During his campaign for the presidency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu pledged that he would hit the ground running if elected. That’s exactly what he has done since his inauguration in May 2023.
Since he assumed office as president, he has run the affairs of the nation at a rather frenetic pace – implementing tough economic policies that have impacted the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians in far-reaching ways, rejigging the nation’s security apparatus in a bid to tame the rampaging monster of insecurity, and forging bilateral and multilateral partnerships with national governments, intergovernmental agencies well as the international community.
It would be an understatement to say that Tinubu inherited a deeply troubled economy. Even as he vied to replace Muhammadu Buhari in the Aso Villa, Tinubu knew that neither he nor any of his rivals for the highest office in the land would be able to move the needle of recovery (let alone development) an inch unless they were willing to implement tough and potentially disruptive structural reforms. Moments after being sworn in as President, Tinubu began to do just that. He swiftly announced an end to petrol subsidy; a double-edged sword which on the one hand has freed up badly needed public funds for reallocation to areas designed to spur growth and economic recovery, but on the other hand has also raised the price of petrol by over 200 per cent and driven millions of beleaguered Nigerians deeper into poverty.
Weeks later, he also announced the unification of the naira’s multiple exchange rates; thereby ‘floating’ the currency.
Under the previous regime, the official exchange rate of the naira to the dollar was mostly fixed, rather than determined by market forces.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s inability to meet the demand for dollars at this rate contributed to a thriving forex black market and eroded investor confidence in Nigeria.
But the new policy has enabled the freeing of resources the CBN previously used to ‘defend’ the naira. It has also reduced the budget deficit and is beginning to attract foreign investment (albeit in trickles at the moment, though the government hopes that these trickles will become a flood in due course).
“It would be an understatement to say that Tinubu inherited a deeply troubled economy”
Insecurity in Nigeria has, over the years, become a hydra-headed monster, with each of the country’s six geo-political regions the victim of at least one of those hydras.
Name them: Farmer-herder conflicts in the North Central; insurgency in the North East; banditry in the North West; separatist violence in the South East; piracy off the coast of the South South; not to mention ritual killings, prison breaks, attacks on military and police facilities and personnel. The list goes on and on.
In unveiling his manifesto last year, Tinubu underscored the place of security as a centerpiece of his agenda.
“We shall reform both our security doctrine and its architecture. We shall invest more in our security personnel, which means more than an increase in number (but also in terms of) better training, equipment, pay, and firepower,” he pledged.
Upon its emergence as an independent nation, Nigeria sought to play an active role on the international stage commensurate with its size, population, and economic might.
In the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, Nigeria’s foreign policy was guided by a set of fundamental principles: Africa’s unity and freedom from imperialist influence; enhancing Nigeria’s influence on the continent; the peaceful settlement of disputes between nations; non-alignment (during the Cold War); non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations; and regional economic cooperation and development.
The dramatic shifts in the global geo-political landscape in the late 1990s and since the dawn of the 21st century (coupled with its internal challenges brought on by a severe economic downturn and escalating insecurity), have forced Nigeria to reassess its foreign policy objectives more based on its interests than on the afore-mentioned principles.
*Abdul can be reached via Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com
