The 11th edition of the Bola
Tinubu Colloquium held in Abuja on March 29, 2019, in commemoration of the 67th
birthday of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu.
At the event, he expressed
happiness that his party “walloped” the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during
the 2019 general elections.
Tinubu said the APC gave him a
birthday gift by massively defeating the opposition party in the 2019
elections.
Read his full speech below:
”I want to thank President Buhari
for sharing this special day with me. The pressure of affairs facing the leader
of a nation is such that you could have easily found reasons why you could not
participate. Instead you chose to be here and to even give me the compound
honor of accepting to be the Chairman of this occasion. Mr. President, you have
gone far these past few years in laying a good foundation for the economic
recovery of the country. We shall go farther still so that Nigeria truly reaches
the next level with you leading the way.
”Here I must also thank our dear
First Lady Aisha Buhari for her zeal, support and commitment to the betterment
of this nation. You are a true role model for women in Africa.
”I commend the Vice President, my
dear friend, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and his team for organizing another
excellent Colloquium. VP Osinbajo and his team have done a fine job bringing us
together again this day. You have enhanced our democratic and economic
discourse at a moment when such public discussion is greatly needed.
”I thank our party chairman and
members of the national working committee and congratulate them once again for
working as a dedicated team to re-elect our president and also ensure that we
achieved a majority in the National Assembly. I thank all the governors and
governors-elect present. I thank all National Assembly members and
members-elect present. I thank the Ministers here present. I thank all the
state assembly members, local government chairmen and other officials for being
here.
”I especially thank our
traditional rulers and religious leaders. Your words of wisdom and calls for
peaceful co-existence and tolerance have always been a source of inspiration
and a soothing balm for our people.
”I thank my darling wife, my
family and all my friends who put aside their own personal business to join us
today.
”Looking unto this cordial and
supportive gathering and feeling the enthusiasm that has animated this moment,
I cannot help but feel that we are on the right track.
”You see, Next Level is not just
a trendy campaign phrase to be quickly discarded once victory has been
achieved.
”It has a much deeper and more
profound meaning, perhaps even more than its authors contemplated. This is
because we are a nation still in the process of defining itself politically and
economically.
”In this process, it is tempting
and easy to borrow indiscriminately from those nations that seem to have
mastered the art of democratic governance and to have achieved economic
prosperity.
”However, to achieve durable
progress, we can’t afford to work hard but in mindless devotion to the ways of
other nations.
”This truth is particularly acute
when these very nations now face fundamental political and economic questions
that cast doubt on the social utility and viability of the economic model under
which they have travelled for the past 50 years.
”The global economy faces stiff
headwinds. Factors not of our making now cast the world economy towards low
growth.
”Consumer spending is slipping.
Aggregate private debt has attained historic levels. America and China are in a
trade tug-of-war. Brexit looms imminent. Whatever form Brexit takes, economic
dislocation will emerge from the political confusion now underway.
”Even without Brexit, the EU
itself has entered a rough patch. The Eurozone may already be in recession.
Stock markets experience wild swings that speak to an underlying weakness and
pessimism about the immediate future.
”Forecasters are predicting a
global recession within the next 12-18 months.
”I render these observations not
to frighten anyone but because they ring true. Wisdom requires that we accept
reality instead of obscuring it under the cloak of wishful thinking. We must
build policies that interact with the world as it is, and not with the world as
it should be.
”We must recognize these harsh
economic tidings as advance warnings to the wise. Hence we must think deeper
and work harder for our people in Nigeria.
”I would be a most wicked friend
if I knew a storm was approaching yet convinced you to ready your family for an
outdoor picnic under the tallest tree. The truth is always a more valuable
guardian than fantasy.
”Mr. President, you have warned
several times that the storm that approaches is not inevitable. It is born of a
human folly and reckless greed. This means that it can be rectified by human
wisdom and prudential action.
”At this point we must recognize
a fundamental truth of our time. The economic model upon which the world is
built is unraveling. The coming downturn is just a symptom of this great
upheaval.
The global economy faces either
genuine reform or gathering ruin.
”Because of this, the economic
cohesion of Western nations is weakening. Income inequality has reached levels
unseen in a century. The middle class in most countries is shrinking.
Wages stagnate while prices are
on a ceaseless march upward.
”In America, progressives
champion a Green New Deal — a massive government program to modernize that
nation’s aging energy infrastructure and to create job programs to keep the
middle class from becoming an endangered economic species.
”In France, the yellow vests
protest the austere policies of the Macron government. The vests have the
sympathy of the people.
”Brexit, no matter how misguided,
was in large part a primal scream by people who feared the EU was responsible
for their diminished economic conditions. The frustrated British would have
been more accurate had they pointed the finger at a culprit closer to home –
the austerity policies of two consecutive Tory governments.
