Opinions

Tinubu And Atiku: Birds Of A Feather By Simeon Kolawole

Published

3 years ago

June 12, 2022

Disappointment was powdered on the faces of many of the young people around me when Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo did not win the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC). To them, Osinbajo was one candidate they could connect with: articulate, urbane, agile and modern. One who is connected to the ordinary Nigerian — he is there for them when there is a blast, when there is a gruesome murder, when there is an accident or when there is a terror attack. I argued with quite a number of them that party politics is about structure and alliances, that it would be easier for Osinbajo to win a general election than the APC presidential ticket. It sounded like Greek to them.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, on the other hand, comfortably won the race for the APC ticket, sweetened by the amazing depth of support from northern governors and a spate of withdrawals by his rivals. The joke of the day was that while other contestants were busy buying delegates, Tinubu was buying the aspirants. However, restricting Tinubu’s victory to the single narrative of his financial power will not tell the whole story. For decades, Tinubu had been building a national and battle-tested political structure to actualise his life ambition of becoming president of Nigeria. What happened at the Eagle Square was more than what we saw at the Eagle Square.

All efforts had been made to stop Tinubu in the last couple of years. The ouster of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as the APC national chairman, the prolonged stay of Mai Mala Buni as the caretaker chairman, the last-minute truncation of the election of Senator Tanko Al-Makura as APC chairman, the adoption of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as party chairman, the battle over whether or not there should be direct or indirect primaries, and the last-minute introduction of Senate President Ahmad Lawan into the race, among other things, were all contrived to stop Tinubu. Even the removal of Mallam Ibrahim Magu as EFCC chairman was allegedly because of his closeness to Tinubu.

After the election of the new national working committee (NWC) in March 2022 in which Tinubu could get only one of his nominees on board, obituary writers were already preparing a draft article on the end of his political career. I do not have all the inside details, but the week leading to the June 6-8 presidential convention apparently proved to be probably the most important in Tinubu’s career: he got the northern governors to insist on power shift to the south, thereby stalling a real attempt to foist Lawan on others as the “consensus candidate”. Any politician in an underdeveloped democracy who triumphed in spite of these high-level plots and schemes deserves respect, no matter how tiny.

Before the convention, President Muhammadu Buhari had asked the governors to let him choose his successor to reciprocate his relationship with them. Unlike President Olusegun Obasanjo, Buhari never removed any governor. He did not impose a successor on any. When he asked them to reciprocate his gesture, the impression we got was that he was about to pick someone, present him to them and that would be a done deal. But the rumour that Lawan, another northerner, was the one about to be anointed raised the temperature in the room. Adamu even confidently informed the APC NWC that Lawan was the chosen one. The response was hostile. The idea was brought in dead.

Buhari finally backed down, basically saying he was no longer going to choose his successor. There is a lot to say about the way Buhari handled his succession, but we can forgive him because there is also a lot to say about how he has handled almost every important matter since he came to office in 2015. But it appears his strategists, assuming they can be so called, were only interested in stopping Tinubu. They became stuck when Tinubu refused to budge. It was complicated by the Electoral Act which clearly stipulates how a consensus candidate can be picked: every aspirant must agree to withdraw — and in writing. Tinubu was never going to agree. Never. He always wanted a contest.

The stage is now getting set for a grand battle between Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential flagbearer of the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This is not an attempt to rule out other candidates — I still believe the gap between the primaries and the elections proper is so long a lot can still happen along the way. But if we use current data for our workings, APC and PDP are the top political parties by a million miles. Both of them control over 95 per cent of elective offices across Nigeria. Any party that wants to upset this has to build a nationwide support base between now and the 2023 general election. That is the home truth.

That said, there is virtually nothing to choose between Tinubu and Atiku. They are birds of a feather. Both are products of the botched transition programme of President Ibrahim Babangida that was to birth the Third Republic in 1993. A friend calls them “Class of ’93”. They both belonged to the Peoples Front of Nigeria (PFN), the baby of Maj-Gen Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (rtd). Other notable members were Babagana Kingibe, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Shehu’s younger sibling who would be elected president in 2007). The association was not registered as a party and was forced to dissolve into the government-created Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1989.

