Ball already in the ministers’ court, By Kola Amzat

It must have dawned on the generality of Nigerians that, no accomplishment of President Tinubu would ever attract the appreciation and accolades of the opposition groups.

The government foes might have already resolved that a long time ago.

If Tinubu dramatically achieves the rare feat of placing Nigeria’s democracy on the same pedestal with that of America, the bastion of democratic governance, opposition members would remain unconcerned.

Even, if the ex-Lagos state governor mysteriously achieves turning the attention of the global community from Zurich to Lagos/Abuja as the world preferred investment destination, as well as moving to redirect the global attention from Dubai to Nigeria as the world new tourist centre, the opposition would prefer to close their eyes to reality. 

Methinks opposition should be constructive as it obtains in decent clime; but, this group has been destructive, unduly violent & disruptive, tempestuous and acrimonious for no other reasons, other than Nigerians out rightly rejected them at the polls.    

Where all the health challenges they mischievously hoodwinked Nigerians during campaigns that would hinder Tinubu presidency? Which of the Angels of heaven has performed the surgical operations on those incoherent & inconsistency of the president’s speeches that they were deploying technology to manipulate at campaign grounds? 

Now, they attack everything that bear the mark of government. In recent times, they’ve virulently attacked Nigerian’s global figures for daring to visit the president, to engage him in collaboration on how to chart a new direction for the country.

They’ve serially condemned mercurial and boardroom giant, Tony Elumelu before they discovered that even if they operate in millions, they would never be his match.

Dr. Okonjo Iwealla, DG of World Trade Organization made the long journey from her exalted office in Geneva to meet her president essentially on how the all-important global body will assist Nigeria in some targeted areas of economy.

Moments after her visitation, they bombarded her social media platforms with unprintable words, a height of insolence and brigandage to a very illustrious Nigerian and global figure of gargantuan repute.   

Nigerians could recall that INEC has been at their receiving end since the body declared the presidential results in February 28. They’d wanted the body to declare them as the winners, thereby robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Also, despite the fact that they’re the petitioners in the presidential election case, they’ve bluntly refused the Judiciary to do their work. They’ve subjected the Justices at the Supreme Court & PEPT to unprecedented assaults, never known in the history of this country, as if they already knew where the judgment is headed.       

Meanwhile, after his inaugural speech to the nation where he personally invited opposition groups on the need to collaborate with him in charting a new course for the country, a plea they’ve refused, the president has since moved on, extremely focus, with uncommon zeal & patriotism and with the eyes only on the ball for the purpose of delivering dividends of democracy to long-suffering Nigerians.  

This is the same spirit and mentality we expect the members of the new Federal Executive Committee (FEC) to imbibe, having been found worthy of been selected from thousands (including the writer) across the country who lobbied for the jobs.

Nigerians expect the new Ministers to operate with little or no distraction, developmental, patriotic, visionary, courageous & decisive in decision making and more importantly, having zero-tolerance for ethnic or religious bias.

Wale Edun, the Finance & Coordinating Minister of Economy seems to have so much under his belt. Besides his primary responsibility of managing the nation’s finance & gamut of revenue generations, he’ll also be super-intending over Trade & Investments, Economic Planning, as well as Blue Economy.   

From his stable, the nation henceforth expect seamless synergy between the fiscal and monetary policies. Flowing from this, the expectant nation expect policy consistency in the financial sector, dovetailing into appreciable performance in foreign reserves, as well as rebound in revenue generations across board; NNPCL, FIRS, NPA, Customs, NIMASA, etc.

With the efficient and effective policy coordination from the Minister’s office, moving forward, the nation expect appreciable improvement in the GDP. All things being equal, Nigeria should be boasting of annual GDP growth rate of 6%-7%.

More importantly, it’s expedient for the Minister to work in concert with Minister of State for Petroleum Resources for the purpose of delivering both Port-Harcourt & Kaduna Refineries on the December, 2023 scheduled dates, having had their rehabilitation cost totally paid for.

In the last 10 years, power supply has been the greatest hurdle in Nigeria quest towards economic, industrial and infrastructural developments. The continual   epileptic electricity distribution across the country has improvised the entire segments of the nation so much that nothing would be gladdening to Nigerians than immediate result from the new Minister.

