If genius is hallmarked by uncommon creativity and profusion of ideas, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration could pass for one.

Since its advent, some two years ago, the administration has been prolific. Consider the catalogue of its exertions: the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol on his Inauguration Day; the hike in electricity with its curious categorisation of Nigerians into bands; the new (suspended?) port levies; the 50% increase in charges imposed by telecom providers at the behest of the government; the new charges introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on ATM withdrawals, etc.

Alas, the Tinubu administration is a genius of travesty. Rather than for these policies to drastically improve the weal of the people and to put the country on the path of growth, they have driven Nigerians speedily to the depths of despair.

Most of these policies, and the tax regimes imposed by the administration, were not informed by any cerebral or patriotic forethought. No due consideration was given to how they would impact Nigerians. The alacrity and haughtiness with which they were imposed betray an utter lack of compassion.

What is more, the subsidy withdrawn on petrol, bar the increase in the monthly federal allocation to the states, has neither been fully accounted for nor has it been deployed to rigorously address the challenges faced by Nigerians.

These tariffs, contrived pell-mell and imposed helter-skelter, can only birth negative multiplier effects. A hike in electricity can only result in an increase in the price of goods produced and services provided by manufacturers and the informal sector. These increased costs are then passed on to consumers who are already hurting and are multi-dimensionally impoverished.

By the same token, when telecom tariffs are increased, in the cavalier manner their providers did and with the tacit support of the government, they are bound to affect costs in other areas as well. With our decrepit infrastructure, most Nigerians have found recourse in communications to reach out to one another and to conduct their businesses. Our youths, particularly, have demonstrated savvy in deploying telecoms, and the internet to do their businesses at a time when working at home has become the fad.

Thus, a hike in telecom charges can only hamstring our enterprising youths instead of galvanising and empowering them.

Of course, the consequences of the withdrawal of subsidy on petrol, which is a precursor to this bevvy of tariff increases, are writ large: costs of living associated with transportation have since shot up. In most cases, they have quadrupled.

Ordinary folks are at the receiving end of these exponential increases. Tales of woe now abound and are enlivening discussions about the direness of our prospects. Before now, Nigerians, on account of hardship, were compelled to adopt a curious eating habit in which meals were skipped.

These days, you are regaled with sad stories of how many households cannot eat a decent meal in a day. School children, in their droves, are being withdrawn because their parents cannot afford the fees.

Matters too are not helped by our governors. They are in a seeming scramble to improve their states’ Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs). By the accounting of BudgIT late last year, only Lagos and Rivers states can fund their budgets and expenditures using their IGRs. The other 34 states cannot. Translation: they are technically insolvent.

One is delighted that the states feel challenged by their parlous state of affairs and that they are determined to change their narratives for good. Most of them are, however, pursuing the increase of these IGRs wrongly and with an attitude that can only drive away, rather than invite investors. Suddenly their citizens are being subjected to multiple taxation both by the states and the local governments.

Some state governments demand payment of taxes imposed by the federal government. Worse is that scarce regard is given to incentivising investors by way of tax holidays or the provision of sites and services.

While it is laudable to increase IGRs in order to foster financial independence and to invest in infrastructure, states must moderate this quest by encouraging entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to set up shop and to thrive. When these investors are incentivised, it is these states that will eventually reap by way of taxes and employment for their youths. Taxes being imposed should be streamlined to avoid double, and in some cases, multiple taxation.

The Tinubu administration may be prolific. It may even be hard working. But it seems to be prolific and working hard at the wrong things. Why embark on a quixotic quest for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) when your country is beset with heightened insecurity and when your roads, hospitals and schools are in a decrepit state? How do you expect multinational corporations to remain when electricity is hardly available and incessant electricity grid collapse has become the new normal?

Rather than embark on phantom and futile searches for FDIs, we should focus, like the laser beam, on improving our infrastructure, security, education, health services and food security. It is when we roll up our sleeves and repair our country that others will be attracted and be enamoured with it. It is then that investors and tourists will come in their droves.

Have we ever given a thought as to why Nigerians excel abroad other than in their own country? Have we ever considered why our police, discredited at home, give incredibly excellent performances during peacekeeping abroad? The simple answer is that an environment has been created in other jurisdictions to enable their sterling performance. Meanwhile, we are sorely bereft of such an environment. And we do not want to create one. Yet we want to excel.

We must, consciously and deliberately, create an environment that facilitates and nurtures talent and excellence. Our leaders and followers must commit to this idea and bring it about. We must fashion out policies that rev up and support our manufacturing sector. Doing so will enable it to produce affordable goods and employ our teeming youths. We must put in place solid roads and railroads to facilitate the seamless movement of people and goods.

We must put our schools in the finest fettle so that they can confer the requisite skill sets to our youths. We must equip our hospitals and motivate health workers in order to arrest their exodus from Nigeria. We must address insecurity so that our farmers, who have scampered from our farmlands, can go back, be usefully engaged and produce foodstuffs, thereby engendering food security and prosperity.

To carry on, and on a binge of increasing tariffs on every conceivable service being provided, is to further suffocate the people and to stifle the growth we desperately crave. It is a road we must not take because it is not humane. It is the path of misanthropy.

 

Dazang is a former director at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)