He may have intended it to be an innocuous advice but his message has struck different chords amongst discerning members of the society. He may have spoken the mood and minds of his people who throng his palace daily, but his message has resonated in high places and questions are now being asked and perspectives
He may have intended it to be an innocuous advice but his message has struck different chords amongst discerning members of the society. He may have spoken the mood and minds of his people who throng his palace daily, but his message has resonated in high places and questions are now being asked and perspectives being given to how and why Nigeria has found herself in the current cul de sac on the economy. The Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero may have stirred the hornet’s nest for a debate that may take a while to settle down.
Nigerians may not have had the best of times during the eight years of former President Muhammad Buhari. In fact, the seed of economic misfortune of the country’s economy germinated and took firm roots, festering under the administration of President Buhari whose popular refrain on national television was: “I am not aware”, anytime a monumental fraud or great misdemeanor was reported against his aides or ministers. Yet, for reasons unknown, there was less criticism of his government.
Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan met naira/dollar at 119. In March 1st, 2015, it was N225-230 Naira to a dollar but it rose to N455 (Parallel Rate) during the administration of former President Buhari, it later averaged at 460.702 (USD/NGN) in May 2023, compared with 460.418 USD/NGN in the previous month. However, the vocal North did not see anything bad in what the Buhari administration did. For eight years, the critical voices from the North were on mute mood, seeing nothing wrong in the administration and saying nothing bad about it.
Multinational companies, particularly those on the manufacturing sector started leaving the country in droves during the Buhari administration, thus making beverages out of the reach of average Nigerians. The trend has continued during the Tinubu administration to the disappointment of many Nigerians because President Tinubu had campaigned as a friend of business.
Immediately President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office as President and Commander – in – Chief, shortly after delivering his inauguration speech when he announced the removal of fuel subsidy, hell was let loose. He was criticized by every part of the country. The vocal North regained its lost voice and one after the other, members of the influential Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and others started going after the jugular of the administration. That action may have touched their raw nerves.
The first set of protests against hardship of the economy under President Tinubu took place almost simultaneously in two northern states of Niger and Kano. These some persons argued could not have been a mere coincidence. Of course, while Lagosians in December 2023 jeered at the President when he visited the state for Christmas holiday, residents of Minna, Kano and Lokoja marched round the streets against what they called exorbitant prices of goods, services, and food stuffs and other commodities.
The idea that once a relative of the deaf and dumb hears something, the victim is conscious of the issue played out on Monday when the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero asked Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the President to inform her husband that the hardship in the country has reached alarming proportions. The Emir who spoke when he received Senator Tinubu at his palace in Kano said the first lady is best placed to relate her findings about the hunger, insecurity and concerns of the people to the president.
His words: “although we have several means of communicating to the government on our needs and requests, your way and means are the surest way to tell the president the actual happenings in the country. The hunger and starvation, though didn’t start with this government, but the situation has become more alarming and needs urgent attention.
“The issue of insecurity is another serious problem we are facing, I know your government inherited it, but something more seriously should be done to address the situation”, he said.
The revered traditional ruler also raised concerns over the relocation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) offices to Lagos, stressing that Nigerians need to know the reason behind the decision.
“We are receiving series of messages from our people, one of such message is the much-talked about relocation of CBN and FAAN to Lagos. I think the government should come out clean on this matter and talk to Nigerians in the language they would understand.
“Do more enlightenment on this matter. I for one cannot tell the actual intentions of the government. We should be made to actually understand why the relocation of the CBN and FAAN offices to Lagos”, he said.
Speaking at the occasion, wife of the President said the Tinubu administration means well for the nation and doing its best to address the various challenges facing the nation.
A man who should know the workings of the economy and a prominent northern star, the former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, said it would be unfair for anyone to criticise President Tinubu over the country’s economic hardship Nigerians are experiencing. Alhaji Sanusi, a former CBN governor was speaking during a virtual religious event but said Nigerians who expected him to speak about the economic hardship deliberately wanted him to oppose the president.
He explained that he had to deviate from the religious theme of the event to remind Nigerians about his stands on the badly managed economic policies of the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari. According to him, the Buhari administration ignored his advice on how to take Nigeria out of its economic woes.
Alhaji Sanusi said economists with a fair sense of reasoning know that the current administration has made the right decision (fuel subsidy removal) to save Nigeria from the bondage of debts dug by the past administration. “I have been, over the years, talked about the pending crisis ahead of the current economic hardship. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this difficult situation.
“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning (if the right decision is not put in place) because Nigeria is not exceptional; such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela.
“The previous administration has turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures (on the economic policy). I have said in the presence of the now sitting president in Kaduna state, any politician who tells you that things will be easy, don’t vote for him because he is lying. People merely dismissed my advisory as a political statement.
“If I am to be fair and just to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship; for eight years, we were living on a fake lifestyle with huge debt from foreign and domestic debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent.
“I can’t join other Nigerians criticising Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policy of the Tinubu administration in the feature.
“It’s injustice for anyone to blame the Tinubu administration for the current economic hardship because there is no other alternative than the removal of the fuel subsidy. After all, Nigeria cannot even afford to pay the subsidy.
“(In the last eight years), the Central Bank continues to print more money, and the Naira continued to depreciate. There is too much naira in circulation because the CBN is printing the currency without restraint.
“The economy was poorly managed, and they are not willing to take advice; in the last eight years, apart from sycophancy, nothing has been done; those sycophants are those buying the dollar at the rate of N400 and selling it at the rate of N600 to N700.
“A boy who has no record of service has a private jet and owns houses in Dubai and England just because he is buying Dollar at so so a rate and selling them”, Alhaji Sanusi said stressing that everything in Nigeria in the last eight years was done on debt.
“I can only plead with the people to endure the hardship, and those who have the means to help the downtrodden should do so. I am also pleading with commoners to live according to their earnings; we must not peg our lives above our earnings in this difficult situation where people are looking for what to eat,” the former Kano Emir said.
The debate definitely continues. However, no matter the defence in favour of President Tinubu, as long as the lots of Nigerians keep deteriorating and the economy worsens, there will be no number of excuses would wash him clean. A hungry man will always be angry.
