That Council of State’s vote of confidence in Tinubu

The vote of confidence passed by the National Council of State in President Bola Tinubu is significant, if only as an act of encouragement to the president. It certainly does not negate the fact that Nigeria, under Tinubu, is currently going through one of its worst periods economically, given the downturn, and the hard times most citizens are going through.

It will be appropriate for the president to view the vote of confidence, not as a pass mark for his performance in his tenure so far, but as a mark of camaraderie; to show that his colleagues in the council are with him at these trying times. Ultimately, President Tinubu has no one with whom to share the blame for any failure of government under his stewardship. The buck stops at his desk.
 
In its last meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, some days ago, the National Council of State passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu’s leadership of the country and declared readiness to resist any attempt at an unconstitutional change of government. The Council comprises the president as chairman, the vice president as deputy chairman, all living former heads of state and presidents, all former Chief Justices of Nigeria, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, all state governors and Attorney General of the Federation, as members.

Notably, two former presidents, General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Babangida were absent at the meeting either physically or virtually. The Council of State is an organ of the Federal Government saddled with the responsibility of advising the executive on policymaking. As an advisory body whose embers had been in the saddle of government in varying capacities, it is hardly expected that the council would be very critical of the sitting government, at least not publicly.
 
Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who briefed the media at the end of the meeting said that the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence in Tinubu for the way he has governed the country. He said that the council also expressed satisfaction with the ministers’ presentations on the progress of the country’s economy.

Indeed, there are ample indications that the president might have underestimated the problems to be inherited, which include the repercussions of years of neglect and inadequate action to address insurgency, Boko Haram terrorism, kidnapping for ransom on a large scale, and mindless killings of innocent Nigerians, in addition to regular mayhem unleashed on farmers by cattle herders. All the vices have accumulated to stagnate the country’s growth, particularly as they occasion food scarcity and round inflation across boards.
 
If the Council of State did not tell Tinubu’s government to be more judicious in its spending habits, that would be a serious omission. While President Tinubu’s frequent appeal for Nigerians to show understanding and exercise patience pending the resolution of the economic impasse is not lost on Nigerians, they could not reconcile the appeal to the government’s conduct of its business as usual, without an apparent sensitivity to the hardship Nigerians are going through.

In the last one year, the government has spent lavishly on the personal comfort of officials, frequent travels overseas, motorcades, and activities of the office of the First Lady among others. Indeed,  this seeming lack of appreciation of the plight of the average Nigerian, provoked, more than anything else, the recent nationwide protest against hunger and other sufferings.

Government should be concerned that the huge budgetary allocations to combat the scourge over the past 10 years could have impacted significantly on the lives of Nigerians, had the money been otherwise expended. The government should be worried that while it amassed a sizeable portion of law enforcement agencies, including the military, the police and other forces to secure the seat of power in Abuja and state capitals, the majority of Nigerians living and working in the rural areas are wide open to criminality and unprotected. They fall victim to heinous crimes daily and without hope of redress. That cannot be a country; just as such a situation is abnormal and unacceptable.
 
President Tinubu should equally be worried that Nigeria under his watch, is fast assuming the status of a pariah state, even a failing one, judging by the several negative indices such as poverty, terrorism, out-of-school children, prevalence of diseases, educational imbalance and massive corruption that has permeated practically all facets of the country’s existence, including the oil industry that is nonetheless the mainstay of the country’s economy.

If Tinubu wishes to bequeath himself a respectable legacy, he must begin now to change the narratives of the country. With her huge resources and other potential, Nigeria can still reclaim her erstwhile status as the ‘giant of Africa’. But that will not happen if Tinubu’s government carries on the way it has done in the last 15 months.