By now, you will have come to the painful realisation that running Nigeria is not an “emilokan” thing. Nigeria has happened to you.
With runaway inflation crossing the 29.9 per cent mark, the naira in a free fall, crossing N1,500 to the dollar, food insecurity, violence all over, a lack of cohesion in government policy, unemployment at its highest, and the poverty index at record levels, even you sef go don tire.
What is needed now is an immediate recalibration. When a car is overheating, you stop, switch off the engine, and allow it to cool before pouring water and seeking help.
If not, the engine blows up, and the car is ruined. Nigeria is overheating from pressure; we have started seeing pockets of demonstrations; a state governor has announced food blockades; the Sultan has warned you; I have seen reports that IBB has also warned you; and the NLC is gearing up for another round, seeking a wage increase and all of that.
You are really in big trouble. What has saved Nigeria so far has been the informal market, which carries over 60 per cent of the economy. That market is not tied to the mainstream financial and fiscal system and is thus immune to the rascality of the system, ensuring stability in the polity.
But your policies have begun to drive the middle class into that market, thereby disrupting it and pushing in instability. What I mean is that people are now leaving Banana Island to buy rice in Mile 12, thereby driving up prices to the point that the average person can no longer afford it.
A bag of rice is over N70,000. The same goes for housing, health, and other essentials. You cannot get a decent flat in Yaba for less than N5m because people are relocating from the Island to the Mainland, making the majority of retail people restless.
Mr President, you need to just say “Stop!” Beg Nigerians to give you two days to go on a national retreat with your team, recalibrate, and come back with a more serious approach to governance.
You have to, as a matter of urgency, address insecurity, food, and the markets – FX. This should be your tripod approach to governance within the next six months.
I suggest you move Nyesom Wike to the Ministry of Defence. He sure has the decisiveness and boldness to move the laid-back Generals or kick them out. You see how his decisiveness has led to the cracking of the kidnapping siege in Abuja.
Secondly, revamp your communications team. Between Ajuri Ngelale and Bayo Onanuga, you have a mix of inexperience and outdated strategies. All the leakages are not being countered strategically, and the narrative being sold by your people is combative at best and not working.
Your man in Solid Minerals is out of his depth. Bring him back to his area of competence, if at all, and let him take charge of your communications. Your image is being battered daily, and you are not fighting back well.
You need to communicate better with the people, seek their support, and mobilise critical stakeholder groups as you forge ahead.
Your monetary and fiscal team is also suffering, as you can see from the results so far. Is it until we hit N5,000/$ that you will do something? Sweep clean the team and bring in people with international depth, who can start negotiations and engagements on debt freeze, grants, and long-term loans to calm the markets.
You need to be sure-footed to bring back confidence. What you face now is a loss of confidence, and that is why people are keeping cash under their beds and not releasing forex to be sold.
If it’s true that your governors are changing FAAC to forex, what are you doing about it? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo would have called a town hall meeting and, in the full glare of Nigerians, reprimanded them and put a performance matrix in place to ensure the release of future funds based on certain set criteria since he cannot arrest them as a result of their immunity.
Please, as a matter of urgency, begin the process of bringing people like Donald Duke, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Jalo-Waziri Haruna, Bimbo Ashiru, Akinwumi Adesina, Attahiru Jega, Mustafa Chike-Obi, Oby Ezekwesili, Fola Adeola, and the rest into your government.
Yes, we must recycle experience and depth. This is no time to learn on the job. They must be brought in as a team and given extensive powers to work.
An urgent meeting of the boards and managements of the FUGAZ, the top five banks, must be held in full public glare. Their support and huge sacrifice must be requested immediately.
A Council of State meeting also must be held in full glare of the public, and experience and advice from people like Obasanjo, who should really be your go-to man right now, must be sought.
Obasanjo, in my opinion, is the greatest living modern-day president. He handled the economy right, instilled reforms, attracted the best minds, and, most importantly, gave them the space to operate. Telecommunications, pensions, and banking reforms threw up a new middle class, opened up the economy, and put us on the path of growth.
Mr President, an exhaustive cabinet reshuffle is needed now – finance, solid minerals, health, and trade and investments must be touched. Very critically, they must be touched.
Your Chief of Staff must have a lower profile or be removed. His activities run counter to the plan being proposed in this write-up. In fact, I think a steady hand like Babatunde Fashola must be brought back.
You need an expansive approach towards governance. You must reach out to all critical stakeholder groups in the country, including Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, in a bid to build cohesion as you push towards a national reawakening.
The National Assembly must also be reined in. They must be whipped in line to understand what exactly is expected of them.
Cost of governance must be reduced by over 50 per cent, not just the pyrrhic reduction in travel mates but a concise and comprehensive look at the total cost of running the government, especially at both the executive and the legislative arms, with a view to bringing it all down.
Lastly, the question to be asked, Mr President, is: Do you even have the political will to carry out all of these reforms and more?
The answer, my oga, is buried in you.
