Nigeria may not be out of the woods yet, but under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the country is showing real promise.
Nigeria witnessed a momentous democratic moment on May 29, 2015, when Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress was sworn in as Nigeria’s 15th president. It was the first time an incumbent would be successfully displaced by elections in Nigeria. The feat was more impressive when it is considered that it was recorded against a seemingly impregnable Peoples Democratic Party.
Muhammadu Buhari who is now late, was to do eight years, during which many believed he ran the country aground. At some point in his presidency, he openly admitted that though he knew even before he was elected that Nigeria had serious challenges, he didn’t expect the magnitude of the challenges he encountered in office. In 2023 he was succeeded by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and many of the challenges have remained.
Since the baton was passed in 2023, Nigerians have had little to cheer. About three years down the line, many of the challenges that predated the current administration have remained.
Despite the challenges, the current administration is showing a marked departure from its predecessor in two key areas that may yet be the most defining for Nigerians: security and the economy.
Insecurity in Nigeria has really spiraled during the past decade. Terrorism in its many forms has made many parts of the country insecure, causing Nigerians indescribable anguish at home and imponderable embarrassment abroad by casting the country as critically unsafe.
Before the advent of the current administration, communities in Southern Kaduna, Benue State, Plateau State, and many other states spread over the core North were regular stomping grounds for criminals of all shades and stripes. While it would be mischievously premature to state that the criminals have been conclusively routed, it is clear that they have been largely put in their place, underlining the mammoth efforts that have gone into containing a problem that once threatened the very existence of Nigeria.
For many Nigerians, poverty remains a costly bedmate. The Nigerian economy was practically in tatters before the current administration came to power.
Any decision bordering on the removal of fuel subsidy was bound to be critically unpopular, but President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the unprecedented step of removing it.
The uproar, which was great, has remained even in the face of the president’s defiance, which he has expertly melded with other decisive steps to rescue Nigeria’s economy. The result of such firmness is that for the first time in many years, the Nigerian economy is producing shoots of recovery.
As per The Economist, which has heavily criticized the Nigerian government in the past, the Nigerian economy under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is showing signs of recovery.
The British Journal pointed out the abolition of the fuel subsidy and abandonment of the multi-tiered system of dollar-pegged exchange rates, which has largely allowed the naira to float, as key to the forceful signs of economic rejuvenation noticed.
For a publication that has previously stuck a boot into successive Nigerian governments, this is no idle commentary on a key aspect of Nigeria. It definitely means that the country is on the right path.
A lot of work remains to be done to completely rescue Nigerians from poverty and set the country moving in the right direction. It is never going to be easy, but with the right amount of decisiveness, Nigeria can continue to engineer a rousing departure from its dark and dreary recent past.
It Is only hoped that the ominous politics of 2027 will not derail a promising project.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com