Tinubu, meanwhile, was elected as a senator in 1992 while Atiku sought to be governor of the newly created Adamawa state. He won the governorship primary election but was disqualified by the military government which was in the habit of cancelling elections. But Atiku would later enter the presidential race when the older Yar’Adua, his mentor, was disqualified after winning the SDP presidential primary in 1992. The primaries of the two parties — the other being the National Republican Convention (NRC) — had been cancelled and “old breed politicians” banned, so Yar’Adua entered Atiku as his horse in the new race in 1993. Atiku lost. Bashorun MKO Abiola got the ticket.

Tinubu and Atiku remained friends but while the former vice-president participated in the transition programme of Gen Sani Abacha in 1997/98, Tinubu was in exile funding pro-democracy agitations in Nigeria. When Abacha died and a new transition programme was rolled out, Tinubu and Atiku found themselves in different camps — Atiku pitched his tent with the PDP and Tinubu opted for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which was made up of the forces that opposed Abacha and the annulment of Abiola’s victory. Despite being in different parties, they remained close and Atiku is reputed as helping Tinubu escape the PDP tsunami that swept through the south-west in 2003.

When Atiku fell out with Obasanjo ahead of the 2007 elections, his political career looked over. Obasanjo made sure Atiku would not have any pathway in the PDP to run for president. Tinubu, it was, who offered Atiku a way out — by giving him the ticket of the Action Congress, the party he formed after pulling out of AD in 2006 because of some internal crisis. But Obasanjo was so determined to stop Atiku that he set up an administrative panel to indict him and Prof Maurice Iwu, then-chairman of INEC, quickly dropped Atiku’s name from the ballot. Atiku headed for the courts. Iwu warned us that even if the courts ruled otherwise, it would come too late to reinstate Atiku.

As it later happened, Atiku won his case at the Supreme Court. In fact, Obasanjo declared an emergency public holiday to make sure the court would not be able to sit to deliver judgment, but it all failed. In the end, Iwu organised a sham of a presidential election in 2007, announcing final results while votes were still being counted. In the history of Nigeria, it is only the 2007 presidential election that does not have a state-by-state breakdown. Iwu simply sat down in Abuja and reeled out incredible figures as the final result, even saying only the PDP had a national structure to win a presidential election. He lambasted opposition parties for questioning the conduct and outcome.

Atiku would abandon AC (later renamed Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN) and return to PDP in 2010 to continue his presidential pursuit. It appeared it was at this juncture that Tinubu and Atiku finally parted ways. He felt Atiku should have stayed back to build a strong opposition but was being opportunistic by returning to the PDP because of Yar’Adua’s ill-health and eventual death. But they came back together again in 2013 when the major opposition parties formed the APC. This time, Tinubu was with Buhari and served as a counterforce to Atiku to whittle down his war chest at the presidential primary in 2014. Atiku returned to the PDP years later, after failing to get APC’s ticket.

Atiku and Tinubu are alike on the economic front: they are private sector players who believe in a free market economy, so either would be expected to carry out reforms with significant impact on the economy, including deregulation of the downstream sector and exchange rate. Some will argue that both are of the same age bracket and should have retired from politics for fresher brains and more agile bodies. It is a debate that will not die down any time soon as their supporters market them aggressively. I expect plenty friendly fire in the electioneering. What’s more, both men are perceived to be corrupt, although there have been no convictions since they left office 15 years ago.

Finally, both are Muslims — but Atiku enjoys the luxury of picking a Christian from the south as his running mate. Tinubu is facing what Abiola had to confront in 1993: choosing between a paperweight northern Christian and a heavyweight northern Muslim. Nigerian presidential politics has been pre-programmed thus: if it is a northerner, it must be a Muslim; if it is a southerner, it must be a Christian. Will this be reversed so that it can be a southern Muslim and a northern Christian? Or will religion take the back seat? Tinubu has more thinking and tinkering to do in the coming days. Any direction he faces has implications. But that apart, Tinubu and Atiku are two peas in a pod.

Simeon Kolawole is the founder/CEO The Cable Online Newspaper.

