RELIEF comes the way of Nigerians as the Presidency confirms cabinet reshuffle any time soon. From inception till date, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s reforms, especially in the oil sector have shot up petroleum prices and costs of living. The President at inauguration promised to “hit the ground running” and constitute a cabinet of technocrats that would provide the needed relief. His cabinet was not constituted until about three months later.
TRUE, there have been efforts to introduce the exchange rate unification policy, clear the $7bn forex backlog inherited from the previous administration, reduce debt servicing from 97 percent to 68 percent, and introduce other reforms in the finance and oil sectors. However, the economic outlook remains largely gloomy and the standard of living continues to cascade down the economic cliff.
THE World Bank , however, said Tinubu’s floatation of the currency and subsidy removal in 2023 added seven million Nigerians to the already studded poverty net. The National Bureau of Statistics says that petrol constituted 25 percent of the total imports into the country in the First Quarter of 2024 even as the situation worsened in the Second Quarter of the year as the nation imported petrol with N3.22tn. This importation cost was adjudged highest ever. The nation is battling with a debt overhang of N121tn and fresh borrowings and a puerile Gross Domestic Product (GDP) profile of $252bn, fourth in Africa.
THE power situation is also as embarrassing. While South Africa and Egypt generate 58,000MW each, Nigeria crawls behind with 5, 000MW, thus rendering the over 80 million youths that should have taken advantage of digital economy to create jobs further jobless and helpless.
THE unceasing security challenges also seem to suggest that the nation has no water- tight security strategy to rein in the insurgents. The successes recorded so far are products of reactive strategy. It is the proactive variant that wins wars. The Minister of Defence and his team seem to have no solution in this regard.
THE education ministry too is crumbling under Minister Tahir Mamman. The sector appears shaky hobbled by underfunding, inadequate and dilapidated infrastructure, frequent industrial actions by labour unions, among other challenges. The nation’s public universities have poor world ranking status and the nation has a population of 20.1 million out-of-school children, second in the world after India. Yet, none of these age-old and crushing challenges and more, seem to capture the attention of Mamman. He would rather be bothered by school certificate and university age limit. The future and destinies of hundreds of thousands of students who are already in the system mean nothing to him, it would seem in this moment of hunger and hardship, the nation requires an agriculture minister that has creative and innovative solutions to the lingering food crisis. The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy was created to boost the fortune of the nation after the oil sector, but little is heard about the ministry. The President has to appoint a man of ideas to achieve his vision for the ministry.
THE 47-member cabinet is too large for an economy that is struggling for breath. The President should slash them to match the ongoing economic downturn stance, as doing so is the first demonstrable step in cutting the cost of governance and assuring the people that it is no longer business as usual.
BUT for the Ministries of Works, Interior and the Federal Capital Territory whose impacts can be felt by the people, other ministries follow in the footsteps of the under-performing ministries. Despite the fact that they were given free hand to perform, they were unable to give a good account of their stewardship.
BUT for the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan administration, the Ministry of Petroleum has been manned by Presidents since the advent of the 24-year old Republic. Yet, the ministry has at best performed below expectation. The Tinubu administration must yield the ministry that generates about 95 percent of the nation’s foreign earnings to a competent and innovative hand who will be on the ground to take charge. The President must also take steps to stem the crisis besetting the sector and consequently the nation.
WITH half of his four-year term almost gone, President Tinubu needs to constitute a cabinet of technocrats and a few politicians with cognate experience and track records to achieve his Renewed Hope Agenda, stabilise the socio-economic space and give the people a breath of fresh air. As he enters the second half of his four-year term, President Tinubu must redouble his efforts to deliver his campaign promises to the people by choosing a cabinet that has sufficient bite.