President Tinubu’s New Year speech and prospects contained therein

“It gives me immense joy to welcome each and every one of you – young and old- to this brand new year 2024. We must lift up our hands to Almighty God, in gratitude, for his grace and benevolence to our country and our lives in the year 2023 that has just gone by.

“Though the past year was a very challenging one, it was eventful in so many ways. For our country, it was a transition year that saw a peaceful, orderly and successful transfer of power from one administration to another, marking yet another remarkable step in our 24 years of unbroken democracy.”

These were exact words in the 2024 new year speech of President   Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Nigeria to usher in the new year.

The  speech no doubt contains to a large extent a glimmer of hope to Nigeria and Nigerians, especially the section that highlighted national rebirth and nation building. Having recognised the fact that his tough decision, aimed at actualising his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ triggered off hardship via high cost of living, inflation and poverty, among others.

But one would have expected the President to have gone further to give a thorough, practical breakdown of how the process would run. For instance, what is his administration doing to beat down inflation, reduce poverty, staring everybody in the face, and so on. A situation where N1,035 exchanges $1 is to say the least unacceptable.

We may not know what the Central Bank(CBN) and its allies are doing to salvage the situation, but what an average Nigerian knows is that all is not well with our financial management.

The President was specific that his tough decision in removing fuel subsidy and foreign exchange-choke, which he said was benefiting only few powerful and rich Nigerians, brought about hunger in the land, plus other ripple effects.

But the question is how far have the remedial measures put in place by his administration, if any, have doused the tension and tackled the problem?

Though there is this popular adage which says that ‘if you are embarking on a journey, until you reach your destination, the movement continues.’ We want to believe that the Tinubu-led Federal Government has started a journey and until it reaches its destination, the journey continues.

We equally agree with the President that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. This implies that Nigerians should buckle their seat-belts and cultivate the spirit of ‘never-give-up,’ believing that a reprieve will come their way soonest.

On security, the President said his administration is working hard to secure the country, having known that Rome was not built in a day. Well, it is generally known that insurgency remains the most difficult form of security challenge to tackle. The reason is that these undesirable elements and social misfits employ  all unconventional means to unleash mayhem on the citizenry, especially guerilla warfare, which has defied all known anti-security tactics globally.

That is to say that we have high hopes for the current federal government to bring succour to the people in the area of security. Again recognising that power is a catalyst to economic development, President Tinubu said it has entered into bilateral or even multi-lateral agreements with foreign partners to provide stable and sustainable electricity to engender economic growth in the country. This, he said, will conclude an age long power project that started since 2018.

The President also said that his administration has concluded plans to grow staple food crops in the country, such as rice, maize, wheat, millet, among others to address food insecurity. Fantastic as this may sound, the fact is that since Nigeria came to being, we have been hearing this. We therefore hope that this won’t end like other lofty, but unimplemented theories.

Let the federal government for once do things differently, to get different and better results. Let the 8-priority areas of the Sen Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration be religiously and fervently pursued. These include national defence, internal security, job creation, macro-economic stability and human capital development.

This can only be achieved, when there is actionable and deliberate efforts to do that. As if that was not enough, the President read riot act to all his appointees, warning them that no excuse for failure from them would  be tolerated.

“The task of building a better nation and making sure we have a Nigeria society that cares for all her citizens is the reason I ran to become your President. It was the core of my Renewed Hope campaign message on the basis of which you voted me as President.

“Everything I have done in office, every decision I have taken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May, 2023, have been done in the best interest of our country,” these reassuring words were from the President and can therefore not be wished away.

We equally thank God that the Tinubu-led Government has, without compulsion, promised to work out what it calls a living wage for the workforce. This is unprecedented and exemplary, that is worth commendation and emulation.

He should  make good this promise and according to him, “it is not only good economics, it is morally and politically correct to do this.”

Standing on this promise, we urge all well meaning Nigerians to put all hands on deck to enable the President realise all his plans, to the best interest of all.