Related Topics:2023 Presidency APC Bola Tinubu PDP

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Opinions

President Tinubu and Baba Adebanjo: A ‘Ringside’ Story

Published

3 weeks ago

February 22, 2025

Seyi Babalola

By Tunde Rahman

Since Afenifere leader Pa Ayo Adebanjo passed away on February 14 at 96, many have praised his significant contributions to Nigeria as a frontline nationalist, a key role player in the politics of the first and second republics, and an uncompromising devotee of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Active in the First Republic Action Group, the Second Republic Unity Party of Nigeria, and Alliance for Democracy from 1999, Baba Adebanjo fought tirelessly for democracy. He consistently advocated for true federalism and the country’s political and economic restructuring based on the 1963 Republican Constitution.

Pa Adebanjo was also a well-known activist who stood for equity, truth, and justice. He fought against all forms of injustice and oppression including military dictatorship.
In this respect, I recall his relationship with President Bola Tinubu.

When Asiwaju Tinubu, then a founding chieftain of the defunct AD, decided to run for Lagos governorship, Pa Adebanjo fully supported him, championing transparency in the process that produced him as the candidate of his party. Despite the initial opposition within the party, Baba Adebanjo and other young party members opted for open party primaries, helping Tinubu to emerge as the candidate. Tinubu went on to win the governorship election and was inaugurated on May 29, 1999.

Grateful for the support, Asiwaju maintained a strong relationship with Baba Adebanjo. Even when their political paths diverged, Tinubu held Baba in high regard. The President said this much in his incisive tribute to Pa Adebanjo, which I quote in part thus:
“In moments of national crisis, Baba’s courage shone brightest. When democracy hung in the balance after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, he joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) as one of the leading voices against military dictatorship, helping to galvanise a movement that became the bedrock of our collective struggle to reclaim democratic governance.

“His unwavering commitment to truth and justice extended to my journey as a governorship candidate in 1999. Baba Adebanjo’s steadfast support was instrumental in my election as Governor of Lagos State under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy.

“Though our political paths diverged in later years, my respect and admiration for him never wavered. Until his death, I shared a deep personal bond with Baba Adebanjo; he was like a father figure.”

Many in Tinubu’s position might have taken issue with Baba, who sometimes openly criticised him. But not Asíwájú. As an Omoluabi—a person of good character—Tinubu respects elders and institutions, giving honour where it’s due.

How do I know President Tinubu highly regarded Baba Adebanjo? As a journalist and editor, I was well-known to Baba Adebanjo. I interacted with and interviewed him on many occasions during my active years in journalism. So when I became Asiwaju’s Media Adviser, I became the envoy of sorts, the message-bearer for both. Baba Adebanjo would telephone me, saying, “Rahman, Rahman, so fun Oga e pe mo fe ri. To ba wu yin ke wa, to ba wu yin ke ma wa. Tie na la fe so fun,” meaning “Tell your Principal I would like to see him. If he likes, let him honour my invitation. It’s to his benefit if he comes.”

We visited Baba at his residence in Lekki, Lagos, several times. On other occasions, Baba called at Bourdillon, the Ikoyi residence of Asiwaju, along with his entourage.

There is, however, a hilarious and instructive story about the two, which speaks to the admiration and high regard President Tinubu had for Baba, which essentially is the focus of this article. It was during the 90th birthday of Baba Adebanjo, sometime in April 2018. I remember vividly that that particular birthday fell on a Sunday. But a birthday colloquium came up on a Thursday, three days before the actual birthday. We had lodged in our dairy for Asiwaju, the birthday lecture, as well as other activities and events lined up to celebrate the distinguished elder statesman. While focusing on the birthday date, I forgot the preceding Thursday event at Landmark Event Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. Luckily for me, around 9am that Thursday, the traditional ruler of Oke-Ila in Osun State, Oba Dokun Abolarin, telephoned me, saying he was in Lagos and asking if Asiwaju was coming for the birthday lecture. Knowing I had failed to alert Asiwaju about the lecture the previous night, I smelled trouble.

