By Larry Oyims
President Tinubu is a genuis, but of a different kind. Patient and foresighted, he sees afar and plans ahead, leaving many of us in the dust to dwell in the covens, shouting “one Nigeria”.
It took him over 25 years to plan for where he is today. He knows the worth of power and what to do with it. To most Nigerians, he is the president of Nigeria, but beyond that facade, his mission and loyalty seems to be with his ethnic group.
I am asking Nigerians, are you not seeing what am seeing? Tinubu is gradually, without any pretense or equivocation, using the resources of the entire country to develope South West and empower his people.
Look at it from this angle. Most of the loans he obtains are for the development of Lagos, but the entire country pays for it. At the Lancaster House in London, during his recent visit to Britain, Tinubu signed a fresh £746m British loan that will be repayable over a period of 70 years. Who will pay this loan? From the way things are going in the country, from terrorism to economic strangulation of the poor by the rich, will Nigeria still be in existence in the next 70 years?
Since 2023 he came to power, Tinubu has borrowed over N50 trillion, and since then, there has been no breathing space for the poor. He is taxing them to pay the loan, support his sleaze and expensive lifestyle and bear the burden of his government’s financial recklessness rooted in corruption.
I am compelled to ask, how is this £746m loan structured? What is it meant for? Is it structured to bring development to the 6 geopolitical zones or is much of it going for the development of Tinubu’s South-West as usual?
I asked Grok this question, and here is the interesting response: “In short, this is not a general-purpose loan — it is a targeted export-finance package specifically ring-fenced for the transformation of Apapa and Tin Can ports to make them more modern, efficient, and competitive”. And yet, the loan was obtained in the name of Nigeria, arranged and coordinated by Citi Bank, witnessed by three Yoruba ministers and signed by a Nigerian president of Yoruba extraction!
What is disturbing to me is that Tinubu is obsessed with modernising the Lagos ports as if they are the only ports in Nigeria. The Sea ports in Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt are almost redundant due to a deliberate government policy to protect the Lagos sea ports and yet, Tinubu secured £746m loan from Britain solely for the development of TinCan and Apapa Sea Ports without any consideration for others.
What is intriguing is that out of this loan, the sum of £70m is tied to UK Export Finance (UKEF) that will ensure that British Steel supply 120,000 tons of steel and create over 10,000 jobs in Britain, at the expense of our own Ajaokuta Steel Industry.
This lopsided development of the country, much of them in lagos, is creating fear and apprehension that President Tinubu is indirectly preparing for a future Oduduwa Country.
Currently, his Executive Council is made up of 65% of individuals of his ethnic extraction to the detriment of others, which does not bode well for the country.
I’m just thinking aloud, and I’m worried about the future of my country!
