By Olisa Agbakoba
President Bola Tinubu was elected on May 29, 2023. His first term in office will end on May 28, 2027. We are now at midterm. Many midterm performance assessments have been conducted, most based on economic factors: inflation rates, employment, exchange rate stability, GDP growth figures, poverty levels, and similar metrics. A midterm assessment is generally based on economic performance, but in the case of Nigeria, I am not sure this approach is appropriate, given the underlying structural problems. The country suffers from a flawed federal system where power is excessively centralized, creating inefficiencies and bottlenecks that economic policy cannot resolve.
Wrong diagnosis leads to wrong treatment that produces wrong results. Nigeria must confront its structural political deficit otherwise economic interventions will continue to yield suboptimal results, regardless of their technical soundness. I will therefore depart from assessing President Tinubu’s midterm based on economic factors alone. Let me explain.