I immediately raced to Bourdillion in Ikoyi. When I went upstairs to see Asiwaju, he was reading newspapers, oblivious of any early morning engagement that day, particularly that of Baba Adebanjo. I informed him about the event and apologised that I had my mind set on the birthday date on Sunday. The lecture was slated for 10 am, and time was already 10 am. Asiwaju, livid, sprung to his feet. By this time, my colleague Ademola Oshodi had joined me in Asiwaju’s room. Without any prompting, we prostrated and apologised again.

Those close to President Tinubu know he is a very proficient politician in Yoruba as he is in English, complete with street lingo. Still seething in anger, Asiwaju said in Yoruba, “Hen hen, idobale yin yen ni emi ma te’ bati. Ma de ibi lecture, won a ma so pe mo moo mo pe de ni ki nba le da ijoko won ru,” meaning, “So it’s this your prostrating that will now count. I will get to the event now, and they will allege that I deliberately came late so I can cause a stir and disrupt the lecture.”

Somehow, Asiwaju quickly prepared to attend despite our tight schedule as we were meant to travel to Abuja that same day. We got to the occasion around noon after the program had been on for about two hours. One important personality I could not readily remember was on the podium.
Though we arrived late, Tinubu’s presence stirred excitement, and he delivered a heartfelt speech.

As President Tinubu predicted, his arrival caused a big stir and a temporary halt in the programme. As we made to leave, another commotion that did not subside even after our departure ensued. I suspect Asíwájú’s departure might have signaled the virtual end of the program.

That was not the end of the story, though. A couple of days later, I heard Uncle Jimi Disu, a known Asiwaju critic, on his regular programme then on Classic FM, talking about Baba Adebanjo’s birthday lecture, alleging that Asíwájú ‘sauntered’ into the programme uninvited and disrupted the birthday lecture of the nonagenarian. I could not believe my ears. I went on that program afterward to debunk what he said. I narrated what happened, that Asiwaju had tremendous respect for Baba and that he would have avoided the kind of situation that played out if I had briefed him of the timing of the programme.

This incident underscores the critical role of aides in supporting leaders to function effectively. Aides must guide them accurately, as their actions and inactions can significantly impact leadership outcomes. An oversight on my part unintentionally fueled what would have resulted in animus between Baba Adebanjo and Tinubu.

-Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media, Publicity and Special Duties.

Opinions

Between Japan’s Kaizen philosophy and Nigeria’s National Values Charter

Published

1 month ago

January 31, 2025

Seyi Babalola

By Temitope Ajayi

Two days after DeepSeek took the world by surprise, a Financial Times report warned that the West should be worried by how China appears to be leading the Artificial Intelligence race.

Financial Times says the emergence of DeepSeek from the shadows, catching the West unawares, is a strong indication that China has mastered the art of ‘Kaizen’.

I recall that my first encounter with Kaizen, the philosophy that underpins the rise of Japan as the Asian economic powerhouse, is about 10 years now.

Societies like China, Japan, and South Korea that anchor their development models on their culture and value systems continue to break new grounds and are far ahead in innovation and human advancement.

At the heart of Japan’s success, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors, is the work ethics that are firmly rooted in the Kaizen philosophy. ‘Kaizen’ is a Japanese word that means continuous improvement or change for the better. The quest for excellence and attention to detail have been weaved into the social and moral fabrics of Japanese society as a matter of obligation.

It is this philosophy and social imperative that the Japanese take into product designs and execution. It is, therefore, not surprising that the world sees continuous improvement in every new edition of Japanese products like Toyota automobiles.

The concept of Kaizen became popular in the United States by the 1980s when it was discovered that the performance of Japanese companies was much better than their American counterparts. It became apparent that the difference between Japanese and American companies in terms of effectiveness and operational efficiency was the application of the Kaizen principle.

Kaizen philosophy is similar to the Yoruba Omoluabi ethos. Every major ethnic group and subculture in Nigeria and Africa has its own equivalent of such value systems.

We can only imagine our pace of development and progress as a country if we develop a national value system around the virtues of excellence, honour, and integrity. This means our workmen and women will pursue excellence as second nature in everything. Politicians will embrace public service as a matter of honour, and citizens will accept integrity as an article of faith in undertakings.

Our society is hemorrhaging as a result of value degradation. It is heartbreaking how badly we have drifted because we neglected our cultural values and practices that served as the guiding principles of society.

