President Tinubu’s Hosts Maiden Media Chat :
Statements from top leadership, whether in geopolitics or corporate entities, are meticulously scrutinized during times of stability and turmoil alike. Analysts seek to uncover valuable insights and policy indications that can inform future directions. This scrutiny intensifies during challenging periods, as leaders’ words can inspire hope or exacerbate despair.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s first face-to-face media chat since taking office 18 months ago sparked cautious optimism among many Nigerians. During the chat, he tackled pressing issues, including the removal of petroleum subsidies, currency floatation, tax reforms, and the four tax bills pending before the National Assembly.
Other key topics discussed included tariff increases, inflation, security, food security, debt burden, corruption, minimum wage increases, and the student loan scheme. The media chat, moderated by Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise News TV, featured representatives from prominent media outlets like NTA, Bloomberg, and Channels TV.
Notably, the chat followed the presentation of the 2025 budget proposal, which aims to restore macroeconomic stability, enhance the business environment, and promote inclusive growth and equitable income distribution.
While admitting that Nigerians were undergoing excruciating hardships as a result of the government’s reforms, Tinubu said, however, that the nation’s economy was showing signs of recovery under his watch. He was quick to remind Nigerians that the subsidy removal has led to healthy competition, thereby making the commodity available as prices have started dropping – a hallmark, he said, of the free market economy which his government embodies. He stated that financial discipline has been introduced into government spending, with additional funds being allocated to development projects, while borrowing is being utilised solely to finance infrastructure. The President also used the media chat to announce his government’s plans (as a follow-up to the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development back in July 2024) to procure 2,000 tractors for Nigerian farmers, as part of continuing efforts to ensure food security and drastically reduce poverty – an assertion that is coming against the backdrop of the tragic food stampedes that have been recorded around the country in recent days. His policies, he added, have redirected Nigeria back to the path of growth, widened revenues, and increased gross domestic product (GDP). 2025, he assured, would usher in more economic prosperity and growth. “I understand the trouble you’ve been through … It is just 18 months ago that I took the reins. We’ll maintain focus. Let’s believe in ourselves and in our country. Tomorrow will bring a glorious dawn.”
Expectedly, the conversation elicited a wide mixture of reactions from a cross section of Nigerians. While all were unanimous in saying that it was engaging and even informative, there was no such unanimity as to how well the President addressed each issue on its merits, whether he struck the right tone, and what impact his approach will have on both the fundamentals of the economy, going forward, as well as the state of national security, and ultimately, the welfare of the Nigerian people. Some analysts also noted his less-than-robust responses to the question of the state of the nation’s four government-run refineries, as well as to the issue of price controls in respect of basic commodities such as food items. While the media chat may have put paid to the debate among Nigerians as to the President’s competence and charisma – given the succinct manner in which he laid out the scorecard of his stewardship in the outgoing year, as well as his vision and next steps in the new year – some analysts said he needed to be more responsive to widespread concerns about accountability and transparency, such as concerns about the size of his cabinet, and the urgent imperative of cutting down the cost of governance.
In a way, much of what the President said during the media chat is already obvious to most objective Nigerians. Along with Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu is definitely retooling the Nigerian economy along the lines laid out in the Renewed Hope Agenda on which they ran in last year’s election. The VP, in particular, has helped galvanizing ministries, departments and agencies of government, as well as the state governments, to actualize the policies of the administration in his capacity as Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC). Also notable in the outgoing year has been the administration’s avowed commitment to broad-based and shared economic prosperity, as demonstrated by the ongoing comprehensive review of human capital development through the Expanded National MSME Clinics, as well as the Aso Accord on Economic and Financial Inclusion, along with other initiatives, which are being spearheaded and executed by the Office of the VP. Under Tinubu, traveling to states like Borno, Katsina and Kaduna, and especially along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, is relatively safer now, thanks to the deployment of security agents in multiple sections of these routes – for which reason, he said, the country’s security chiefs deserve commendation, rather than a probe (as has been called for in certain quarters). Rather than probe the military at this time, he insisted, he would instead invest in technology, weaponry and training for the armed services.
So far, the 55-minute media encounter with some of Nigeria’s top journalists has been described with many positive adjectives in various quarters, but more than that, it has given millions of Nigerians the opportunity to re-evaluate their perceptions about the man whose personality and agenda have not really been grasped by many of his fellow citizens until now. It was also an opportunity for the President to put a number of serious national questions to rest, to speak from the heart and allow Nigerians a sneak-peek into why he does what he does and why he takes decisions nobody ever thought were necessary. He didn’t sugarcoat the difficulties on the ground – and what the success or failure of these reforms would entail in the long run. “Reforms are necessary for long-term growth,” he reminded his interviewers during the chat. “For years, we spent our future’s resources on subsidies and unsustainable programmes. Removing the fuel subsidy is … not easy, but it’s necessary to prevent financial disaster for future generations. We must manage our resources within our means and focus on investments that ensure prosperity … Why should we have expenses that aren’t supported by revenue? We need to …focus on managing our resources responsibly…We cannot spend the investments of future generations today.”
On the monster of corruption, and the need to slay it once and for all, it is true that President Tinubu has not exactly gone to town advertising his fight against corruption at every given opportunity like his immediate predecessor. But he has been assiduous (albeit in rather unusual ways) in tackling the menace – notably by ensuring that the circumstances and the tendencies that give people reasons to be corrupt, are dealt with wholistically. Examples are innovations such as the Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP), the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), the aforementioned new minimum wage, and the tax reform bills. “I have moved from N35,000 to N70,000,” he said during the chat. “To me, that’s anti-corruption; if we can earn more revenue, we will do more. I’m giving more money to the states and LGAs. I’ve been transparent with my own earnings (through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee FAAC), and every month there is a publication as to what the country is making. Our Student Loan is part of anti-corruption, too.”
All in all, the President showed that he has a good grasp of the goings-on in the economy and other aspects of the nation’s life. A small step, perhaps, in the arduous journey of remaking Nigeria and pulling it out of the doldrums in which it has found itself – but a giant leap in the leader’s understanding of the social contract between him and the people he has been elected to lead.