NIGERIA’S President and Petroleum Minister, Mr Bola Tinubu, has been globe-trotting since he came to power on May 29, 2023, travelling 19 times from France to China – even at a period of petrol crisis and confusion instigated by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroluem Company (NNPC) Limited, including threats of protest by Nigerians.
In all of these trips abroad, President Tinubu has failed to find solutions to petrol crisis, and the country’s cost-of-living catastrophe which is ravaging at least 63 percent of the population.
Trips abroad
Following the footsteps of his predecessor, Mr Tinubu travelled 16 times in 12 months of his government. Based on Economy Post‘s checks, Mr Tinubu travelled to France three times between June 2023 and August 2024. Mr Tinubu also travelled to France on June 20, 2023. He was in the United Kingdom four days later and in Guinea Bissau on July 8, 2023, as well as in Kenya a week later.
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Mr Tinubu travelled to Benin on August 1 and to India on September 4, 2023. He was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on September 10 and in the United States on Septemer 19. In November last year, he travelled to Guinea, Germany and the UAE.
In January this year, he travelled to France only but was in Ethiopia and Qatar in February. He was in Senegal, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia in April. He was in Chad in May.
Tinubu in China
Since May 2024, Mr Tinubu has travelled to France, China and departed for the United KIngdom on September 6.
“Nigeria is going through reforms, and we are taking very bold and unprecedented decisions,” Mr Tinubu had told Nigerians in China, according to his spokesman, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
“For example, you might have been hearing from home in the last few days about fuel prices. But, can we help it? Can we develop good roads like you have here? You see electricity being constant in quantity and quality. You see water supply, constant and running, and you see their good schools. And we say we want to hand over a banner without stain to our children? What is the critical part to get us there if we cannot take hard decisions to pave the way for a country that is blessed and so talented?” he asked
Beyond rhetoric
However, while Mr Tinubu is abroad speaking to Nigerians in the diaspora who may not understand what is happening at home, he has failed to resolve an intractable crisis of long petrol queues and crisis as Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Petrol sells at N900 to N1,200 per litre at fuel stations across Nigeria, though the NNPC announced it was selling at N897 per litre. Nigerians are going through excruciating pains of seeing petrol price jump from N200 per litre to N897-N1,200/litre in just 16 months of Mr Tinubu’s government, worsened by a naira float which has seen the local currency weaken by over 80 percent.
Economist and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), Mr. Bismarck Rewane, projected at the Lagos Business School presentation last week that the latest increase in the pump price of petrol would take N5 trillion from Nigerian consumers to the government and heighten energy poverty, as reported by ThisDay.
He noted that the new price of petrol would increase the number of Nigerians trapped in energy poverty to 168 million in 2025, from 161 million in 2023.
“The macroeconomic and welfare impact of the new price of petrol, now adjusted to N855 per litre from N568 per litre, implies that N5 trillion is withdrawn from consumers and transferred to government,” he said.
Mr Rewane said this could result in re-inflation in September as logistics cost would escalate and consumer demand suffer a decline due to income squeeze, noting that energy poverty could quicken to 76.3 percent (168 million) in 2025 from 71 percent (161 million) in 2023.
“The petrol price spike will renew inflationary pressures. Therefore, analysts’ expectations for a slash in interest rate will have to wait till January 2025. Fiscal policies are also needed to tackle structural inflation drivers, such as insecurity, infrastructure deficiencies and import dependence.”
He further said the petrol price jump would lead to “reduced employment opportunities, slower economic growth, supply chain disruptions, increased import dependency and rising inequality and investment deterrents.”
A Lagos-based economist, Mr Joel Atinga, said it was important for Mr Tinubu to provide succour to the poorest in the society who had been at the receiving end of his policies since May 29, 2023, when he came to power.
“President Tinubu has worsened the plight of the poor through his policies but has offered no palliatives to help them. When you lead a nation with 63 percent of the people in multidimensional poverty, you need to be careful not to throw many more into that class. My suggestion is that he needs to provide succour to the masses to mitigate the impact of petrol and exchange costs.”
