Tinubu’s reforms are reviving Nigerian economy toward path of growth – Bewaji

Wunmi Bewaji, lawyer and former minority leader of the House of Representatives, in this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, assesses the two-year administration of President Bola Tinubu. He also spoke on mass defection of politicians to the ruling party, saying that the weak state of opposition parties was responsible, among several other issues. Excerpt:

How do you assess the President Tinubu administration’s two years in office?

This administration is doing fantastically well going by what the Tinubu’s administration inherited in 2023 from the former president. The reforms that were implemented, especially the two reforms of, unification of the exchange rate and removal of subsidy; these two reforms have had tremendous effects on the economy.

Today, we can say that the economy is taking shape and that the worst is over. Nigeria is on the trajectory of growth.

But economists and Nigerians say not much has been felt with the reforms…?

People that said they have not seen improvement in the quality of their lives, are lying. What we see going on in Nigeria today, is huge micro reforms. For example; the unification of the exchange rate has led to removal of arbitral in the economy.

Nigeria was paying billions of naira amounting to taking a huge chunk of the entire economy into private pockets, in the name of special packages for some privileged individuals.

These individuals are the ones taking this foreign exchange to the market and changing it into naira. So, when you have reforms of this magnitude, it must have consequences. But the initial consequences may not be palatable, but at the end we are going to get results and we can see that we are already getting results.

Nobody can deny today that Nigeria now has very strong physical buoyance, from a potry budget of N18-17 trillion, today Nigeria is budgeting around more than N50 trillion, it is very ambitious.

Yes, people would say that the revenue projection for Nigeria is so huge. So huge now that today, we are getting out of the revenue problem.

What we now need to focus on now may be our monetary policy. Just as we are going to talk about the students’ loan which this government has implemented.

But the student loan scheme has been trailed by controversy; don’t you think this administration should have handled it better?

There is no scandal, you are bringing in a new program, of course there are people in the university system who think they can take something from this process.

So, when you are bringing in a new program like this, it must have some sorts of problems.

Some students are getting the loans, but they don’t know they have been credited. It is for the people managing the program to see whatever problems they have and fix it. But that would not remove the fact that thousands of students are now benefiting and billions of money have been pumped into the program.

Students who did not the opportunity of going to school are now in school and even paid allowances and we can only do this because we have the money.

What about power supply, generation has increased, but supply is still poor. What is your take?

There is nobody in this country that would say that power supply has remained the same or not improved since Bola Tinubu came on board.

In the community where I live, today we have 20-23 hours of power supply; sometimes we have light for a whole month.

That means you are Band A and paying heavily?

Yes, I’m on band A and paying, but you can’t say heavily because I know how much I was spending on diesel before this stuff came and I still have my generator. So, if I had to choose between fuelling my generator and paying more than N200 per kilowatt, I think it is much cheaper than what we have before.

Many citizens have criticised the Band system of power supply, saying that it is not ideal in this system with high poverty and unemployment. What do you say?

But it is far cheaper and it is available all the time.

There is a threat of tariff increase all the time; many people fear power would be out of their reach soon. Do you agree?

Well, you have to balance affordability with availability. The people that are providing the power are spending money; it Is not the responsibility of the government to provide electricity to your home.

Even for those of us who lived abroad, went to school abroad, you charge your card and if you run out of power, you would stay in darkness. Government is not going to power your house and then you buy the amount that you can afford.

So, the government is on track?

Yes, the government is doing really well, because if you cannot afford band A, you can move to another band B and the rest, which you can afford.

The spate of insecurity has been a source of concern to Nigerians; do you think the government is doing enough?

Can anybody say President Goodluck Jonathan and President Buhari did more than what President Tinubu is doing about insecurity in the last two years?

That would be false; this government has done so much. Nigeria is a country of over one million square kilometres and a country of over 230 million people.

So, there is no way the country can secure its territory. The government of Tinubu spoke about local government reforms, that we should take the government back to the local level.

That was what the government meant that the local government has a role to play when it comes to security. No community can be secure as it wants to be secure.

Today, we now know that the secret is that there are communities where some local guys are serving as informants to insurgents. So, when it comes to that there is little the government can do.

Why can’t the president decentralise the police structure in the country, Tinubu was an advocate of restructuring?

Yes, the national economy council is discussing the idea of state police and the National Assembly is working on the legislative structure of a state police and I think at the end of the day, we are going to come up with state police architecture.

I was one of the people that canvassed for state police twenty years, but now the matrix has changed.

But today if we want to talk about state police, you talk about the financing. You don’t want a state that can hardly pay salary to these officers.

You are not going to give guns, AK47 to officers who are owed two- or three-months’ salary, that would be a recipe for chaos.

That is what the president said. We need to fix the problem of financing; today we now know that the states are getting more money.

What is your advice to President Tinubu on his second-year anniversary?

My advice would be for President Tinubu to disclose the cost of reforms. The reforms are working very well; we have started to see results. Inflation rate is dropping; we have the tax reforms coming on board which would improve the revenue of the country.

Many Nigerians say the present NASS are weak and controlled by the executive. What is your take?

Anyone saying that about the present National Assembly is ignorant. The job of the National Assembly is not to antagonize the government. Look when you say a governor or President has performed, he must have the support of the legislature.

So, when you see President Tinubu and the National Assembly working together to implement all these reforms they should be praised rather than condemned.

What is your take on the wave of defection to the APC?

The only thing that is alarming is the people that are raising the false alarm. Our constitution has provided a multi-party democracy and that is why you have INEC; their job is to register political parties. It is not a problem if people are moving

The major reason why people join the party is to win elections and occupy office.

And we have almost a year until the election and you are not sure who is going to sign your form, no one is sure who the real national chairman and national secretary.

Many people say APC is coercing politicians to join them. Do you agree?

That is not true, I was leader of the opposition in the parliament for four years, and nobody forced anyone to join any party.

When I was minority leader, so many of our members defect to the PDP and many of these people talking now did not say anything then.

There is nothing like one party state, the party structure in Nigeria is governed by the 1999 constitution and section 222, says that Nigeria is a multi-party democracy. As we speak, we have about 28 political parties registered with INEC and their registration has not been withdrawn.

What is your view on the proposed coalition ahead 2027?

The coalition was dead on arrival; Bola Tinubu would be re-elected with massive votes in 2027.

Before 12pm on election day we know he has won.

But he is losing support in Northern Nigeria?

He is not losing support in the North; the President just had endorsement of the North West caucus of the APC.

Recently, the President went to visit former President Buhari and people lined up the streets to greet and cheer him. It’s some disgruntling elements in the country that are making noise and these are people who lost out in the power equation.