We found out that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was very serious about our economy, the very moment he was sworn in on May 29th this year.
The unscripted policy pronouncement he made, in his acceptance speech, had left us shaken that day, and has kept us reeling from the shock till today.
No one can argue with the fact that the removal of subsidy has impacted on our lives as horribly as did the ill-conceived naira redesign policy of the last government.
It isn’t an overstatement to say that today, Nigerians are paying dearly and with their lives and limbs, for hard economic policies that do not spare a thought them.
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The fact that PBAT has followed the subsidy removal situation with national palliatives-distribution, a little pay rise and other cosmetic surgeries on the wound inflicted by the hike in fuel price, has not alleviated the nationwide suffering his compatriots are going through.
But it doesn’t seem like the president and his men care a lot about the situation of ordinary Nigerians. I mean he issued a supplementary budget request recently, whose sole aim was to ensure enough money to renovate two former state houses, purchase luxury cars for the first and second families, as well as pay for a presidential yacht for His Excellency.
The yacht thing has irked Nigerians more than the other requests, maybe because it’s a new thing around here. But more importantly because, it is an unnecessary acquisition and a very expensive one.
The only reason or excuse given, after the fuel subsidy removal, was that we needed to swallow that bitter pill in order to save the trillions of naira being wasted on subsidy payment, and use them elsewhere to revamp the economy.
Yet the frivolous and unnecessary purchases and projects being embarked upon by the government show nothing but proof of misplaced priorities. There is nothing in their actions and body language to show that savings are being made and being channelled to better uses.
But how can the comfort and grandeur of a few be more important than the important and necessary needs of millions?
While ordinary citizens are striving hard to cope with high cost of living, a few political office holders seem to think their luxury takes precedence over every other need of Nigerians.
No wonder the common saying that other countries suffer from natural disasters like earthquake, hurricane, mudslides and flooding, but the only natural disaster we have here is poor leadership.
A leadership that puts the joy of the few over and above the needs of the many is certainly not worth its name.
We have painfully come to realise that just like 16 years of the PDP and the eight years of APC have not prioritised service to the common man, this second phase of APC will not serve him.
President Tinubu’s economic template includes greatly serving the top shots among politicians but paying scant attention to others.
At its high point Tinibunomics is about making the big guys happy and comfortable, while at its low point its keeping the poor and downtrodden where the bad policies take them; angry, hungry and desperate.
And this not a good combination. When the poor are hungry and desperate be sure that crime and civil disobedience will increase.
Those who have the ears of the President should tell him that after only six months, Nigerians are already unhappy with his economic policies and feel a sense of self-indulgence in his ways.
For instance, why would the president use budgetary allocation to buy himself a yacht when he can comfortably buy one for himself from his personal wealth?
Is it fair to do this reverse Robin Hood in Nigeria where the poverty level is so high that people have resorted to openly begging in order to keep body and soul together?
In all honesty there is a lot that’s wrong with Mr President’s handling of our economy from day one, but it’s not too late to reverse those wrong steps and start a kind and inclusive approach that will serve both the poor and the rich. The first step towards this will be to discard the yacht, Dodan Barracks and other unnecessary luxury deals. Then the funds saved should be put to better uses by investing them in projects that will serve ordinary Nigerians.
