The needless hoopla is petering out sooner than was initially thought. For want of stating the obvious, opposition elements are embracing the reality that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu clearly and unambiguously breasted the tape ahead of the other major contenders of the 2023 presidential race.
Save for the incoherent braggadocio on naked display by social media goons of opposition parties, the reality of a lost and won contest is steadily sinking in, albeit slowly.
For the records, the 2023 presidential election remains a watershed in the nation’s history. It was an election like no other. In more ways than one, the conduct and outcome of the election has earned Nigeria additional stripes in her continued quest to become a global democratic powerhouse.
Far from being perfect, the election however passed the litmus tests of organisation, integrity and sanctity of one-man-one-vote. Its outcome shattered bookmakers’ predictions and shamed not a few political pundits.
The facts speak for itself. While Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was projected as the winner by credible and world-renowned organisations and polling agencies, no one predicted his defeat in Lagos, considered as his political fortress for almost three decades. But he lost to Mr. Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Unexpectedly too, the sitting President, Muhammadu Buhari, who doubled as the Chairman of the APC/PCC lost his home state, Katsina, a state his party won by landslide in the two previous elections.
There were other shocking outcomes. The Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Governor Simon Lalong not only lost his senatorial bid in Plateau State, but could not deliver the state for his presidential candidate. Lalong’s counterpart in Kebbi State, Governor Atiku Bagudu, who is the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), also lost his state to the PDP. Other APC governors, including Abdullahi Ganduje, Abdullahi Sule and Nasir El’Rufai lost their states, Kano, Nasarawa and Kaduna, respectively to opposition parties of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), LP and PDP. Wherein lies the claims of a flawed election being parroted by the LP and PDP!
While the recourse to legal adjudication to seek redress by the LP and PDP is welcome, but which most likely would be torn into shreds, it is heartwarming that the President-elect is focused on the daunting tasks ahead of him.
Arguably the most prepared of presidential contenders in the nation’s history, Asiwaju Tinubu in his first public declaration of his ambition had declared confidently: “I believe I have the vision, the competence and the track record to lead this country.” The self-confidence tells of a man confident in his own skin; a man who believes in his innate capacity to turn impossibilities to possibilities for the greater good; a man whose ambition is driven by his overriding belief that Nigeria’s potentials can be turned into real and concrete success if her human and natural resources are judiciously and painstakingly harnessed.
Asiwaju Tinubu’s antecedents is rich in service in both the private and public sector. Here is a man that has gone through the mill of tutelage and leadership; a man akin to a rough gold that has been through the furnace and come out glittering and sparkling like diamonds.
His scorecard as the Lagos State governor remains a reference point 16 years after he exited office. The reforms he initiated and executed, from tax administration, civil service turnaround, land processing, devolution of powers, power amongst others, and which were faithfully adhered to by his successors, have placed the state on a pedestal hitherto thought unrealisable.
A few of the initiatives stand out. For many, the Lekki Free Trade Zone takes the icing. It was a seemingly grandiose idea that opposition figures poohpoohed to no end. They lack the vision to see the big picture. But today, that zone plays host to one of the world’s biggest refineries and petrochemical complex.
Other multi-billion-naira companies have also set up shops within the LFTZ.
In close proximity to the free trade zone is the newly completed Lekki Deep Sea Port. It is the largest sea port in Nigeria and one of the biggest in West Africa. Occupying a land mass of 90 hectares, construction of the port was financed by private investors and a consortium of banks who have funded the project with over $1.5 billion. Rightly described as a “transformative and game changer project,” the port is owned by the China Harbour Engineering Company and Tolaram Group, with the balance shared by the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). The LFTZ success is the triumph of audacity of ideas.
The can-do spirit of Asiwaju Tinubu also shone brightly in the conceptualisation and execution of the Eko Atlantic City from the rubbles and menacing challenge of the Atlantic surge. It was a disaster-in-waiting, scary enough to submerge the entire Victoria Island. It was a recurring environmental challenge that had defied solutions. But rather than despair and fold his hands in capitulation, Asiwaju Tinubu saw an opportunity of immense value to the economy of the state and the country at large.
