Tinubu still burning midnight oil-By Kunle Oyatomi

The heights by great men reached and kept/Were not attained by sudden flight,/But they, while their companions slept,/Were toiling upward in the night.-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet.

Ex-Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State tells an old story of how he and Wale Tinubu, in their younger days used to trouble Bola Tinubu for money each time they were broke. Wale was working as Youth Corps member in Fashola’s law chambers and the two often ran into hard times. Wale would suggest a visit to Tinubu, his uncle who was then working as treasurer with Mobil Oil, whose office was then somewhere around Broad Street right in the centre of Lagos Island. Most times it was during the night. Fashola would wonder if their benefactor would be available.

But Wale would say,’’ Don’t worry, he’s around…I saw lights in the office upstairs…He’s the only officer who stays late after all the staff have gone home after office hours…’’

The young men were never disappointed. They always met Bola Tinubu at his desk. And they never left him without some good money coming their way.

Decades after, President Bola Tinubu has remained the man who would always burn the midnight oil. When everyone has gone to bed, he’s staying with the files and his desk, together with today’s work gadgets, the phones and the computers, working to fix Nigeria. He can’t do otherwise.

Close to halfway into his tenure, he must make a point to prove to his compatriots that they made the right choice in giving him their mandate. He must not wait till he completes the constitutional four-year tenure. That can be done only if he does the extraordinary, that is, if he begins to make the people to start to see the dividends of democracy. They have invested in him, and it’s only fair that they should get a share of the benefits of their electoral investment.

Many believe that, so far, Tinubu hasn’t disappointed them, despite the challenges his very much-needed reforms have thrown up.

For instance, economists are saying that for the first in many years in Nigeria, the country has not witnessed any shortage of basic food items during the fasting periods of our two major religions. There’s the observation also that in our contemporary history, the prices of food and fuel have dropped during the period, interestingly when adherents of the two faiths are observing their fasting seasons.

According to watchers, these are just a few of the marked achievements of Tinubu in the past 22 months of his presidency. They believe these are indices that determine the direction and impact of his reform programmes. Are they having an impact on the masses? Are they giving hope of better things to come in the years ahead? Are they pillars on which to build a new nation of our dreams? The point is that we’re seeing optics to drive a new narrative of optimism.
I’m harping on the hope the Tinubu Administration is giving Nigerians, because hope is the one single possession humanity needs to survive and overcome overwhelming situations. If you don’t have it, you can’t profitably use what else you seem to possess.

This reminds me of one of the famous works of the late Nigerian dramatist, Ola Rotimi. A man arrives the scene where the villagers are mourning inconsolably, following a communal tragedy. They have given hope, saying there is no future for them and their children. But the stranger warns them to desist from such hopeless despondency. Then he drops the bombshell: when hope is lost, life is gone also. But when there is hope, the lost is not only recoverable, but also new conquests and additions are available. And finally the people of the community were rescued from the point of hopelessness to the point of hopefulness.

I believe Nigeria and its citizens were also at the precipice in 2023 when Tinubu came in. But just consider the stats now: government revenues have more than doubled, increasing by over N9tr in the first half of 2024; oil production increased to1.61 million barrels a day; two Foreign Direct Investments have been signed to bring in $500 billions.

We must also take note of how Tinubu is addressing long abandoned minority community needs through taking infrastructural development to their doorstep. The most recent and talked about is the approval of the Federal University of Environment and Technology (FUET) in Ogoniland, Rivers State. The Ogoni town, Tai, will host the institution.

This development rights a host of wrongs, and in the words of President Tinubu, ‘’we are taking a decisive step towards addressing historical grievances and creating new opportunities for learning, growth and prosperity.’’

The issue of real and perceived grievances of Nigeria’s minorities must not be pushed to the background or remembered only when politicians seek their votes.

Our leaders are expected to keep them in view at all times if we are serious about the oneness of Nigeria as Constitution, National Anthem, National Pledge teach us. To give depth to these solemn words and prove that they are not abstractions, we must collectively identify with the minorities in the land.

The reforms of the central government will actually wear more visibility if our people, mostly inhabitants of the hinterland and the desolate riverine regions, are captured in official development plans. Prosperity would then be even. No longer would every citizen be dashing to cities for jobs and education.
To get to that era, we must break loose from the past of business as usual, where our leaders and people fed on the theory and practice of sitting on the fence. We were satisfied with being spectators and allowing the world to pass us by. We slept when others went to bed. We must stay awake to catch new denied those snoring.

Like Tinubu, as revealed to us by Fashola at the beginning of this article, we must burn the midnight oil to return this country to greatness and make it the giant that jt is. Enough of the nominal giant!

Oyatomi Esq., is on the Board of the Independent Media and Policy Initiative, IMPI, a think tank based in Abuja.