Do Something Fast, Nigeria is sinking, Analysts Warn Tinubu .

Analysts have ex­pressed worry that five months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over the reins of government life is getting harder by the day and there appears to be no solution from the government.

Annual inflation rate ac­celerated for a sixth month to 24.08% in July 2023, the high­est since September 2005.

Some of the analysts who spoke to Sunday Independent at the weekend said it was un­fortunate that the president’s team seemed to be bereft of ideas on how to turn the econ­omy around, urging them to put on their thinking caps as things are really getting out of hand.

While they recognised that the poor monetary and fiscal policies of the last administra­tion of Muhammadu Buhari put the nation and citizens in a precarious situation, those who spoke said that five months would have been enough time for the Tinubu’s team to have really come up with water-tight ideas on how to turn the economy and the financial sector around and stop the Naira from further downward slide so that the citizens can breathe.

Prof John Ebhomien, a for­mer World Bank economist, in his reaction to the nation’s tot­tering steps so far, stated that the “the perceived confusion in the financial sector by some elements was as a result of poor monetary and fiscal pol­icies of past administrations. Sincerely speaking this will take some time to overcome.”

Prof. Ebhomien, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former consul­tant to the United Nations Of­fice on Project Services, also recalled that “the heartbreak­ing policy of naira redesign and its poor implementation by the Godwin Emefiele’s Cen­tral Bank, created serious con­fusion in the financial sector.”

The former World Bank/ International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist and financial management expert, con­tinued, “This problem was compounded by high interest rates, high foreign exchange rates and inflation which have been on the high side.”

He urged the Tinubu’s men especially the Yemi Cardoso’s team at the CBN to urgently adopt what he termed “a di­agnostic approach” to man­age and resolve the current confusion in the economy, which he added, has put the citizens into serious hardship, adding the “proper economic management is not a rocket science.”

Ebhomien added: “My candid advice to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Presidency is to go back to the drawing board and take cor­rective actions and decisions in the interest of the economy.

“The expectations of Ni­gerians are high as they are waiting for miracles to hap­pen. My advice to Nigerians is to support Mr President to fix the economy.

“All hands must be on deck. There must be probity and ac­countability in all sectors. It is a collective responsibility.”

Ambassador Dr. Kalu Ofon Emmanuel, the Lagos State Chapter President, Interna­tional Human Rights Protec­tion Service, Florida, USA, in his reaction, stated: “It is unfortunate that the Nigeri­an citizens have been thrown into the valley of financial suffocation.

“Five months after Tinubu set off the confusion in the financial sector, he appears bereft of ideas on how to halt it. Too bad!

“I think he can still contain the fast worsening situation if he can do the right things at the right time and avoid hov­ering sycophants around him.

“If he can listen and imple­ment professional financial advice being given to him on how to improve the nation’s economy and alleviate gross poverty and suffering of the masses, that will be a plus for him.

“However, l don’t envisage an automatic boom in the fi­nancial sector, rather it will be a gradual process. My worry is that before this gradual pro­cess begins to yield the expect­ed dividend, the dwindling economic situation would have done a lot of damage to the citizens.

“One can also imagine the irrevocable damage it would inflict on the citizens. The gradual process would have sent several Nigerians to ear­ly grave and hospitalisation.

“How l wish Tinubu would put himself in the shoes of in­nocent Nigerians who cannot afford food on their tables or even eat only once a day.

“That alone would make him wake up from slumber to improve the financial sec­tor and resuscitate the dead economy.”

Dr Victor Mathew, a secu­rity expert and public affairs analyst, said: “From the way things are going, I have my greatest doubt that the Presi­dent and his team can reverse or remedy the very bad situ­ation.”

Dr Mathew, the Executive Director, Kingdom Advocacy Network (KAN) lamented “Initial wrong foots were put forward By President Tinubu without proper thinking.

“I strongly believe that removing fuel subsidies and floating the Naira at the same time was very wrong. The Dol­lar now at the parallel market is trading for over N1000. That is unprecedented.

“I have also noticed that the finance minister and the coordinator of the economy has not been saying anything.

