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Tinubu’s critics would have soft-pedalled their criticism of him if they had paid attention to some of his subtle achievements. I agree achievement is relative. What constitutes achievement to some isn’t worth its name to others. Notwithstanding, achievement is achievement. Also, what critics would itemize as Tinubu’s achievements would definitely be different from what praise singers and boot lickers would. The rich and the poor might also hold different views. My attention was drawn to what I consider Tinubu’s greatest achievement so far. And I believe he has all the time to achieve more as we continue to wish him success.
The uncommon Senate President Godswill Akpabio uncommonly drew the attention of all Nigerians to something uncommon about President Tinubu regime. It takes an uncommon intelligence and deep thinking to discern such uncommon achievement which is a sort of record breaking. This record breaking is not about Nigeria, though broken by Nigerian president. It is a universal record breaking which needs global acknowledgement and celebration. I wonder why world leaders are yet to acknowledge Tinubu’s feat—a rare one for that matter. Could it be because the record breaking happened in a country in Africa? Of course, the Europeans and the Americans could be narcissistical vis-a-vis a black man’s achievement. That could be why they turn blind eyes to such achievement. We have to uncommonly thank Senate President for drawing our attention to Tinubu’s record breaking.
In his address of welcome on the occasion of the presentation of the 2024 Budget to the joint sitting of the National Assembly by His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Senate President alluded to a “fact” of history which I am yet to verify. He said, addressing Tinubu, “Mr President, the United States has been a democracy for 247 years. But it was only when it marked its 185th anniversary that it succeeded in producing two former senators (J F Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson) as President and Vice President respectively.” What is the Senate President alluding to?
The uncommon Distinguished Senate President continued, “But within 24 years of our democracy, we have achieved what took the USA 185 years to achieve. Not only do we have two former Distinguished Senators serving as the President and Vice President of our dear country; we also have other alumni of this Assembly in positions of public trust: Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator George Akume; the Chief of Staff to the President. Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and other Senators in the Cabinet.”
Thus, the uncommon Distinguished Senate President opened our eyes to many other feats of this regime which he did not mention. Perhaps he forgot or was constrained. Nigerians should note that this is also the first time a former first lady in a state and a former three term Senator serves as the First Lady in Nigeria. I doubt there is such achievement anywhere in the world. Our uncommon Senate President most be uncommonly self-effacing. He did not talk about himself probably out of shyness. Senator Akpabio is the First Senate President who had, before the present position, been a state governor, a minister, a minority leader, and now the Senate President.
I am happy that the Senate President drew the attention of Tinubu to this. I doubt he knows this. While Tinubu is struggling to have his name smuggled into the Guiness Book of Records for what he claims to be his achievement on economic reform, it would have been more reasonable if he gets his name into that book for surpassing the United States in achieving, on behalf of Nigeria, in 24 years what the United States achieved in 185 years.
While addressing some groups of investors at the 10th German-Nigerian Business Forum on Tuesday, the President remarked that “Nigeria voted for me for reforms and from day one of my inauguration, I started the reform.” He continued: “To me, if you didn’t mention me in the Guinness Book of Records, I’d strive to find a way to insert myself because I did it without expectation.” One would expect the President to plead to Nigerians to be patient and explain that his economic reforms are not meant to bring untold hardship (which is now the lot of many). These reforms, Tinubu should have explained, will soon be translated to prosperity. However, the President wants to be praised just like his predecessor, former President Buhari, whose bitterness and grudge is always that he was not praised for his “achievements.”
But unlike Tinubu, Buhari only complained of not being praised towards the end of his eight year rulership which many considered to be the wasted years in Nigerian history. Here is President Tinubu who has barely spent six months in office, yet, trying to make himself a rival to Hilda Baci. It might interest you to ask, which economic reform is President Tinubu talking about as his major achievement which Guiness Book of Records must record? I am convinced that the Nigerian masses who are daily driven to their graves by President Tinubu’s so-called economic reforms will find this “achievement” laughable if they still have any strength to laugh.
I hope this regime knows that what its economic reforms have succeeded in creating are unemployment, hopelessness, brain drain (japa), high incidence of suicide, marital conflicts due to breadwinners financial impotence, increasing number of out of school children and withdrawal-from-school adults due to hike in tertiary school fees. I hope advisers in this regime would be kind enough to tell President Tinubu that under his rulership many Nigerians (in their thousands) prefer to be illegal immigrants in foreign countries than to be free citizens in their country. Rate at which Nigerians desperately flee Nigeria is alarming. That should trouble any serious and responsible government. I have not seen this regime demonstrating such seriousness and responsibleness. What I have seen is its ability to dramatically whitewash failure to look like success or to clad failure with celebratory attire of achievement through propaganda. This will take us nowhere.
Dear President Tinubu, do not be deceived to think that you have done anything to deserve any praise. Though, it might also be wrong to assert that you have done everything to be scorned always. But the fact is that your performance, so far, has been so-soish—unimpressive. This is from the perspective of suffering Nigerians who are the absolute majority. You have all the time to make positive impact. I hope your advisers tell you what your colleague did in Malawi. Like Nigeria, Malawi is also going through a difficult time. But unlike Nigerian rulers who continuously ask Nigerians to sacrifice while they waste billions of naira on presidential yatch and other luxuries, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera led by example.
Last week Chakwera rolled out his plan which I called presidential sacrifice. Addressing his country men and women, he said: “Effective immediately, all of my international trips between now and the end of the fiscal year, beginning with my trip to Cop28 at the end of this month, are canceled. By extension, I am putting a freeze on all publicly funded international trips for all public officers at all levels, including those in parastatals until the end of the financial year in March. All cabinet members currently abroad on publicly funded trips must return to Malawi with immediate effect.”
“Secondly,” he instructed, “I order that all fuel entitlements for cabinet ministers, principal secretaries, directors, and all members of senior management of public institutions should be cut in half with immediate effect…By doing this, I am effectively ending the practice of draining public coffers to spend on allowances for useless activities.” This is proactiveness.
My advise to President Tinubu: give this commonsensical directive and put a stop to the useless activities in that ugly supplementary budget and your subsequent spendings. Nigerians shall consider that as great achievement rather than this philia for being mentioned in the Guiness Book of Records which, I think, is meant for entertainers.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