”People the world over are
questioning the centre-right conservative model that has, with few exceptions,
governed the world for the last half century. In one form or another, people
are protesting the way things are, and progressive politicians are trying to
help the people change things for the better.
The Next Level must be seen as
part of this global and historic dynamic.
”Our pursuit of the Next Level
cannot be achieved by blindly following the economic path of other nations.
That would be tantamount to racing to live in a building just as its long-term
occupants were frantically rushing out, screaming that the edifice was mean and
crumbling. If we are smart, we dare not enter.
”Instead, we must construct our
Next Level on a progressive ideology and vision that will take our people out
of penury, diversify our economy more aggressively, and empower and retrain our
youth.
”To be the great nation we
purport to be, we must reform and retool our economy according to our
definition of what is best for our own people. We cannot assign that duty to
anyone else.
”Here, I must ask for a little
liberty to amend the fine title of this colloquium: “Work for the people.” We
must do more than simply work for the people.
Government must “work for the
people in a way that enables them to better work for themselves.”
”We must amend our basic ideas
about the economy. We must divorce ourselves from our fixation with GDP rates
and similar statistics. These things were initially intended to be indicators,
suggestive measurements. However, we have misinterpreted these road maps by
treating them as if they were the destination itself.
”This has caused us to distort
the organic relationship between the people and the economy.
”This dominant train of thought
has made the people servants to the dictates of abstract economic theories. In
a more effective system, the economy would be fashioned to serve the concrete
needs and legitimate aspirations of the people.
”Our economy must be redefined to
be an efficient yet moral social construct with the primary goal of optimizing
the long-term welfare of the people through the sustained, productive and full
employment of labour, land, capital and natural resources.
In the current global context,
the best translation of laissez faire economics is “let’s stay poor” economics.
”To believe that we are at our
best when everyone focuses solely on maximizing their own position is to
believe that one hundred hands can clutch at the same naira note but no one
will get scratched.
”To pull the nation from poverty,
government must play a decisive role. It must at times direct and even develop
markets and opportunities. This is nothing novel. I am only restating what the
established economies did when they were young and assumed their trajectories
toward growth.
Yet, how do we organize ourselves
to meet this task?
”Like no Nigerian government
before, I believe the second administration of President Buhari shall dedicate
itself to changing the very structure of our economy for the better.
”The single most important sector
for the government’s focus is infrastructure. The most important of our
infrastructural demands is power. This has been the greatest discovery of
humanity in the last thousand years.
1. POWER:
”Affordable and reliable power
will drive the industrialization that shall provide jobs in our cities and
produce needed goods for all our people. In a more poetic rendering, it will
take our people out of the dark ages and bring the nation into the light of a
better day.
”I believe the second Buhari
administration will work to increase electricity generation, transmission and
distribution by more than 50 percent within the next 4 years.
”We require serious and bold
reforms to achieve this. What is happening to our gas pipelines? Whatever we
have to invest now for our future is a task that must be done boldly. The PDP
administration shared out generation, distribution and transmission to their
friends and cronies without very deep and thoughtful research and evaluation.
It has now become pork chops. This privatisation must be revisited. Put experts
together for a more constructive reform to improve generation, transmission and
distribution by any means necessary. We cannot afford to be too legalistic
about this.
Also, we should push to end the
practice of billing people for electricity they never received. This practice
is a vestige of the past that should not accompany us into the future. A person
should be charged accurately and only for the power that they use.
2. Infrastructure:
”Government should continue to
aggressively implement its national infrastructure plan. We must commit
ourselves to a national highway system linking our major cities and towns, our
centres of commerce, with each other. This will save lives, spur commerce, cut
costs and bring Nigerians closer together.
”Water catchment and retention
systems in strategic locations should also be introduced to end the destructive
cycles of flood and drought affecting many areas.
”In working to transform the face
of our economy, government must also enact policies that encourage
industrialization and modern agricultural practices. We must applaud President
Buhari for the historic innovations made in the agricultural sector. We must
further encourage him to do even more. Government funded social security for
the aged and government backed affordable housing and mortgage facilities are
things we must continue to explore in an aggressive manner.
”In the end, our future is uncertain
until we enter it and make of it what we will. We can either let the future
happen to us or summon the courage to make the future belong to us as other
nations have done.
I don’t think we really have a
choice in the matter. We must take the people to the next level. It is a
promise made and thus a promise that must be kept.
”Our goal is nothing less than
enabling people to enjoy lives free of penury and lack. We seek to constitute a
nation where all have basic sustenance and sufficient food on their tables, a
sturdy and sheltering roof over their heads and the fair chance and means to
sustain and further enrich their lives as they see fit. Let it be that all may
live in social contentment and tranquillity with his neighbour as well as with
himself. This is what we mean by the Next Level.
”Thank you for this wonderful
birthday present you have given me. I have been enriched and energized by the
intellectual exchange. I hope that you have too. Now, let’s move on to the Next
Level.”
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