“To me, it shows that the president has no strategic plan because he should be en­gaging the different econom­ic stakeholders in salvaging a very bad situation.

“One thing I have noticed with the government is that they announce policies before thinking about them, leading to several reversals, which is not good for the investing public.

“Part of the campaign slogan was that Tinubu did well in Lagos and will there­fore replicate the same at the centre. Whether he performed well as governor is a subject of debate.

“It has now become very ob­vious that he is overwhelmed and Nigeria is not Lagos State and he does not have the an­swers to our economic woes, but has only made the situa­tion get very bad.

“To even worsen matters, the government he has put to­gether is too bogus and a huge drain on the nation’s scarce resources.”

Dr Rexkennedy Saltlove, another public affairs ana­lyst and human rights advo­cate, warned that things are getting out of hand, even as he expressed doubt that Tinubu and his team could get the nation out of the current eco­nomic mess.

Saltlove, President/Execu­tive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative), stated: “For some of us, our expectations were not high about President Tinubu per­forming excellently, taking into consideration his utter­ances that he would continue from where the Buhari ad­ministration stopped.

“That was an administra­tion that everyone one knew was dismal in every key per­formance indices (KPI), be it the economy, industrial and human development growth to name a few.

“Aside this, the President Tinubu seems to be very ab­sent minded and seems to lack ideas on the best way to address the economy that is going down with the free fall of the naira against the dol­lar and its weak purchasing power.

“He seems overwhelmed and distracted, maybe due to the issue of the baggage he carries and the pending Su­preme Court cases.

“It has been my view that this president’s approach to the economy as regards the fuel subsidy removal is knee jerk and the palliatives, by rea­son of inflation, a short term approach to address it. That will go nowhere.

“The CBN in its approach too, on the monetary policy with aim to regulate inflation, also seems to be an emergen­cy approach that will help the naira in its free fall by unban­ning some products and wors­en the situation.

“As long as the importation of certain products that could be manufactured locally are unbanned, that will weaken the local industry production that could have help us pro­duce, export, generate income and strengthen the naira pur­chasing power.

“As long as we do not have something to export, but re­main only an import nation, the demand on the dollar will keep increasing, which will weaken the naira and with its inflationary effect.

“The government is not in any way poised in mitigating the disaster it had triggered in this nation vis-a-vis the citizens. I stand to be proven wrong.”

Dr Felix Nwosu, a public affairs commentator, said, “In my view, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not lack knowledge of the mess in the financial institutions, even be­fore he became the president.

“He was part of the past government of former Pres­ident Buhari. But, one thing Nigerians should know is that the nation’s financial and eco­nomic mess did not begin with his administration.

“I believe he opened the deep wound wide because he did not want Nigerians to be wallowing in darkness over the petroleum subsidies not realising the magnitude of crisis his sudden declaration would put the nation into.

“Not knowing the financial crisis that we are in Nigeria by the subsidy removal but before his arrival as the pres­ident of the federal republic of Nigeria.

“There was a financial reform crisis in Nigeria and Nigerians were leading to scarcity of both old and new naira notes due to the naira redesign of former President Buhari and former CBN gov­ernor, Godwin Emefiele.

“With all these, it will not be easy for the present govern­ment to address the nation’s financial shortcomings over­night. That’s why the pres­ident Ahmed bola Tinubu came up with palliatives and now salary increases.

“Our constitution is not healthy to empower the presi­dent to carry out certain deci­sions without going through the legislature.

“Nigeria and Nigerians’ problem is the legislators and not President Tinubu. There are some policies and laws that prevent growth of the na­tion’s economy that need to be reviewed. That is the way out.

“Until the National Assem­bly gets ‘Think tanks’ among the legislators who can think deeply and bring out bills that can help the executive to grow the nation’s economy, Nigeria and Nigerians will continue to suffer lack and lag behind in every sector of the economy, including the financial sector.

“Although the crude oil price is not improving in the international market, the high inflation rate at home is killing the gains and will not reflect in our lives.

“For now, I don’t see the magic President Tinubu can perform for Nigerians, except the palliatives he has put in place now. Nothing else can cushion the effects of the poor economy we found ourselves. Nigerians are watching him.”