relationship with the Presidency which was poisoned during the campaign for the 2023 elections. Even if that was the reason for its choice there is nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with its decision to mend its business relationship with a powerful institution like the Presidency. Relationship building is part of business building. And Journalism is a business as well as a profession. Journalists must build their businesses along with their professions if they want to succeed.
Besides, professional journalism must be practised on an episodic basis. If a government takes a good decision you must commend it; if it takes a bad decision you must condemn it. And in condemning it you must provide an alternative policy option. There must be no permanent friends or permanent foes, only permanent interests, namely, public interest.
As I said earlier if I had to choose the Man of the Year for 2024 I would choose Tinubu without any hesitation. In the last one year he has shown strength of character, strength of conviction, courage in taking difficult decisions, communication skills and negotiating ability. That is how he prevented 10-day protest from becoming a bloody revolution that would have consumed his government. That is why he was able to dissuade the Niger Delta militants from joining the protest which would have thrown the economy into a fatal tailspin. That is how he was able to gain the confidence of the trade unions and get them to accept a minimum wage that was far from the expected figure brandished by the union leaders. That is how he was able to get the students and other stakeholders to accept the novel idea of a students’ Loan scheme without rancor. That was how he was able to manage the riotous, corruption ridden petroleum universe to accept Dangote’s entry into the honey pot that they greedily controlled and consumed unreservedly. That was how he was able to get two of Nigeria’s four refineries that had been dormant for more than a decade to start producing refined petroleum products again after a phenomenal waste of the country’s vast resources. That is how he was able to get those countries such as France, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates that had shut the door business wise against Nigeria to roll out the welcome mat for Nigeria again.
All of these decisions and reforms have not yet solved Nigeria’s major problems of insecurity and hunger and high prices of food, fuel and medicine but they have given an indication that the government is ready, willing and able to tackle them frontally and fiercely for the benefit of the country in the near future. That is the meaning of impact Tinubu’s government has shown in the last one year that it is capable of bringing to the fore reforms that can, in the long or short run, transform the country into one of our dreams.
Nigeria has run as a democracy for the past 25 years. It hasn’t been a perfect democracy. Our elections have been disputed. Our judiciary has been accused of loss of independence. Our politicians have been accused of vote buying. Our election managers have been accused of election rigging. These constitute our nadir but they are subjects for which we can learn, improve and get better. The alternative which we had experienced for many years, was worse, far worse, than what we have now. That is why there are discussions about mergers and coalitions so as to see if it is possible to perform the magic of 2013 during which three or so ramshackle parties were stitched together to form what is the ruling party today. That is the apotheosis, the advantage we derive from where we are now. If the place where we are now was not attractive, our politicians would not be talking of staying where we are on a consolidated basis.
Whatever is the interpretation that Tinubu’s friends or foes may attach to his being named by ThisDay as its 2024 Man of the Year, there is some evidence of positivity that some of his reforms have had on Nigeria.