Tinubu’s Economic Policies: What it Can Mean For Nigeria

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a Nigerian politician and former governor of Lagos State. The All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, He became Nigeria’s President-elect after the February 13th presidential and national assembly elections.

Tinubu has been vocal about his economic policies and has advocated for policies that promote economic growth and development for the country. His economic policies have been of great interest to many citizens of Nigeria.

Headmitted that Nigeria lies on a gold mine with loads of natural resources to its disposal. According to the president-elect, all local governments in NIgeria have resources and endowment to harness its economic development. And as such, a strategic investment in research and development and effective management can explore these resources to its fullest.

Let’s look at a few of these policies and what it means for Nigerians.

Enriching the Power Sector

The president-elect had earlier said in his manifesto that he will strengthen the nation’s existing power reforms as a catalyst to sustainable industrialisation. He has proposed to support the initiatives of some 19 Northern states and the FCT who have incorporated a 100MW of Solar project per state to complement other power generation systems across the country.

He has also promised to support any state willing to develop and generate its own power, seeing it as an initiative to encourage and support to revamp industrialization. The completion of the Mambilla hydro power project in view of its significance to our power and industrialization agenda would also be put in place.

If the president-elect implements these policies, they could have significant implications on Nigeria’s economy, especially the power sector. However, implementing these policies might not be as easy as it seems as implementing them will require overcoming significant challenges like building a skilled workforce and addressing corruption in some parts of the sector.

Investing in Agriculture

Tinubu looked at the recent investment in the rice value chain that has led to the springing up of rice mills across the country leading to wealth creation and a reduction in import bill.  This, according to him, has shown the potential of Agriculture in solving unemployment problems and boosting the nation’s GDP.

He had promised to make the Northern region the hub of agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa because the region has abundant arable land. He also stated the individual advantage of each of the 36 states in the area of Agriculture to make Nigeria not just meet our domestic needs but make it a global market.

He promised his blueprint will attract local and international investors for both exploration

on and exploitation of natural resources for international trading.

Tinubu’s focus on the agricultural sector has the potential to drive economic growth and create jobs and improve the nation’s GDP. However, implementing these policies effectively might require overcoming some challenges like addressing infrastructure deficits, managing climate risks, improving access to finance and so on.

Security

Tinubu along with his running mate, Shettima has attributed unemployment and poverty to be the main issue for insecurity in Nigeria. Tinubu together with his team promised to tackle it within the first six months in office.

The president-elect along with his team have planned to invest in apparatus to secure the country which include hardware and software. They also see rural banditry as  a case of extreme poverty.

Irrespective of the cause of insecurity in the country, it would be of significant impact to the economy and the country at large. Its impact on economic growth cannot be overemphasized as well as its political and social stability. However, implementing these strategies can be difficult in terms of Addressing insurgency, ethnic and religious tensions, cybersecurity threats, crime, and corruption.