why Tinubu is succeeding in turning around the economy

This article could have been titled WHY BUHARI FAILED WOEFULLY or WHY TINUBU INHERITED AN ECONOMY ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE and any of those titles would have been apt. One of our former Sunday Editors forwarded a statement credited to an Emir who was once very close to Buhari when they were both in service.

On account of my respect for traditional rulers, the name of the Emir would not be disclosed. His message, however, presents the point of departure for today’s article. According to the Royal Father, Northern elites kept quiet while Buhari wasted eight years and the opportunities each presented to develop Nigeria. Instead, Buhari ruined Nigeria and bequeathed a nation on the brink of total disintegration to his successor – President Bola Tinubu.

 My reply to my former Editor was swift. The Emir was one of the Northern elites who kept quiet. At any rate, only cowards criticize or insult a dead president. People like me don’t wait until they either leave office or die before calling them out for obvious crimes against the Nigerian people. Buhari was not spared on this page from start to finish.

WHY BUHARI FAILED

“Leadership is always somewhat mysterious. Leadership  can be summed up in two words: intelligence and integrity; or to use two synonyms; competence and character.”

John Brademas, US Congressman, c 1984.

Buhari was elected in 2015 mostly on his well-advertised integrity or character. Millions of Nigerians, including me, voted for him based on the strong belief that he would bring corruption in government to an end – or at least vastly reduce the canker-worm impeding national economic progress. President Obasanjo left after eight years; and left us with an estimated N8 trillion unaccounted for. As the nation headed for the polls in 2015, how much had vanished without trace under Yar’Adua/Jonathan was unknown. But, on the only occasion Mrs Diezani, former Minister for Petroleum Resources testified before a House Committee, she disclosed that 400,000 barrels of crude were stolen per day during her stewardship. That should tell us something about who was stealing the oil.

We assumed all these and other nefarious activities would be halted with Buhari in charge. We were wrong; dead wrong. Crude oil theft continued under Buhari – this time with the military strongly implicated.

Character flaws, which were carefully kept under wraps, surfaced. The cabal moved in, like the Mafia gang. Family friends and close associates were appointed well above their levels of competence. Corruption changed faces; and now the courts are trying to unravel how one top official became linked with 57 prime properties and another 753 duplexes during the tenure of “Mr Clean”. 

 The book recently launched by his wife revealed all we need to know. Buhari, aware of his own lack of competence in managing complex systems – which governments have become – simply abdicated his responsibilities and allowed his appointees to operate as they chose. There was no central control because the government was too complicated for a School Certificate holder to manage. A more honest and patriotic leader would have exercised the “Mandela option”. Legendary Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013, could have ruled South Africa as long as he wanted. Instead, he served one term and voluntarily stepped down. He won’t be the first. Ghandi of India did not even attempt to rule. Instead, he nominated and supported a more competent Pandit Nehru    . Buhari’s second term was characterized by an incompetent leader; whose character had been impaired by his subordinates. “Show me your friends; and I will tell you who you are.” It is impossible to be an honest Ali Baba; if you are surrounded by forty thieves. The Nigerian economy was destined to be wrecked on account of Buhari’s leadership deficits.

WHY TINUBU IS MAKING HEADWAY

“Executive orders unlock $10bn capital inflow for oil sector – Tinubu.”

VANGUARD, February 4, 2026.

 One attribute separating Tinubu from Buhari is knowledge of the requirements of global investors. Buhari lacked any knowledge of economic principles and how to apply them. He was closer to the political left in attitude; in other words, those with ideas about how to distribute wealth and not how to create prosperity. Nigeria’s socialists, especially in organized Labour, are birds of the same feather. Tinubu is a die-hard capitalist. Furthermore, the President of Nigeria is keenly aware of the fact that the vast majority of global investments are made by capitalists in countries where free markets operate. The only real socialist nation in the world is Cuba. China is now more capitalist and free market oriented than when its economy was based on communist ideology. 

 The world of investments is one comprising of deals from which the risk takers expect to make profits. It is a cold-blooded world; totally devoid of the sentiments governing thoughts of many of Nigeria’s leaders in politics, academia and media. A good example is the current agitation by the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, for a gold refinery, already planned for Lagos to be moved North because most of the gold deposit is in Arewa territory. That would probably have been the decision if Buhari was President for sentimental reasons. It would not have occurred to him that the cost of the raw gold nugget is a fraction of the total cost. Furthermore, with deposits scattered over vast areas of the North, no single state might have enough to warrant establishment of a refinery there. Most important of all; the investor is most concerned about the market; in other words, where are the customers? That alone should explain why the refinery is best located in Lagos.

Just in case the NEF and others are still missing the point, here is the bitter truth. In the absence of any census figures to serve as reference point, let us agree that the North has a larger population than the South. It is also a fact that the two richest Nigerians – Dangote and Rabiu are Northerners. But, the South in general, and Lagos in particular, control a higher percentage of the national wealth than the North. Sellers of gold, like marketers of Rolls Royce cars,  pitch their tents where the buyers are concentrated. Buyers in Nigeria and abroad would feel safer walking into an outlet in Lekki than in Gusau or Gashua. 

It is this sense of realism rather than wishful thinking that is also driving Tinubu’s trips abroad. Granted, every Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, signed does not automatically result in a factory built or a grant. But, the collapse of globalization and the rise of  “Trumponomics” have foisted the search for new ways of relating on all national leaders. In the past, poor nations waited for rich nations to discover and develop their economic potentials. Today, poor nations, like good salesmen everywhere, would be well advised to hit the road in search of investors. Global investment destinations are now changing so rapidly, a nation, whose leader sits at home, will receive nothing. Buhari could not understand this. His trips abroad were pure tourism; no business.

Follow me on Facebook @ J Israel Biola.

The post why Tinubu is succeeding in turning around the economy appeared first on Vanguard News.