By Keem Abdul
As the battle for 2027 begins to gain momentum, one thing is for sure: there will definitely be almost-daily shifts in the nation’s political dynamic henceforth, and a steady intensification of strategic political discourses and maneuverings, with plenty of twists and turns. The next two years promise intense activity as both the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the various opposition parties position themselves for the battle ahead.
In the face of these, Nigerians remain unequivocal about their expectations of those who lead, or aspire to lead, them. Even now, two years into the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, citizens continue to be hopeful that the government can tackle insecurity, economic instability, and corruption in a more effective and timely manner.
In many ways, the President is a vulnerable incumbent right now (no thanks to the state of the economy and the declining quality of life of many Nigerian families). But the consensus among political watchers is that with his immense political influence and clout, and his reputation as the foremost political strategist of his generation, he is the man to beat, and can only be effectively challenged by a strong, united opposition party. At the moment, though, the opposition is anything but strong or united. The PDP is in disarray and a shadow of the dominant party that ruled the country for 16 years, while other parties lack the national spread of either the APC or the PDP.
From all indications, the 2027 elections look to be a referendum on Tinubu’s stewardship. His signature policies, necessary as everybody agrees they are, have translated to the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, with most average Nigerians struggling to meet their basic needs. But the silver lining is the potential impact these measures are likely to have once they begin to bear fruit. If prices of basic commodities stabilise in 2025 and 2026, and Nigerians begin to see tangible improvement in their material conditions, they may not take a chance on someone other than the President. They will agree with the government’s assertions that the present shocks are only part of the pains of reforms, and will give the President the chance to see his reforms – whose stated objective is to reorganize the rudiments of the Nigerian economy in a manner that not only fast-tracks the country’s recovery from present woes, but also erects the building-blocks for sustainable development and growth – to a logical end.
From Day One, when he abruptly pulled the plug on the fuel subsidy regime in a bid to end leakages amounting to hundreds of billions of naira annually, Tinubu made it clear that he would embark on a far-reaching series of fiscal, macro-economic and legislative reforms. Since then, there has been a cascade of said reforms, such as the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS),, aimed at clearing billions of dollars in FX backlogs that had long militated against foreign investment in the Nigerian economy; and the Tax Reform Bill of 2024, aimed at delivering a radical improvement in the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio within two years.
Other reforms have impacted the country’s oil and gas ecosystem, with the result that today, Nigeria is the most attractive destination for oil and gas investments in Africa. And even as these industry-wide reforms were being negotiated, the Tinubu government was stepping up on its efforts to increase its non-oil revenues in order to lessen Nigeria’s disastrous over-dependence on this one resource.
Politically, who can forget the government’s bold move in implementing Local Government Autonomy – a decision that now empowers LGs with a level of financial autonomy previously unheard of in Nigeria’s history? This move has heightened the expectations of the generality of Nigerians (especially those who live and operate at the grassroots) that the much-desired fiscal federalism and devolution of powers will soon see the light of day.
Under Tinubu, Nigeria’s electricity generation/distribution profile has also seen a marked improvement, after years and years of gross inefficiency, coupled with the removal of bottlenecks embedded in our constitution. In signing the 2024 Electricity Act (which now provides a framework for state governments to also establish regulated electricity markets) Tinubu ended years of stifling and counterproductive regulations – just with the stroke of his pen. This is in addition to making it clear from the inception of his administration that he would make the widespread use of Nigeria’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) value chain a top priority – and immediately followed through with the establishment of the Presidential CNG Initiative (PCNGI), an agency which, since then, has either invested, or attracted, over $450 million into the quest to leverage on CNG and move Nigerians away from our over-reliance on fossil fuels as our primary energy source.
Our country’s greatest resource is its human capacity pool. Against this understanding, the Tinubu-leg government made targeted social interventions a cardinal plank of its Renewed Hope Agenda – the aim being to enhance the health, educational and career profiles of the Nigerian people. Notable among these interventions is the Students Loan Fund Scheme, which has so far disbursed over N32bn to about 170, 000 students in the country’s institutions of higher learning for both school fees and upkeep allowances. The same goes for healthcare, where the Tinubu administration has made significant financial investments, as well as introduced a number of intervention programmes under the aegis of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), among others. In addition, the government is in the process of establishing 22 large-scale health-related investment projects across Nigeria. As it is in social investments, education and healthcare, so also in identity management. Prior to the dawn of the Tinubu-led government, obtaining a Nigerian international passport in good time was a herculean task, to say the least. But since last year, fundamental reforms made by the Ministry of the Interior have seen the clearing of a backlog of over 200,000 passports within a 3-week period in 2024.
And what about food? In spite of the abundance of arable land with which the country is blessed, Nigeria has long remained prone to food insecurity, languishing under the weight of challenges such as the lack of adequate investment, insecurity and low capacity, etc. But thanks to President Tinubu, Nigeria now has a Ministry of Livestock Development, set up to harness a multi-billion-dollar agricultural (and animal husbandry) ecosystem that can transform our rural communities and empower tens of millions of Nigerians.
President Tinubu has, time and again, demonstrated his desire to ensure inclusive and equitable (rather than exclusive and lop-sided) development across Nigeria. He recently did so once again when he signed bills establishing Development Commissions for three of the respective geopolitical regions of the country – namely, N/Central, S/East, and N/West regions – to add to the respective Commissions for the S/West, the N/East and the N/Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Infrastructural development has, in a way, become the Tinubu Administration’s calling-card – the No. 1 indicator so far being the massive Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, as well as other ambitious projects across the nation, in line with President Tinubu’s determination to bring the country’s infrastructure to global standards. The recent approval by the Federal Executive Council of the sum of N2.5tn for road infrastructure projects has been described as ‘unprecedented’ in Nigeria’s history.
In pursuit of Nigeria’s fight against terrorism and banditry, the President decided to go a step further than the predictable methods of the past; among other steps, he established the Office of the National Security Adviser, and appointed to that role former EFCC boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. That was a statement of intent by the administration towards scaling up its successes in deterrence, crime-solving, and prosecutions.
Last but certainly not least, Tinubu has been assiduous in his pursuit of foreign investments in key sectors of the Nigerian economy. This campaign has taken him to a number of countries where he has rubbed minds with world leaders and members of the global business and investment elite. In the process, Nigeria has reached far-reaching agreements with her public and private-sector development partners in key areas such as Infrastructure; Power Generation; Mining & Solid Minerals Cooperation; Technology & Telecommunications; Cultural Exchange & Education; and Agriculture.
For the above measures and initiatives to attain to fruition and avoid being truncated, the Nigerian people will do well to return Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to office, come 2027. As the President t himself has said, “The journey of economic renewal and institutional development … is very much underway. It is not a journey of our choosing but one we have to embark on for Nigeria to have a real chance at greatness.”
That journey must be allowed to culminate in its desired destination, come 2027.
• Keem Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via +2348038795377 or Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com