NMAP

NEC: “Tinubu Must not Fail”
By Tunde Temionu.

Every president has a style of governance. Some are transparent and others opaque. Obviously, from common understanding, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s style of administration involves collective responsibility. This will of course boost his effort to offer good governance.

Among other things that many of us know about the President is that he does not claim a monopoly over wisdom. Suffice it to say that during his campaign, he vowed to deliver good governance with the synergy of competent men and women among the best brains in Nigeria. Hence the birth to the National Economic Council (NEC).

The council comprises mostly Governors, Senators, and has the Vice President, Sen. Shettima Kashim, as its chairman.. The pedigree of the membership makes the council look like a pillar of strength to Tinubu’s Administration. Hopefully, the council should therefore strive to recommend people oriented policies that will ameliorate hardship. All of these and a high level of proficiency in governance are Nigerians’ innermost expectations.

Therefore, the slogan “Tinubu Must Not Fail” should be the watchword for NEC. In commerce that is driven by singleness of purpose and a public-friendly economy, subsidies and palliatives always bring glory to governments. Anything to the contrary brings condemnation to governments.

For instance, if the pump price of petrol is N200 and (for the common man to partake of God’s oil gift to Nigerians) a caring government places 25% subsidy on it, for the final consumers to pay N150 that government will consecutively rule Nigeria for a hundred years. This is tenable only if the ruling elite in the Oil and Forex businesses rethink.

Bad enough, in a battered and distressed economy like ours, palliatives and subsidies bring hardship to the ordinary man. Meaning that NEC will need to look at the larger economy and make recommendations that will have a positive impact on fuel pump price and currency exchange rate. Otherwise, no palliative can measure up to the people’s yearning for a better life.
These are the two major causes of our economic hardship. Unless they are imperatively addressed with all sincerity, food-distribution palliatives and cash transfer of any kind may not yield enough positive result. Although in his wisdom, the President has revisited the controversial palliative package of N8,000 each to 15million families, the NEC has settled for cash transfer through State General Social Registers.

In the first instance, both the national and the state social registers covered only some fortunate Nigerians; the others will surely be excluded from the scheme. In the second instance, the difference between the National Social register and the State Generated Social Register is their scope. Based on experiences, it can never be beneficial to all concerned because the arrangement is prone to irregularities and corruption.

Furthermore, those odds that crippled the nationally-driven cash-transfer by the last regime may do the worst to the state-driven transfers.
The Udoji oil boom award is not very recent, but we cannot easily forget its negative inflationary spiral!. Furthermore, the proposed tax-free six-month cash-award policy for public servants as a part of the palliative arrangements may have a higher inflation impact than the former.

The palliative innovation is prudent. But for the people to enjoy the dividends of palliatives, and to make their endurance worthwhile, all of these monies should be put into collective agriculture and transportation while the endurance last. Certainly, with effective supervision, in about eight months’ time, the people will appreciate this government more than the palliatives that cannot go round..
In addition, we are aware of the security challenges faced by our farmers. Should we increase our military personnel, restore discipline among them and make then participate fully in the said collective agriculture, bandits and kidnappers will think twice before confronting military men in their farm settlements. This administration will need to imperatively make a headway in its palliative strategies. Above all, ‘Tinubu must not fail’.

The Forex/Fuel Debacle: Tinubu as Common man’s Last Hope ---- Tunde Temionu.

Owing to the recently deregulated exchange rates for the naira, Nigeria’s currency, and fuel prices, the Forex, and Oil Sectors selfishly inflicted great economic hardship on the ordinary citizens of the country. President Tinubu’s swift move to ameliorate the hardship is an indication that he cares. But, in reaction, these sectors, cleverly bypassed the President’s move, and intensified the excruciating hardship against the common man.
The readers will recall that these same Forex and Oil sectors were largely responsible for the low score cards of most of the previous administrations. The ordinary man strongly believes that, with President Tinubu, our tomorrow will be hopefully better than today. Hence many Nigerians conditionally believe in the President’s clarion call for the voiceless masses to temporarily endure the hardship, and face the challenges ahead.
Although the poor masses have no option but to endure the hardship, those who are responsible for our predicament are flaunting their ill-gotten wealth and freely walking the streets with impunity. To ensure fair play, the poor masses want these culprits to justly suffer the consequences of their actions along with the common man.
By the first twenty days of Tinubu’s Presidency, one could confidently confirm that he was not only fully prepared for the job, but he also had the know-how.
But unfortunately, these two cruel sectors (Forex and Oil) are at it again. They are determined to decisively deal with the ordinary man, and bring down this new administration.
Nigerians are providers of basic economic needs for their families. So, they are yearning for a free flow of competitive economy that is characterized by commerce and human-friendly policies,
Based on our economic culture, certainly, no amount of palliatives can satisfy individual’s economic needs. Moreover, experience has shown that, no matter the juiciness of a palliative package, in the Nigerian context, palliative is always prone to corruption where those in charge, divert the pall iatives. And since the last hope of the ordinary man is placed on President Tinubu, he will therefore need to urgently address the exchange rate and fuel price debacles before push comes to shove.
“Tinubu Must Not Fail” should be the watchword for the newly constituted Economic Committee. So, to whom much is given, much is expected. Suffice it to say that President Tinubu did not tell Nigerians that he has a monopoly of wisdom. Rather, he promised to do the job by tapping the knowledge of able men and women among the best brains in Nigeria ---a strategy he clearly demonstrated during his Chatham house outing.
The Committee as an economic think-tank for President Tinubu’s administration will need to apply its rare wisdom and expertise to the management of economic crises to combat this two-in-one evil (Forex and Oil sectors) that is expecting its pound flesh from the poor masses