It’s been one year already since President Bola Tinubu assumed the political leadership of Nigeria as the 16th President of one of the most prosperous nations in the world. Expectedly, it’s time for some stewardship. How far has he delivered on his electoral promises? Is it too early to judge the president considering he’s just been in the saddle for twelve months? To the supporters and friends ofthe Tinubu administration, it has started on the right track. Of course, the opposition thinks nothing meaningful has been done in the last year of President Tinubu’s administration. From a neutral perspective, this office,office, in our traditional style of objectivity,objectivity, would try to x-ray the activities of the Tinubu administration within the scope of the last twelve months.
Infrastructural Development
This is definitely one of the top priorities of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration. And this is evident in the administration’s giant strides in infrastructural development initiatives and programmes. From the completion of projects begun by his predecessors to ambitious infrastructural projects initiated by his own government, the Tinubu administration has done well in the area of infrastructural development. The government has made good use of its improved financial flow to carry out significant infrastructural projects. Also, Tinubu is proving to be futuristic by setting up the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund to finance the many infrastructure projects in the pipeline. Prior to the official launch of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund, the Tinubu government had completed the Abuja Metro, the Outer Southern Expressway Independence and Constitution Avenue, and several other projects started by the Buhari administration. The forward-thinking government has also embarked on legacy projects, such as the 700–kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Superhighway,Superhighway, which is said to be the single largest infrastructural project in Nigeria’s history. Not only that, there are also plans by the Tinubu administration to reactivate the Sokoto Ilela-Badagry Superhighway. As you read, funding for the Ibadan-Abuja-Kaduna rail is ready,ready, while the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail will be resuscitated. Leaving no projects behind,behind, whether inherited or initiated by his administration, administration, In a related development, the Tinubu administration has already secured a $2 billion loan for the completion of the Kano-Maradi rail line started by the Buhari administration. As it is in Abuja, so it is in Lagos with the repair works carried out by the Ministry of Works on the new 3rd mainland bridge. While there are many more roads begging for the federal government’s attention, it’s hard to fault this Tinubu administration for its commitment to infrastructural development. Obviously, the Tinubu administration has really hit the ground running with infrastructural projects. And the economic benefits of the infrastructural projects are endless:: expansion of the country’s GDP by a cost-a cost-effective transportation system and shorter travel timestimes across major Nigerian commercial cities.
Education
During his electoral campaign, President Tinubu promised to provide loans for Nigerian students in government-owned tertiary institutions. That promise has been fulfilled with the takeoff of the Student Loans Programme of the Tinubu administration. Perhaps the more important highlight of the administration in the educational sector is the stoppage of cash for degree fraud in the nation’s educational sector. The Tinubu administration’s reaction when the Cash for Degree scandal broke was timely and effective,, particularly the suspension of all the schools,primarily those primarily those from the neighbouring Benin Republic and other African countries involved in the educational fraud. It has restored sanity in our educational sector. Similarly, in its efforts to step up its youth empowerment efforts, the Tinubu government also released $617 million for the advancement of Nigerians,Nigerians, particularly those who are in the information technology (IT sector. The programme, under the supervision of the Bank of Industry BOI, is designed to provide start-up funding for Nigerian youths with digital skills.
Economy
This is one key aspect of governance in which the Tinubu government has come under intense fire. But in fairness to President Tinubu, he already said he was going to take some tough decisions, including subsidy removal and flotation of the naira. Expectedly, those decisions have caused short-term pain but hopefully will stop Nigeria from bleeding to death. So, what’s Tinubu’s administration’s response to the temporary economic crisis caused by his administration’s multiple reforms?
The answer is palliatives and palliatives. Tinubu’s government responded brilliantly on many fronts with a range of palliative initiatives aimed at providing instant relief to Nigerians facing economic difficulties. Civil servants, being the majority of government employees, received the utmost importance in the ameliorative measures of the Federal Government. The Tinubu government announced wage awards of N35, 000 to federal workers to ease the burden of food inflation and transport costs. And followed it up with a new minimum wage, with negotiations currently ongoing with the leadership of the organised labour. Not only that, the president also appealed to the state governors to follow in his footsteps by making life easier for workers in their respective states. Also, in a bid to reduce transportation costs caused by the high cost of gasoline, the Tinubu government launched the Presidential Compressed National Gas (CNG). The plan is to introduce a new model of buses and tricycles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). The locally assembled buses and tricycles are expected to roll out county-wide in the coming days.
The business communities were not left out of the ameliorative measures. The Bank of Industry teamed up with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment and successfully carried out disbursements of N50,000 each to the applicants in the Presidential Conditional Grant Programme for nano businesses. The programme targets about a million nano businesses. Some of the beneficiaries of the first phase include food and vegetable vendors, petty traders, market men and women, shoemakers, and corner shop owners. For the big players in the private sector, the Tinubu administration announced no aid of N1 billion each to 75 of them.
Agriculture
Agriculture is another sector that has enjoyed priority attention from the Tinubu administration in the last year. We can report that the government declared a food emergency and launched new initiatives, including massive dry-season farming covering essential crops such as maize and wheat. Not done, the Tinubu government also provided farmers with N100 billion worth of fertilizers. To calm the people’s nerves, the Tinubu administration released 43,000 metric tonnes of grains from the reserves. And they bought an additional 60,000 metric tonnes of rice from local millers for distribution to the people. In security, the president has impressed, too. Nigeria is currently enjoying relative peace across major trouble spots. For instance, sanity is gradually returning to the Northwest with the neutralisation of bandit leaders such as Boderi Isyaku, Ali Kachala, and Sani Dangote. Nigeria has also jumped from an 8.065 score on the Global Terror Index in 2023 to 7.575 in 2024. The president has also shown great determination in the fight against corruption. Betta Edu Gate is an example of Tinubu’s seriousness in combating corruption within his government. While it’s still a long way to go, the truth is that so much has been done by the Tinubu administration in such a short period of time.