A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. George Agbakahi has concluded that ascendency to the presidency of the country by Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the time he did saved the nation’s economy and democracy from total collapse.

Agbakahi, who is the South East leader of Tinubu Support Organization and member of 2023 Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Media and Publicity Directorate, made the assertion during a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) current affairs programme on Thursday, tagged “Nigeria Today”, to mark the nation’s 65th Independence Anniversary, monitored in Abuja by our reporter.

While x-raying the nation’s democratic journey so far, the APC Chieftain acknowledged the turbulent civil war, the disruptive military regimes and the return to democracy since 1999 as well as the attendant economic challenges since then.

He described the Independence Day speech of President Tinubu as “compelling and inspiring especially as he acknowledged the role the founding fathers played in Nigerian history particularly during the independence era; people like Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa and so on and so forth.”

The APC chieftain stated that the founding fathers played a huge role in building the country before the civil war between 1967 to 1970 after which there was a long period of military dictatorship which however ended in 1979 and came back again in 1984 before the nation came to democracy in 1999 that was the Fourth Republic.

Agbakahi stated that the nation’s economy and by extension democracy was heading to the doom when President Tinubu came on board in 2023 and introduced far-reaching policies and programmes to halt the downward slide.

“Since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came into office barely two years ago, I believe he has done a whole lot to improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.

“He indicated from the very beginning that it was not going to be easy, particularly when he extricated the fuel subsidy and unified the foreign exchange rate. He indicated that it wasn’t going to be easy.

“However, in the past year things are changing, things are getting better. We all know that inflation has come down considerably to 20.12 percent.

“We also know that foreign reserve has gone up considerably to about $42.3 billion dollars. A lot has been done; there has been a lot of internally generated revenue that goes to the FIRS.

“In 2024 they generated N21.6 trillion as opposed to below N11 trillion in 2023. Look at the Nigerian Custom Service who generated N6.1 trillion as opposed to about N3.2 trillion before President Tinubu came into office; the same thing with other internally generating agencies. So the president has done a whole lot.”

Agbakahi, however, stressed that like President Tinubu indicated in his speech, there was a lot to be done and Nigerians were hopeful that eventually the economy will start getting better and better.

Speaking about the state of the economy before the intervention of President Tinubu, Dr. Agbakahi stated that “The hallmark of this administration’s economic policy truly is the unification of the exchange rate and it is quite obvious that since 1999 all successive governments, they all knew that it was a bad policy having multiple exchange rate, it was a policy that was predicated on corruption.

“Everybody knew that; Obasanjo’s regime, Yar’Adua, Goodluck regime, they all knew that, even to the extent that a well known business man Femi Otedola made a commentary recently that about N2 trillion was corruptly spent on fuel subsidies…”

He stated that in the past the nation’s currency, the Naira, was fast losing value, even as it was being fluctuated by the Central Bank and not by market forces.

“Now we have the real thing, that’s why even though one Dollar is exchanging at N1500 or thereabout, it still has more weight than when it was N800 per Dollar.

“And that’s why you see there is a trade surplus in this country. Just this last September our trade surplus reached about N7.46 trillion, that’s a step in the right direction. Our GDP grew N4.32 percent, that’s a step in the right direction.

“Before President Tinubu came on board, crude oil production was below one million barrels per day, but now we are talking about 1.7 million barrels.

“So the government has done a whole lot and this is done through kinetic and non kinetic means; the Niger Delta area is becoming quiet that’s why we are able to produce as much oil during this administration unlike in the past.”

The APC Chieftain stressed the importance of Nigerians looking back at where the country was coming from before President Tinubu came on board.

“The economy was bleeding, he was able to enact very bold and tough decisions which has brought us to where we are today and he showed empathy acknowledging the pains of Nigerians.

“We are really getting to the point that things have started getting better and definitely I want to urge all Nigerians to search your conscience at this point in time and reach out to one another and rededicate ourselves anew to the democratic ideals of peace, tolerance, peace mutual respect to rule of law, let us come together and support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027,” he appealed to Nigerians.

Nigeria at 65: Tinubu Presidency saved economy, democracy from total collapse – Agbakahi