Is Tinubu among the motivational speakers

Politicians are the same all over. They promised to build a bridge even where there is no river – Nikita Khrushchev
Anyone who patiently read President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s letter to Nigerians or watched his media chat in Lagos will be tempted to ask the question “Is President Tinubu also among the motivational speakers?’’ This is evidenced by, among other things, that his government is doing very well.

For the avoidance of doubt, motivational speakers use affirmation to build self confidence which is not based on reality. In the book, “Chicken Soup For The Soul”, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansel, the following positive affirmations can be found at page 17. “I think prosperous thoughts and become even more prosperous. My prosperity makes everyone better off and no one worse off. I am attracting all the right people in my life”. We can go on and on and you may wish to add your own if you follow the trend of thought.

Even in the church, Pentecostal pastors are proven motivational speakers. They teach their members to think positively, confess positively and never engage in negative thought or speech even when the reality points to the fact that the situation on ground is life threatening. They preach miracle, prosperity, indeed wealth without work . Just have faith in God and it is a done deal. What do they do? They claim cars, houses. They claim to be millionaires or even billionaires when they have not embarked on any project or won any contract.

Thank God for practical Christians like James. In James 2 v 14 to 20 he said the brutal truth about faith and deeds. The Bible New International Version states it this way “What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deed? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go , I wish you well, keep warm and well fed” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

In the same way faith by itself, if it does not accompanied by action is dead. But some will say “You have faith , I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I show you my faith by what I do. “You believe there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that …You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?”

That brings us to President Tinubu’s media chat in Lagos which, to this writer, is full of motivational speech, and I ask,” Is Tinubu also among the motivational speakers?” How can Mr President in all good conscience claims that his government is doing very well when Nigerians are hungry and inflation hitting the sky? Governance is not about motivational speech. It is about the economy, especially making the right economic policies that drive the economy. It is about good politics especially the political economy, the institutions that drive government policies. It is about the constitution, about the welfare and safety of lives and property of citizens. And it is about the rule of law and the maintenance of a peaceful and orderly society. These are the things Nigerians want their President to focus on not on motivational speeches and raising false hope that his government is doing very well.

The present miserable situation in the country is proof that you can win an election with lies and propaganda but you cannot govern with lies and propaganda because the facts will be staring you on the face and you can do nothing to deceive anyone.

Let us take just two aspects of governance mentioned above because they go to the very heart of the matter. The first is the economy, the second is the political economy, that is the institutions that drive governance.

On the economy, to get it right you must make policies that align with the structure of the Nigerian economy and also appoint the right personnel to drive the policies.

With all due respect, Tinubu did not appoint the right people as economic managers. Nigeria is blessed with a pool of technocrats, experts and professionals that are versed in knowledge and practice of public finance and central banking. In the name of politics, he chose to appoint learner drivers in these critical areas. They may have been successful in management of Lagos State economy but Lagos economy is radically different from the Nigerian economy.

Stockbrokers trade in stock and shares in Nigerian Stock Exchange which is just a small financial market in Nigeria. They study the trend in the economy and forecast rise and fall in stock price and take a position on behalf of themselves or their clients. What do stock brokers know about Public Finance and Central Banking in Nigeria?

Are you therefore surprised that the economy of Nigeria is run on trial and error method? They outsourced, so to speak, management of our exchange rate and the economy to the World Bank and IMF? It is an open secret that the economic and exchange rate policies of World Bank and IMF, which by the way is based on formal economies is most unsuitable for Nigeria that is a trading informal economy. It is also an open secret that World Bank and IMF policies has not worked in any developing economy that adopted the policies , yet our President is telling us that bright future is ahead.

Even when the youths protested about hunger and hardship in the country because of government economic policies, what pragmatic steps did government take to address the issues? Instead of tackling hunger head long, they arrested the protesters, some of them minors and put up trump up charges of treasonable felony and attempt to overthrow the government and put them in custody for nearly three months. It took public outcry and international pressure for government to order the release of the protesters and withdraw the charges. In a way, this is what the #endbadgovernance protest is all about.

The letter to Nigerians is full of faith. Show me your faith without work and I will show you my faith by what I do. Exchange rate will come down, what policies have been put in place to realise that objective?

To be fair, government has attempted to address these and other issues with cabinet reshuffle. That is good but further reshuffle is needed especially in the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance to keep the Nigerian economy on the path of prosperity.
Enyinnaya is a fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. [email protected]