It is the responsibility of leaders at all levels to direct society to embrace enduring values that edify and promote human development. I believe we can still recover lost grounds. This is why the efforts being made by the Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu-led National Orientation Agency to re-ignite a new wave of consciousness through the National Values Charter should be appreciated and promoted. The values charter has already been approved by the Federal Executive Council. President Bola Tinubu is leading this renewed effort to push value re-orientation to the forefront of public policy and national development agenda.

-Ajayi is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity

Opinions

Tinubu’s quest to overcome the power sector gridlock

Published

2 months ago

January 20, 2025

Seyi Babalola

By Temitope Ajayi

Angered by the appalling situation of Nigeria’s electricity supply sector over several decades of doing the wrong things by successive governments with no remedy in sight, even after hundreds of billions of public funds had been expended, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 chose a different path that had worked in other jurisdictions.

He reached out to the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel to help solve the protracted power gridlock in Nigeria. The discussion between the two leaders gave birth to the FG-Siemens Energy AG Presidential Power Initiative in 2019. Under the terms of the agreement of the Nigerian Electrification Roadmap, Siemens Energy would ramp up electricity generation in Nigeria to 25,000 megawatt in six years, in three phases, from an average of 4000 megawatts the country had been stuck with for decades.

President Buhari was quite bullish about the project such that he put it under the direct supervision of his office with his Chief of Staff, late Abba Kyari, as the directing officer. The former president who didn’t want the project to be derailed by bureaucratic bottlenecks and red-tape made sure all man-made obstacles and deliberate obstructions were bulldozed with Abba Kyari in charge.

The unfortunate demise of Kyari in 2020 arising from Covid-19 while in Germany to get the power project underway rolled back the speedy implementation of what would have been a game-changer in Nigeria’s elusive quest for a stable and reliable power supply. Nigeria’s economy had been blighted by years of poor electricity supply. From available records, Federal Government has spent over $30 billion dollars to revamp the sector in the last three decades without any substantial progress. The economy is run on generators with Nigerians spending a staggering $10billion dollars (N7.6 trillion) annually on petrol and diesel to run their generators including the cost of maintenance, according to a 2024 report, “Beyond Gensets: Advancing the energy transition in Lagos State” published by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL).

True to his campaign promise to build on the achievements of his predecessor across all sectors and improve on governance performance in areas where it is required, President Tinubu, in demonstration of his unshaken believe in continuity of governance, took on the FG-Siemens Power Project as part of his priority projects in the energy sector.

It is necessary to state that this all-important power project had suffered undue delays since July, 29, 2020 when the Federal Executive Council approved the payment of €15.21m and N1.708bn as part of Nigeria’s counterpart funding for the offshore and onshore components of the project.

Managing Director, Siemens Energy Nigeria, Seun Suleiman, was quoted as saying then that, “Siemens Energy is committed to working with the Federal Government of Nigeria through the FGNPowerCo to see a successful implementation of the presidential power initiative. We have successfully carried out a similar project in Egypt.

“This project will transform the energy landscape of the country, and we are grateful the government has entrusted us with this notable initiative. We are capable, and we will deliver excellent results.”

In 2021, FGN Power Company, the Special Purpose Vehicle established by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the implementation of the PPI, announced the commencement of the grid network studies and power simulation training for technical experts in the Discos, TCN, NAPTIN and NERC, including provision of specialized power simulation softwares for TCN, NERC and all Discos. By December 2024, more than 100 experts across the sector have been trained on power systems simulation and network planning with skills to better manage the grid operations at various levels.
In the same year 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved the contract for the supply of 10 mobile substations and 10 power transformers by Siemens Energy for quick reinforcement of the grid as part of the pilot Phase of the project. Reports by FGN Power Company indicate that all the equipment have since been supplied and installed across the country.