It’s against this backdrop that the new-helmsman is implored and encouraged to deploy the new Electricity Act as a veritable tool to dismantle the already established cabal in the sector, with a view to bringing new investors to ensuring competitiveness, right-pricing, efficiency & consistency in supply to all the stakeholders and ultimately chart a new course for power architecture in the country.  

In charting a new course and instituting a renaissance NEPA, the populace expect the new Minister to be ruthless in implementing the new Act, decisive in decision making and be patriotic & courageous in achieving other deliverables.     

The accomplishment of President Tinubu’s many promises to the long-suffering Nigerians are dependent on the urgency and efficiency at which Ministers Badaru and Matawalle put in place a new security architecture to combat banditry, insurgency, kidnappings and other criminalities across the country.

It’s instructive that duo had experienced insecurity at its highest as immediate past governors of their states. 

Foreign and local investors would continue to be wary of making Nigeria their preferred investment destination if they can’t be assured of maximum protection for their investments. Of course, we know what this translates to in the capital and, even the money market segments.

The revenue rebound expectation from all Revenue Generating Agencies would only be a mirage.

This is why the two Ministers are therefore expected to put in their thinking caps with a view to deploying multi-faceted security strategies, that will encompass modern security intelligence, drones, military vehicles, contemporary arms & ammunitions, collaboration between security apparatus, and more importantly, patriotic zeal & Spartan determination to rid the nation’s territorial integrity of criminalities and undesirable elements.     

The president might have opted for digital savvy and very innovative & vibrant young Nigerian to be at the helm of Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy for two purposes: Deploy your skills to launch Nigeria into the digital global space, as well as creating Nigeria Digital Entrepreneurs in the mold of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates etc.

Nigerians however expect much more. The expectant nation expect the new Minister to create expansive digital hubs across the country, particularly in each of the 6 geo-political zones across the country with a view to productively  accommodating the nation teeming youths and turning their life around.   

The Vivacious Betta Edu, Nigerian Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation is assuming office when millions of households in the country are seriously troubled with hunger and thousands of small business initiatives have already collapsed.

 The onus is therefore on her to urgently fashion out a working strategy to connect them in all 6 geo-political zones across the country with the purpose of avail them their dues. And the time is now, before some of them cave in, to other unpleasant options.

Seating down and dishing out instructions to field men from Abuja would not suffice, as things are already out of hands.

Fortunately, the Minister promised in her inaugural speech that she’s poised to lift more than 133 million Nigerians out of poverty. The teeming population are expectant to experience this declaration in its pragmatic form.

But, there is no doubting her capacity particularly with her political trajectory in her native Cross River State, laden with record of accomplishments, with special reference to her exploits as Chairperson of Covid 19 committee in the state.

Nigerians are not surprised by the momentum already created so far by Barr Nyesom Wike and Engr Dave Umahi in their assigned ministries. The two Ministers have proudly hit the ground running, attempting to reset standards, instituting new procedures & policies and reversing bad decisions where it’s necessary.

It’s particularly instructive to note that Minister Wike has set the tone for new FCT, Abuja where orderliness, peace, tranquility, probity and accountability would henceforth reign supreme.

As I bring this write-up to a close, May I once again remind the nation new Ministers that there is no better time to display their commitment, patriotism, statesmanship, zeal for the motherland and the will power to succeed in their various assigned ministry than now.

The economy is troubled. Discos are terrorizing & harassing the households & business enterprises on monthly basis. Insecurity pervades everywhere. Unemployment is at its zenith. Criminals have taken charge & control. Education is taking back seat.

Remarkably, the president has resolved to battle them all. We could see that he’s putting everything on the line. He’s opted to work round the clock. He’s been given to little or no distraction. He’s been dogged, purposeful, and resilient, extremely focus, independent-minded, decisive, as well as rallying the business community and international financial associations across the globe to partner & collaborate with Nigeria to bring forth a new nation.

It’s therefore apparent that no Minister must be found wanting in this crucial battle to regain & reclaim the lost soul, dignity, respect and honor of our dear country. We’ve no other country than this. Let’s all savage it!                 

Kola AMZAT (FCA),

Lagos Based Financial Consultant,

09077509348.             

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