Sprouting out of that space is a brand-new city described as one of the 8th architectural wonders of the world, which plays hosts to the headquarters of big corporate concerns and diplomatic missions, not least the biggest US Consulate, whose ongoing construction is estimated to gulp $400 million.
The plethora of all of these reforms by Asiwaju Tinubu during his tour of duty as governor accounts for the upbeat in the local and international investment community that businesses would thrive under a Tinubu Presidency. That confidence is not misplaced. The President-elect’s glowing record as a pro-business and pro-reforms leader is widely acknowledged by even his fiercest critics. In his well-crafted manifesto launched before the presidential campaign, Asiwaju Tinubu outlined his economic plans, which dwells largely on comprehensive reforms to reposition and rejuvenate key sectors, including petroleum and gas, agriculture, ease of doing business, health, education and the tax regime.
It then comes as no surprise that savvy investors are already taking position to partake in the envisaged economic goodies that would be unleashed.
What has further buoyed the confidence of these investors is the calibre of the individuals who form the inner circle of Asiwaju Tinubu’s economic team. These are solid professionals who know their onions. Names like Wale Edun, an economist, a World Bank alumnus and co-founder of formerly IBTC (now Stanbic IBTC), Yemi Cardosso, a banker of note and former Charman of CitiBank and Yetunde Oduwole, the Head of the Presidential Enabling and Business Environment Council (PEBEC), readily come to mind.
Under Asiwaju Tinubu’s leadership as governor, Edun and Cardosso were the arrowheads of the Lagos’ economic reforms from 1999 to 2005 and it is to their credit that the state dared the odds by being the first in Nigeria to float a bond in the Capital Market, funds which were spent on a massive upgrade in the state’s descript infrastructure and deployment of Oracle IT to retool the opaque civil service structure and weed off ghost workers from the system. The list is endless.
Hopes among Nigerians are, indeed, high that Nigeria is set to set sail into the frontiers of economic development. Under the Tinubu Presidency, ideas that will translate to the fulfilment of hitherto dashed hopes would flourish, unhindered. And the take-off day is May 29, 2023.
•Adelowo, a journalist is based in Lagos The needless hoopla is petering out sooner than was initially thought. For want of stating the obvious, opposition elements are embracing the reality that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu clearly and unambiguously breasted the tape ahead of the other major contenders of the 2023 presidential race.
Save for the incoherent braggadocio on naked display by social media goons of opposition parties, the reality of a lost and won contest is steadily sinking in, albeit slowly.
For the records, the 2023 presidential election remains a watershed in the nation’s history. It was an election like no other. In more ways than one, the conduct and outcome of the election has earned Nigeria additional stripes in her continued quest to become a global democratic powerhouse.
Far from being perfect, the election however passed the litmus tests of organisation, integrity and sanctity of one-man-one-vote. Its outcome shattered bookmakers’ predictions and shamed not a few political pundits.
The facts speak for itself. While Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was projected as the winner by credible and world-renowned organisations and polling agencies, no one predicted his defeat in Lagos, considered as his political fortress for almost three decades. But he lost to Mr. Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).
Unexpectedly too, the sitting President, Muhammadu Buhari, who doubled as the Chairman of the APC/PCC lost his home state, Katsina, a state his party won by landslide in the two previous elections.
There were other shocking outcomes. The Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Governor Simon Lalong not only lost his senatorial bid in Plateau State, but could not deliver the state for his presidential candidate. Lalong’s counterpart in Kebbi State, Governor Atiku Bagudu, who is the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), also lost his state to the PDP. Other APC governors, including Abdullahi Ganduje, Abdullahi Sule and Nasir El’Rufai lost their states, Kano, Nasarawa and Kaduna, respectively to opposition parties of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), LP and PDP. Wherein lies the claims of a flawed election being parroted by the LP and PDP!
While the recourse to legal adjudication to seek redress by the LP and PDP is welcome, but which most likely would be torn into shreds, it is heartwarming that the President-elect is focused on the daunting tasks ahead of him.