However, the overall pace of the project delivery in terms of meeting timelines has not been impressive.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu saw the need to continue with the project and how timely delivery can transform the power sector for a country that desperately needs a reliable power supply for industrialisation and grow its economy. The status of the project came up at a bilateral meeting between President Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the latter’s working visit to Nigeria in August 2024 in Abuja. At a follow-up engagement in Dubai in December 2024 during COP28, the Nigerian Government and Siemens Energy AG signed an accelerated performance agreement aimed at expediting the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) to improve electricity supply in Nigeria. The agreement that was signed by Kenny Anuwe, Managing Director/CEO of FGN Power Company and Ms. Nadja Haakansson, Siemens Energy’s Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, was witnessed by President Tinubu and Chancellor Scholz.

Under the accelerated performance agreement, Siemens Energy will see to the end-to-end modernization and expansion of Nigeria’s electric power transmission grid with the full supply, delivery, and installation of Siemens-manufactured equipment.

Furthermore, the agreement will ensure project sustainability and maintenance with full technology transfer and training for Nigerian engineers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

In a major demonstration of President Tinubu’s commitment to the power project and a positive shift towards execution, the President led the Federal Executive Council on December 16, 2024 to approve €161.3 million Euros for the execution of the contracts in the first batch of the Phase one of the projects across the country following earlier approval of the transaction by the Bureau of Public Procurement.

Addressing journalists after the FEC approval, an enthusiastic Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, with the renewed vigour to deliver on the project said, “at the Federal Executive Council meeting, there were basically two approvals for the Federal Ministry of Power, as I presented. The first was actually an approval for the award of contract for engineering, procurement, construction and financing for the implementation of the 331 32 KV And 132 33 KV substations upgrade under Phase One of the Presidential Initiative, popularly known as the Siemens project consequent upon completion of the pilot phase of this project.

“So, the Federal Executive Council considered it necessary for us to move forward as promised by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at a meeting he held with the President of the Republic of Germany.”

The latest FEC approved scope of work includes upgrade of TCN substations in five locations of Abeokuta (330/132/33kV), Ayede (330/132/33kV), Offa (132/33kV), Onitsha (330/132/33kV) and Sokoto (132/33kV). These substations were carefully selected as Batch 1 of the brownfield scope of the Phase 1 projects to increase the wheeling capacity of the transmission network grid.

In the same vein, FGN Power Company will implement assets upgrade and enhancement in the distribution networks, in collaboration with the Distribution Companies (Discos) to ensure last-mile delivery of the evacuated power to industrial customers and residential consumers. These locations are load centres that are currently underserved and require swift enhancements. The execution of the project will be fast tracked and completed under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

It’s important to state that the FGN Power Company has started working on other priority brownfield and Greenfield projects in target load centres across the country. Special attention is also being paid to the execution of systems and products to enhance grid resilience and stability to reduce the frequent occurrences of grid disturbances.

In December 2024, Minister of Power Adelabu commissioned the mobile substation in Saapade, a suburb of Shagamu in Ogun State. This has enhanced power evacuation and delivery to industrial customers within the Shagamu hub. Similarly, another mobile substation was commissioned at the Ajibode area of the University of Ibadan to enhance power delivery to the university community and adjoining areas. Before then, mobile substations and power transformers have been commissioned and energized in Ajah Lagos, Mando Kano, Jebba Kwara State, Okene Kogi, Amukpe Delta, Potiskum Yobe, Apo Abuja and Ihovbor Edo.

While the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative is going on, President Tinubu has equally inaugurated the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to increase the rate of smart metering of all customers in a commercially sustainable manner. The roll out of the metering solutions has started. It is expected that the combined impact of assets upgrade through Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) and metering through the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), coupled with efforts of subnational electricity markets will bring lasting solutions to the challenges of electricity supply in Nigeria.

With President Tinubu’s committed leadership, the parlous state of the power sector will be reversed, and Nigerians and the economy will experience a new lease of life with reliable electricity supply that will geometrically increase productive activities. Indeed, the president’s strategic approach to resolving the multifaceted challenges in the power sector is yielding visible results. The restructuring of the tariff regime, intervention in the commercial imbroglio on gas supply, additional investments in infrastructure through PPI, enactment of the new Electricity Act which provides legal framework for further decentralisation of the sector and devolution of more responsibilities to the subnational governments, are all part of the renewed hope agenda for the power sector to bring sustainable solutions.

-Ajayi is Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity