By Dapo Ipoola
Sir, it is with gleeful delight that I write you this letter. And I would like to crave your humble indulgence if any protocol had been perceivably breached for choosing this medium to write a letter to the most powerful President in the world. Yes, Nigerian President is the most powerful President in the world because when you were sworn-in, every military and para-military agency submitted their flags and gave it to you, and that automatically confers on you the Grand Commander of the Armed Forces, and as well the highest national honor, GCFR- the Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic. Not even the President of the United States of America could compare with you in terms of raw power.
On this note, sir, I want to commend you for not weilding the power gratuitously despite some calculated attacks and criticism to truncate and frustrate your government. In spite of all odds, you’ve remained unfazed and undaunted and that tells a lot about your preparedness for the most herculean job in our nation. Without being immodest, you have been magnanimous in victory by graciously accomodating shades and stream of invectives and scurrilous public denunciation.
As a way of repositioning Nigeria, President Tinubu’s government removed fuel subsidy so as to remove feeders from the mouth of the few cabal holding the masses to the jugular. Ensuring food security and reduction in the soaring cost of food prices, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security and renamed the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; his administration has also launched the National Agricultural Development Fund with N100 billion to address agricultural financing challenges which has drastically brought reduction in the cost of food prices.
Again, 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains, including sorghum, millet, maize from the National Strategic Grain Reserves and 60,000 metric tonnes of rice through millers were released to vulnerable Nigerians through the 36 state governors and the FCT, in an attempt to stabilise food supply. The Central Bank of Nigeria donated 2.15 million bags of fertiliser worth N100 billion to support farming.
President Tinubu’s administration has also introduced the Dry Season Farming Initiative on 500,000 hectares of farmland, financed by the African Development Bank with $134 million to promote year-round farming. Partnerships with John Deere aiming to supply 2,000 tractors annually for five years under a unique financing arrangement supported by a low-interest loans from the Bank of Agriculture. The Green Imperative Programme, a $1 billion bilateral partnership with the Brazilian Government, aims to provide farmers access to machines, equipment, and training. The Bank of Agriculture is support Nigerian farmers with low-interest loans to purchase fertilisers. Additionally, there is a N141 billion credit facility from a Japanese agency for agricultural scheme projects.
The Tax Reform Act- the Nigeria Tax Bill(Fair Taxation, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, Nigeria Revenue Service(Establishment Bill), Joint Revenue Board(Establishment Bill), Exchange rate floatation; Conditional Cash Transfer; increased the salary of Judges; and the construction of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway; reduction in debt from the $108 billion inherited from former President Buhari to $94 billion; constructed the Sokoto-Badagry Express Way; gave loan to over 600, 000 hapless students through NELFUND; signed the local government autonomy; increased federal allocation to states by 300%; local refining has increased by over 250%; fuel importation has reduced by 70%, with daily imports dropping from 44.6 million litres to 14.7 million litres, with a decrease of 29.9 million litres; signed the 2023 Electricity Bill into law so as to end federal monopoly of power, and to ensure that states and private sectors generate, distribute and transmit power which has added over 625mega watts to the national grid; 70k minimum wage bill signed and implemented.
At the home front here in Ekiti, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, BAO, is on top of his best to change the not too appealing administrative narrative of the state for good, and this he has done by advancing the course of sound and all-encompassing governance than he met it, just as the cadences of his stellar performances are visible to the blind and audible to the deaf. On road construction alone, BAO’s administration has constructed the llawe-Erijiyan road; rehabilitated Ikole township roads; rehabilitated Moferere-Agric Olope road; constructed GRA 3rd extension road; constructed Omisanjana-Deeper Life-Ajebamidele road; constructed Hospital Management Board road; constructed Jimoh Aliyu road; rehabilitated Igede-llawe road; rehabilitated Itapa-Ijelu-Omu road.
reconstructed llawe-Ikere road; rehabilitated Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki road; dualized the GRA 3rd extension to Pavilion junction; reconstructed Are-Oye road; rehabilitated Ikere-Emure road; rehabilitated llupeju-Imojo road; rehabilitated Oke-Oro-llukuno-Ipoti road; rehabilitated Ijero-Epe-Araromi-Iropora road; rehabilitated Itawure-Okemesi road; reconstructed Ido-lle-Okemesi road; reconstructed lloro-Ijurin road; the construction of Ring road from Afao to Ado-Ekiti is ongoing, and the construction of flyover bridge from Ajilosun-Oke-Iyinmi nears completion. In the less than three years in office, the governor has over five hundred projects across the nooks and crannies of the state.
The Oyebanji’s government in Ekiti is not only focusing on infrastructural development alone but as well prioritising agriculture and rural development, youth development and job creation, human capital development, industrialization, arts, culture and tourism, education, health and social wellbeing of all and sundry. If there had been any all-inclusive government in Ekiti, it is that of Oyebanji’s government. Little wonder he enjoys the cozy support of all the former governors, traditional rulers, and notable sons and daughters of Ekiti, and more reasons for the present gale of endorsement by various groups, professional bodies, and political heavyweights in the state. The governor’s popularity is unmatchable, ditto his political and administrative dexterity. Today in Ekiti, the fear of Oyebanji’s popularity informs why individuals with rumoured governorship ambition can not summon the needed courage to make it public, not even in their polling unit. Oyebanji’s statewide eclectic acceptability unsettles those with infinitesimal political grip, reasons for brewing incivility, unethical and condemnable conduct so as to gain cheap public sympathy. The July 28 statewide endorsement bears an infallible credence to this claim that the emergence of BAO is one of the best things to have happened to the State since its creation. The PBAT/BAO/MCA endorsement is first of its kind in the annals of the State’s political history. An endorsement that had virtually all the former Governors, Deputy Governors, past and serving NASS members, and other critical stakeholders in attendance was indeed eventfully one of its kind. As a hallmark of his administrative ingenuity, Ekiti was ranked as the Most Peaceful and transparent state in terms of security and award of contract. The metric of BAO’s fiscal discipline is contagious amongst various strata of governance.
Dear President Tinubu, as a master political strategist that you’re, kindly ignore any rumour monger who may likely want to discredit your political godson, BAO, in Ekiti. Do your personal findings and you’ll later get to know that their camp is a MEGA rumor mill brandishing all sort of malicious lies. Out of sheer political chicanery, they’ll merchandise rumour that the governor is a bit under the weather, or he is missing in action; if he is not missing, he is defecting to another party, and if not that, he is unable to urinate. They’ve become so implacably contumacious and pugnacious that their only stock in trade is to peddle scandalous rumour and ruthless campaign of calumny, forgetting that elections are not won on emotions and baseless propaganda.
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