Nigeria, What Next? -By Okolo Isioma Barbara

His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was not handed Nigeria in her best state, and he is conscious of the fact. Being the new leader after the power tussle and expectations, isn’t all a bed of roses. Even so, it is undeniable that he has made some drastic changes already. Now the question is; Are we looking at the bigger picture? Do the present changes affect us negatively or positively? And will it carry on like that forever or vice versa?
Let us begin with the huge leap of faith His Excellency took by removing fuel subsidy. He was surprisingly backed up by the former Governor of Bauchi State; Isa Yuguda. His reason being that the fuel subsidy has mostly been a scam run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). He lamented that the perpetrators of this scam had made so much money from Nigeria and had brought the nation into it’s current financial mess.

Although this extreme commute has caused numerous, if not all Nigerians to wail, but are we looking at the bigger picture? According to Isa Yuguda, we were being exploited by those in control, but regardless of that fact, removal of subsidy shows a promising light for us, like enhanced Nigeria’s balance of trade, quickened economic growth, etc.

Safety isn’t expensive, it’s priceless. It takes leadership to improve security. Those wise words by Jackie Stewart were put into consideration by our President. Upon his swearing in, he visited the Service Chiefs and the National Security Adviser (NSA)

At the meeting, the President tasked them on the importance of information and intelligence sharing to obliterate counter productivity of resources in the fight against terrorism. He mandated the security agencies to come up with a blue print to tackling the security challenges bedvilling Nigeria.

He also charged the security agencies not to work at cross purpose. “All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose”. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that he will condone”.

The president has made it clear that in moving this country forward, he needs the security agencies to redouble their efforts. Now this “pep talk” by His Excellency should go a long way to admonish the security agencies, but only time will tell by their actions.

Also, we could say our new leader is making efforts to be a man of his word. How, you may ask. Well in fulfillment of one of his campaign promises to advance funding of education, The President, signed the Student Loan Bill in to law on the 12th of June, 2023. This bill was to enable indigent student to access loans at interest-free rates.

Now this bill was signed obviously with the right intention but in Nigeria where the hierarchy of things remain the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer, we unwillingly raise the question, is this newly signed bill going to turn around and bite us in the back? With this bill and it’s multiple conditions for application really affect the lives of people it is meant to impact? What if I am unable to present a guardian falling under the requirements stated, what then?

It seems the President had put almost everything into consideration upon entering his new office. He held a meeting with the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU). It is the association of health workers apart from medical doctors and dentist. According to JOHESU National Vice President, Obinna Ogbonna, the President pleaded for a twenty-one day timeline to obtain advancement and settle the matters.

The JOHESU embarked on the strike on 25th of May, but it was confirmed that they agreed to suspend it on 5th of June.

Will the strike remain suspended or will this new body of government be unable to fulfill their promises and keep to their word?

If the Bible said “let there be light” and so it was, why do we have to still pay electricity bill? With that being said, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assented to the electricity bill, which authorizes state, companies and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

Doing this will help provide a framework for the improvement of access to electricity in rural, unserved, peri-urban and urban areas through the use of the conventional sources and renewable energy off-grid and mini-grid solutions
The new act, says the constitution amendment permits Nigeria’s 36 states to generate electricity. Meanwhile, until a state has passed its electricity market laws, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will continue to regulate electricity business exclusively carried out in those states.

For certain this will affect the nations’ economy and private individuals included, so do we say, it is for the better, or worse?

It is no secret that every country has their baggage, but what matters is how that baggage is dealt with. All hands must be on deck to support the current government in making our lives easier. At this point, we need find the source of our problem and tackle it. We all have duties and responsibilities towards our country.

With the changes made to name but a few, what next is required of us; the government and individuals to make our future not only conducive but adequate and better than our current situation. Do all these steps taken by His Excellency affect us positively or negatively? If yes, for how long?

Barbara is a law student of Delta State University, Abraka. Oleh campus