Mr Acting President, governance cannot wait!

Some things just never change in Nigeria. All of a sudden, we are back to the unfortunate scenario of 2009. The nation was initially told that the President was going on a ten day vacation and medical check up, but the President left two days before the day his vacation was to commence. But on the day he was being expected back in the country, he purportedly sent another letter to the National Assembly informing them that he is extending his vacation because in the course of the routine check-up, his doctors recommended more check-ups. Interestingly, in the second letter, the President neither gave the duration of the further check-ups or when he should be expected back to the country. In effect, he is on medical leave indefinitely. That is scary!

However, unlike in 2009, he has done the right thing by transferring power to the Vice President and transmitting a letter to the National Assembly to that effect. That effectively made Osibanjo the Acting President and no lull in governance was expected. Despite that however, we are constrained to note the shyness of the Acting President to exercise his powers and the yawning power vacuum in the governance of the country as critical reforms and actions to reposition the economy and the country are been delayed.

Critical challenges such as the persisting dollar scarcity, activities of rampaging and murderous Fulani herdsmen, the Niger Delta disaffections, the issue of Joint Venture Cash call debts which has not received much attention since an agreement was reached to exit the agreement, the Forcados terminal issue and the lingering problem of the 41 items excluded from accessing dollars at the official interbank foreign exchange market are still waiting for actions.

Happily enough, the Acting President, two days ago, has forwarded the name of the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, to the National Assembly for confirmation as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria. That singular action has diffused the great tension building up and has allayed the fears of many stakeholders who feel the delay in sending his name for confirmation was part of a grand plan to scuttle his chances to become substantive Chief Justice even after the National Judicial Council has cleared him and have nominated him for that position.

While we affirm our confidence in the Acting President’s capacity to manage the economy and the country in the absence of the President, we would like to see decisive steps on some of these lingering challenges. Some of these challenges cannot wait for the President to come back. They are very urgent national issues and time is of the essence in addressing them. Truth is the Acting President and chairman of the economic management team has not effectively positioned himself as an enabler for economic growth, despite ample opportunities to reposition the economy.

The naira has fallen to record low of N500 to the US$ in the parallel market, while the country will most likely be confirmed in its first full-year recession in 25 years, once fourth quarter data is released by the bureau of statistics later in the month. The corporate performance for 2016 reveal the difficulties imposed by the downturn in our economic fortunes and the sub-optimal management of our foreign exchange since crude oil prices started to tumble in 2014. SMEs are already failing and the unemployment rate is rising higher by the day. The corporates which are supposed to be more resilient are already coming out with woeful results which may be compounded going forward if remedial measures are not taken by the government immediately.

The low hanging fruit is restoration of peace in the Niger Delta for oil and gas to continue to flow. This will lead to increase in the dollars available to pay our import bills and provide gas for the thermal stations to stem the dismal electricity output which of recent was as low as 3,000MW.

The aim of the constitution in creating the position of the Vice President is to provide for a President-in-waiting in case the President becomes indisposed. Now that he has been legally empowered to exercise the office of the President, the Acting President must seize this unique opportunity and rise to the challenge of not only expertly steering the ship of state, but also of carrying out critical reforms that are badly needed for national growth and development. He will be judged by history.