A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former governorship aspirant in Oyo state, Mr Kehinde Olaosebikan, in this interview submits that President Bola Tinubu’s task to revolutionize the nation through progressive policies and programmes have started yielding positive results adding that the President has within 18 months earned global respect for Nigeria and the African continent. Excerpts:
Some Nigerians have taken to social media to condemn the choice of President Bola Tinubu as Man of the year 2024 by THISDAY Newspapers. Do you agree with them?
No, I don’t agree with them. The award was eminently merited. THISDAY was absolutely professional and just in giving the award to President Tinubu. The newspaper was explicit in its criteria for giving the award and they tally with what obtains with such awards globally. The truth is that most of the people criticizing the award are doing so out of ignorance and or sheer hate for their country. It is unfortunate.
Great leaders are distinguished by their profound ambitions, superhumanly driven courage, political savvy, intelligence and indefatigability. They make tough decisions towards taking their countries where they ought to be.
As clinically established by THISDAY, this is what President Tinubu is doing for the country and with his dedication and resilience, the policies and programs are already yielding positive results. I am particularly happy with the award as it corroborated my projection on the leadership and policies of Tinubu’s government.
In my assessment of his first year in office I hypothesized that the country would by the first or second quarter of this year begin to feel the impact of the strong, effective and purposeful leadership of President Tinubu.
I concluded my postulation then that Nigerians would eventually yearn for him to continue as President in 2027.
More than any of our past Presidents since 1979, President Tinubu has shown real courage, competence and capacity in governance. These are the qualities that THISDAY saw in President Tinubu in awarding him the Man of the Year.
You said he has shown more courage and capacity than any president since 1979, what of former President OlusegunObasanjo?
President Tinubu and former President OlusegunObasanjo are two distinct personalities with different backgrounds and approaches to governance. Former President Obasanjo’s two opportunities to lead were mere happenstances or enforced. At the two times, both as the military head of state and civilian president, he was never prepared. That was the reason, his administration as civilian president was dominated mostly by military tactics. You will recall that the government was chaotic with yearly or biennial change of the leadership in the key institutions of democracy, the National Assembly and his party, PDP.
But for President Bola Tinubu, his journey to power was well paved. Starting as a senator, Bola Tinubu was an outstanding governor for eight years with unmatched records. His experience as a senator, governor among other positions he has held equipped him with a firm background in constitutional law and effective management of human and material resources. In a growing democracy like ours, he knows the importance of precise management of the National Assembly and his party.
For a president aiming at executing groundbreaking reforms, he got it right from the onset by getting the right leadership in the legislature. So, unlike Obasanjo who struggled to control the National Assembly and his party with military fiats, President Tinubu chose the political line as a grandmaster of the game. And you could see that all the precautionary measures taken by President Tinubu are the necessary requirements for the success of his reforms and real development for Nigeria. I think God himself specially prepared President Tinubu for his present task of revolutionizing Nigeria.
The concern of those condemning the award was the problem of acute hardship being suffered by Nigerians as a result of government policies, particularly the removal of subsidy and floating of the Naira.
I think it is hypocritical for people to still be blaming the President over the removal of fuel subsidies today. We have all seen the outcomes of the subsidy removal with more funds to all the tiers of government. Though no one is happy with the high cost of virtually everything, the prices are coming down and certainly with time, all the essential commodities would become affordable to all.
How?
With more funds being allocated to states, we are already seeing competition among the states using the additional funds allocated to them from the fuel subsidy removal to develop their areas of comparative advantages of agriculture, industry etc. The Governor of Borno State, Professor BabaganaZulum just a few days ago announced that the state government would soon be selling petrol at 600 Naira per litre to boost irrigation, all-year-round farming in his state. Governor MuhammedBago of Niger State is equally utilizing the money that would have been mismanaged in the name of fuel subsidy for novel world-class mechanized farming in his state.
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State is expending the fuel subsidy funds to reposition Enugu for economic development and taking Enugu on the path of 21st -century development and building Nigeria’s tomorrow today. Other states are trying but the good side of the new development is that the governors are being challenged by the performances of their colleagues. This is a silent revolution being engendered by President Tinubu.
In a concrete and more direct way, what do you think should be done by the President to address the starvation among vulnerable Nigerians?
A – I think my last answer has addressed that but I will explicate. Conceptualizing and implementing robust policies in all sectors of life is what the Federal Government owes all of us through the two other tiers of government and this is what the government of President Tinubu is doing with unusual zeal and courage. After cancelling the corruption laden fuel subsidy, the central government decided in the overall interest of the masses to take the reasonable step by allocating the bulk of the funds to all the states of the federation and make life more meaningful for their people. And rightly the likes of Zulum, Baggo, Mbah and others are effectively utilizing the funds in bettering the lots of their people. Do you know the magnitude of the agricultural produce that will be coming out of Borno and Niger states beginning from the next harvests? On this, I want to be optimistic that the other governors would utilize their areas of advantages and contribute meaningfully to the agricultural and industrial growth of the nation. All these are what we require to battle poverty and make life more abundant for Nigerians. It will equally shore up the value of our currency as we will begin to import less and export more.
What is your assessment of the foreign policy of the government vis-à-vis the crisis in ECOWAS and allegations against the President for romancing France to stabilize some Franco-African countries?
I thank you for this question. On the foreign policy of The Renewed Hope Agenda, I will rate Mr. President as excellent.
In all ramifications, President Tinubu has been marvelous in all his international pronouncements and engagements. He has been representing us as a nation, as a sub-region and as the African continent excellently. He has regained for us our pride of place as the Giant of Africa. With the strong and effective leadership being provided in his country, his pedigree and antecedents as a fantastic manager of resources; as a super successful business man and grandmaster in politics, our President rivets the entire world whenever he takes the podium at international gatherings.
As clearly demonstrated at international fora, AsiwajuBola Tinubu speaks assuredly as the President of the most populous black nation in the world and one of the most endowed (in all, including clement weather) nation on earth. From the old perception of an unstable, beggarly, and miserable continent, President Tinubu has in less than 20 months effectively changed the narrative of Africa to a continent of destination for growth and prosperity and a continent ready to help the world with her great potential.
In a nutshell, President Tinubu has earned global respect for our dear country, Nigeria and the African continent and we should all be proud of his leadership as THISDAY has professionally done with the Man of the Year Award.
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