By Remi Adelowo
For as long as anyone can remember, Nigeria has been described as a “potentially great country.” Boasting abundant natural resources and equally endowed human talents that can rub shoulders with their peers around the world, only few countries can compete with Nigeria in natural and human endorsement.
The general consensus, however, is that this nation has been stymied, largely due to lack of a visionary leadership that can chart sustainable developmental policies capable of placing the country among the comity of the most developed.
In the past seven years, the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration has tried to change the narrative by retooling the economy through massive infrastructural renewal, boost agriculture and partner with the private sector to promote job creation. Despite recording relative success in the implementation of its policies and programmes, it is trite restating that the country is still battling with serious challenges across varied sectors.
With the 2023 elections just less than one year away and the flurry of politicking already under way, the focus is now on the coterie of politicians currently jostling to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari to lay bare their plans for thorough scrutiny.
Without a shred of doubt, if competence, track record of private and public service, political and social capital are the yardsticks to elect the next President, the only aspirant that towers above others and ticks all the boxes is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Let us put this claim in its proper perspective and context. On the economic front, it is generally agreed that Nigeria is facing a huge revenue challenge. With about 90 percent of her earnings budgeted for debt servicing and other recurrent expenditure, leaving a paltry 10 percent for capital spending, there is an urgent and compelling need to bring on the driver’s seat a tested pro-reforms and tax guru that can turn the tide. And who best fits that bill? Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
As governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, Asiwaju Tinubu enacted policies upon policies that boosted the revenue of the state to a point where Lagos can conveniently survive without recourse to allocation from the Federation Account. From a meagre N600 million IGR he inherited on assumption of office, Tinubu within eight years, increased the revenue to about N10 billion. Successive administrations in the state improved on that template that, presently, Lagos now generates over N40 billion monthly. Can other aspirants boast the same feat? The answer is No!
Asiwaju Tinubu has the Midas touch to replicate this feat as President. During his recent consultations with key political stakeholders to garner support for his presidential ambition, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said: “Nigeria is a gas rich nation. We can generate substantial revenue by formulating the right policies to boost local and foreign investments in that sector.”
For over 50 years, the power sector has defied solutions. Tinubu can fix this! Clearly, he understands that only an efficient power system can drive massive industrialisation.
As governor, he was the first to put in place an Independent Power Plant (IPP) for Lagos State. The idea was novel. But quite unexplainably, the PDP-led government frustrated that move. With Tinubu as President, the generation, transmission and distribution gridlock that have plagued the power sector would be unlocked.
On security challenges ranging from insurgency, which has significantly been curtailed, to armed banditry, kidnapping and herder/farmer clashes, the Buhari-led government administration’s efforts to tackle all of these headlong has been well acknowledged by objective critics. The government’s commitment in that regard is seen in the consistent reequipping of the military and other security agencies on a scale not witnessed in the last 40 years.
A Tinubu Presidency will take this commitment and resolve to solve this problem several notches higher. With the immense goodwill he enjoys across the length and breadth of the country, Asiwaju Tinubu would tap on this social capital to bring all stakeholders from the elites to the commoners together, with a view to finding short, medium and long term solutions to the security crisis.
To make good his plans, Asiwaju Tinubu will do what he knows how best to do: assembling talented, tried and tested professionals that would assist him to rejuvenate the economy strong enough to bring forth prosperity for the benefit of all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe and political leanings.
His record as a prolific headhunter with a knack to identifying talents and give them positions of responsibilities has been proven over time. Till date, the first Lagos State cabinet Tinubu put together in 1999 comprising of seasoned professionals, including Olawale Edun, Abimbola Cardosso, Dele Alake, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Leke Pitan, to mention but a few, is still rated the best.
As President, he will do much more. While on consultation with the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, Asiwaju Tinubu promised to bring Nigerians with the requisite expertise scattered across the globe back home to serve their country.
In his words: “During my medical trip to the UK where I had a knee surgery, it was an indigene of this State (Ekiti) that handled the procedure. As President, people like that will be called upon to return and serve.”
Asiwaju Tinubu’s readiness to lead this country is not in question. Like he confidently told the Forum of former lawmakers during one of his many consultations with stakeholders, “Nigeria needs me just like I need Nigeria.” This statement could only come from a man, who is confident in his skin and knows his onions.
