TINUBU’S REFORMS AND THE NEED TO REALIZE THEIR RELEVANCE
By Bala Ibrahim
In Nigeria today, things have gotten so hard that every body is experiencing one exasperating setback or another. Everyone, I repeat, everyone is affected, from the mighty to the tiny. The discomfort did not start just yesterday, it has been brewing over time. But analysts have concurred on the fact that, the situation became exacerbated, pursuant to the introduction of reforms by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who from day one, began with the abolishment of fuel subsidy. From that day, prices of everything began to fly through the roof. And now the sky, Nigerian air space, is fully saturated with the pressure of hardship.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu campaigned under the mantra of Renewed Hope, a slogan that on its own, bring to people an expectation and desire for a better tomorrow. Everyone knows that to regain hope, renewed hope for that matter, there have to be some changes. The President promised to introduce these changes by way of reforms, which would involve changes and improvements to laws, social systems, or institutions, and overall economic reforms. The fundamental objective of course, is the welfare of the people in particular, and the system in general.
By definition, a reform is simply an instance of change or improvement, which comes with a template of transition. Philosophers say, the only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Amongst these philosophers is the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who simply said, “The only constant in life is change. Heraclitus was supported by Philip Crosby, who advanced that, “Slowness to change usually means fear of the new.” Yes, People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” — Peter Senge.
Part of the fear pervading Nigerians in Nigeria today is the initial effect of these reforms, alongside the inadequate information about their relevance and expected results. From the constitution of his cabinet, President Tinubu started by renaming or creating new ministries, including the Ministry of Blue economy. Because the reform is intended to make changes in order to improve it, and the World Bank described the blue economy as the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs, while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem”, if utilized properly, the Blue economy could be the game changer in addressing Nigeria’s myriad of problems, including the jeopardy of japa.
Indeed Nigeria had undergone a number of reforms, long before the coming of President Tinubu, but perhaps, because he happens to be the first full fledged business man-cum politician, to occupy the Presidency, his approach to the reforms differs drastically. He came with a concurrent approach on financial reforms, by focusing on the abolishment of fuel subsidy, direct credit allocation, interest rate or naira liberalisation, as well as the strengthening of the prudential regulations and supervision. When all these are introduced together, in a weak capitalist economy, one needs not be a brilliant economist, to know that they would inflict some pains, real pains on the people. But the good thing is, we are made to understand that, there would be light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Only yesterday, after the news of the cabinet shake up, another set of reforms were announced, including, from what we heard from the mouth of Hannatu Musa Musawa, Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, the establishment of the Creative Economy Development Fund.
“FEC gave approval for the creation of a Creative Economy Development Fund. This is a special purpose vehicle that will allow members within the creative economy to have access to funding and use their IP as collateral in terms of monetisation. We identified very early on that the very basic structures in order for us to really tap into the potential of the creative economy were missing”-Musawa.
The creative economy, also known as the orange economy, is an evolving concept based on the contribution and potential of creative assets to contribute to economic growth and development. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s creative economy has a very low contribution to overall GDP in comparison with benchmark countries, with the industry contributing just 1.2 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP in 2022, the least when compared to other African countries like Morocco (2.7 per cent).The Nigerian Creative Industry comprises several players across diverse sectors like film, theatre, music, dance, literature, fashion, television, radio, arts, sports, information technology, media, advertising and gaming.
In realizing the relevance of President Tinubu’s reforms, we must make efforts to understand his approach to creating a dynamic roadmap, that would unlock the potentials of the Nigerian economy, which is a mixed economy, that is fundamentally capitalist in nature, but incorporates government regulations. The Nigerian economy is also an emerging economy, an economy that is in the process of modernising.
TINUBU’S REFORMS AND THE NEED TO REALIZE THEIR RELEVANCE