Arguably the most prepared of presidential contenders in the nation’s history, Asiwaju Tinubu in his first public declaration of his ambition had declared confidently: “I believe I have the vision, the competence and the track record to lead this country.” The self-confidence tells of a man confident in his own skin; a man who believes in his innate capacity to turn impossibilities to possibilities for the greater good; a man whose ambition is driven by his overriding belief that Nigeria’s potentials can be turned into real and concrete success if her human and natural resources are judiciously and painstakingly harnessed.
Asiwaju Tinubu’s antecedents is rich in service in both the private and public sector. Here is a man that has gone through the mill of tutelage and leadership; a man akin to a rough gold that has been through the furnace and come out glittering and sparkling like diamonds.
His scorecard as the Lagos State governor remains a reference point 16 years after he exited office. The reforms he initiated and executed, from tax administration, civil service turnaround, land processing, devolution of powers, power amongst others, and which were faithfully adhered to by his successors, have placed the state on a pedestal hitherto thought unrealisable.
A few of the initiatives stand out. For many, the Lekki Free Trade Zone takes the icing. It was a seemingly grandiose idea that opposition figures poohpoohed to no end. They lack the vision to see the big picture. But today, that zone plays host to one of the world’s biggest refineries and petrochemical complex.
Other multi-billion-naira companies have also set up shops within the LFTZ.
In close proximity to the free trade zone is the newly completed Lekki Deep Sea Port. It is the largest sea port in Nigeria and one of the biggest in West Africa. Occupying a land mass of 90 hectares, construction of the port was financed by private investors and a consortium of banks who have funded the project with over $1.5 billion. Rightly described as a “transformative and game changer project,” the port is owned by the China Harbour Engineering Company and Tolaram Group, with the balance shared by the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). The LFTZ success is the triumph of audacity of ideas.
The can-do spirit of Asiwaju Tinubu also shone brightly in the conceptualisation and execution of the Eko Atlantic City from the rubbles and menacing challenge of the Atlantic surge. It was a disaster-in-waiting, scary enough to submerge the entire Victoria Island. It was a recurring environmental challenge that had defied solutions. But rather than despair and fold his hands in capitulation, Asiwaju Tinubu saw an opportunity of immense value to the economy of the state and the country at large.
Sprouting out of that space is a brand-new city described as one of the 8th architectural wonders of the world, which plays hosts to the headquarters of big corporate concerns and diplomatic missions, not least the biggest US Consulate, whose ongoing construction is estimated to gulp $400 million.
The plethora of all of these reforms by Asiwaju Tinubu during his tour of duty as governor accounts for the upbeat in the local and international investment community that businesses would thrive under a Tinubu Presidency. That confidence is not misplaced. The President-elect’s glowing record as a pro-business and pro-reforms leader is widely acknowledged by even his fiercest critics. In his well-crafted manifesto launched before the presidential campaign, Asiwaju Tinubu outlined his economic plans, which dwells largely on comprehensive reforms to reposition and rejuvenate key sectors, including petroleum and gas, agriculture, ease of doing business, health, education and the tax regime.
It then comes as no surprise that savvy investors are already taking position to partake in the envisaged economic goodies that would be unleashed.
What has further buoyed the confidence of these investors is the calibre of the individuals who form the inner circle of Asiwaju Tinubu’s economic team. These are solid professionals who know their onions. Names like Wale Edun, an economist, a World Bank alumnus and co-founder of formerly IBTC (now Stanbic IBTC), Yemi Cardosso, a banker of note and former Charman of CitiBank and Yetunde Oduwole, the Head of the Presidential Enabling and Business Environment Council (PEBEC), readily come to mind.
Under Asiwaju Tinubu’s leadership as governor, Edun and Cardosso were the arrowheads of the Lagos’ economic reforms from 1999 to 2005 and it is to their credit that the state dared the odds by being the first in Nigeria to float a bond in the Capital Market, funds which were spent on a massive upgrade in the state’s descript infrastructure and deployment of Oracle IT to retool the opaque civil service structure and weed off ghost workers from the system. The list is endless.
Hopes among Nigerians are, indeed, high that Nigeria is set to set sail into the frontiers of economic development. Under the Tinubu Presidency, ideas that will translate to the fulfilment of hitherto dashed hopes would flourish, unhindered. And the take-off day is May 29, 2023.
•Adelowo, a journalist is based in Lagos