How Tinubu’s government fared in first four months

It’s been a little over four months since President Bola Tinubu’s government took office as Nigeria’s 16th president and sixth democratically elected.

In those months, there have been bold moves by the President in a bid to revive the economy.

There have also been widely-held concerns that Tinubu’s approach to governance shows weak execution, particularly as regards sustaining the momentum of reforms or unleashing the full potential of Africa’s biggest economy.

After the initial euphoria associated with his series of reforms including petrol subsidy removal and naira devaluation, their negative impacts on households and businesses have dampened many Nigerians’ hopes.

The President had campaigned and got elected on the mantra of a ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda, encapsulating an eight-point programme, boldly embedded in his manifesto.

Within his first month, he appointed the secretary to the government of the federation, his chief of staff, special advisers, acting governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and a few heads of government agencies.

Read also: Atiku’s lawyers receive Tinubu’s Chicago University documents

In the exercise of his powers as contained in section 147 of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, he later in August appointed ministers who where then assigned portfolios after screening by the Senate.

The 48 ministers are expected to help him drive the successful implementation of the eight-point agenda.

The team of ministers, led by Wale Edun, coordinating minister of the economy and minister of finance, was mandated by the President to “move away from the frenzied borrowing of the last government, check the unacceptable high jobless rate, achieve economic growth and prosperity for all and end poverty” with a matching order to deliver the first phase of the mandate within the next three years.

Apart from the inaugural Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held August 28, the President is yet to hold another meeting with his cabinet members for over one month since then.

Members of FEC include the President, who is the chairman; the Vice-President, who is the vice-chairman; secretary to the government of the federation; the President’s chief of staff; ministers as well as heads of a number of government agencies.

The council, as written in the Ministers’ Statutory Powers and Duties Act, is to serve as an advisory body to the President, who has the powers to appoint and dismiss the members.

Biodun Adeniyi, of Baze University, Abuja, while assessing the administration, said emphasis must now shift from Tinubu to his ministers, following their inauguration on August 21.

“Since the President has put the cabinet in place, it will not be fair to continue to focus on President Tinubu alone. His ministers have been assigned their portfolios and they have also hit the ground running. This however does not mean that the President will not monitor their activities,” he said.

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He, however, berated the current administration for the low level of activities in the fight against corruption, which he said may derail whatever gains that may accrue from the subsidy removal, unless corruption is checked.

“We are yet to see strong commitments to addressing high cost of governance and the fight against corruption,” he said, emphasising the need for the President to address the high cost of governance and high tastes among top government officials.

Adeniyi said: “I have said it several times that the government must be concerned about cutting cost of governance and must work towards result-oriented policies.

“This is because while the masses are struggling making sacrifices, the people are yet to see commensurate efforts on the part of government, with their high taste for foreign SUVs, running on high fuel consumption, using the taxpayers money; the people will not believe or trust anything the government does.”

At over N87 trillion, according to official numbers from the Debt Management Office, Nigeria carries a huge debt burden as the government battles low revenues, most of which is basically used to service debt, especially at the federal level.

Government procurement, which most of the time do not follow due process, have been constantly flagged as a major source of revenue leakages.

Adeniyi, who has served as a World Bank consultant at the Bureau for Public Procurement, also believes that the President must reshape the nation’s current procurement policies.

“Public servants circumvented the process and awarded contracts to companies where they have interests and projects which could have been handled for N500 million, you see the civil servants doing them for N5 billion; that was why the World Bank recommended the establishment of the due process procedures. So, we need political will to be able to put things right,” he said.

For Phrank Shaibu, an Abuja-based public sector analyst and aide to former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the current government lacks ideas to successfully drive public policy.

Read also: Tinubu’s first 100 days: It’s all rhetoric and no substance

“President Tinubu removed subsidy without adequate preparations. They said they are introducing palliatives of N8,000 per household. When that one failed, they announced N5 billion donation to states and as we speak, only N2 billion was given to the states,” he said.

Shaibu said the “administration is overwhelmed by the level of damages done by the Buhari administration.”

But Ajuri Ngelale, the President’s spokesman, insisted that “the President has maintained focus on his economic development agenda and is working to strengthen the economy.”

Speaking on the recent economic diplomacy, the presidential aide noted that “driving foreign direct investment is at the front and centre of his conversations with his counterparts around the world.”