President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was elected as Nigeria’s president in the election which held in February, 2023, and he was sworn in in May, 2023. From the onset, the President has made tough talks about delivering his campaign promises, especially changing the country’s economy for good. In this post, we’ll be examining Tinubuinconomics: how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is running Nigeria’s economy.
In this post, we’ll be checking what and what he is doing, how the economy is responding to his policies and reforms, and where these policies are failing. Let’s take a look at the details of Tinubuinconomics. By the way, before we go further, you need to understand the coinage and formation of the word – Tinubuinconomics.
What is Tinubuinconomics?
Tinubuinconomics is coined from the combination of Tinubu and Economics. It is used to denote how Tinubu’s control and policy making in terms of Nigeria’s economy is treating the economy. What are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies, and how is it affecting the economy of the country? Is it negative or positive?
Now, let’s go down to the main deal.
Tinubuinconomics: How President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is running Nigeria’s Economy (Part 1) …
We are going to be looking at his major economic policies and reforms and how the Nigerian Economy and people have been receptive to these policies.
1. The Removal of Fuel Subsidy
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, without giving a hint or time, removed fuel subsidy on the day of his swearing-in in May, 2023. This ended the long spending on fuel subsidy, and the Federal Government argued that it was necessary to save Nigeria from imminent collapse.
Of course, Nigerian Economy and people were unprepared, leading to a tremendous increase in inflation and the cost of living skyrocketed. From 25% inflation rate, the inflation increased to more than 28%, especially the cost of food which increased to around 32%. This brought down Nigeria’s cost of living, and drove more people into poverty.
In addition, plans weren’t put in place to mitigate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal. It was only later cash rewards and palliatives were offered, but these weren’t enough to mitigate the harsh economic conditions.
2. Floating the Naira
This is also one of Tinubu’s first economic policies: floating of the naira, and scrapping the discrepancy between official and black market rates of foreign currencies in Nigeria. For the Federal Government, this is to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria, and gain investors’ trust. Though, this is a good economic initiative that received praise, it has brought about intense suffering on Nigerians and reduced the purchasing power of the people, pushing more people into poverty.
The costs of good skyrocketed, especially imported goods. The level of importation reduced by over 50%. Import duties and other fees were also increased. This mostly affected multi-nationals, most likely the people into production, logistics, and importation. A lot of manufacturers have closed shop due to the harsh outcome of this policy.
The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that things will improve with time as the shock of the policy wears off. However, six months after the policy, the naira is still not stable and continues to fluctuate due to scarcity of foreign currencies in Nigeria.
3. Reorganization of the Economic Leadership and Team of Nigeria
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took time before he appointed people to oversee or be in charge of the economy starting from the Minister of Finance to Minister of Budgeting and Economic Planning to the CBN Governor; he took a lot of time before he appointed people.
He sacked all the members of the economic team of the last administration of Former President Muhammadu Buhari. There have been mixed reactions of his appointment in the economic sector, with some praising, while some condemned the appointments. Nonetheless, the team seems capable than those of the last administration.
The big question is: will they deliver and put the Nigerian Economy where it is supposed to be?
4. Increasing the Cost of Fees, Taxes, and Levies
In the President’s attempt to improve the IGR and funding of the country, the Federal Government has increased most fees, levies, and taxes belonging to the Federal Government. This is felt more especially in terms of import duties as there was an astronomical increase of about more than 50%. This has decreased importation by 50%, and increased the cost of goods in the market.
5. Infrastructural Development
The major key to the development of the economy of a country or state is in terms of the infrastructure available. It is just 6 months of Tinubuinconomics, so we can’t really judge him by the development of infrastructure. Though, he has approved the construction of several roads across the nation, but works are yet to start on most of these roads due to lack of funds.
So far so good, Nigeria continues to suffer from bad roads, epileptic power supply, weak network, and so on. The administration needs a lot of money and funding with the dedication of the people to be able to meet up to what is expected in the infrastructural development in Nigeria.
6. Security and Peace
Normalcy and security has not returned to how it was in Nigeria before the emergence of Boko Haram; however, with the reorganization of the security leadership in Nigeria, there has been slight improvement in the level of security in the country.
More needs to be done, though, as Nigeria is still largely insecure. There is kidnapping and banditry in the North, and kidnapping and robbery in the South. It will take a lot more to dislodge the weakness in the security structure of the country. It can still be done, though. If kidnapping, robbery, and banditry is brought to a halt, Nigerian Economy will improve with business growth and increase of FDIs.
7. Education, Student Loan and Social Intervention Programs
Education is classified under the social sector in Tinubuinconomics. Thus, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised to keep education affordable and in quality form for Nigerians. Education is considered one of the fastest and most effective way to fight poverty. He also went ahead to introduce student loan to help the less privileged students to be able to study, and it is captured in the 2024 Nigerian annual budget.
A good amount of the Nigerian budget will go into education. There’ll be improved quality education. There’ll also be other social intervention programs like asserting prices of some essential commodities in the market, distribution of funds to poorest of the poor, and so on.
Conclusion
So far so good, these are the major economic policies and pillars of Tinubuinconomics. Most of the policies have had mostly negative effects on the economy and people. The Federal Government has urged the people that the policies will have positive effects on the people and economy with time. This is it on Tinubuinconomics: How President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is running Nigeria’s Economy.