Nigeria: Bola Tinubu sworn in as president amid hopes and skepticism

ABUJA, Nigeria

Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu has been sworn in as president of Africa’s most populous country at a period of unprecedented challenges, leaving some citizens hopeful for a better life and others sceptical that his government would perform better than the one he succeeded.

The former governor of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, Tinubu, 71, was sworn in as Nigeria’s president in Abuja, the capital city, in the presence of thousands of Nigerians and several heads of governments.

He succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari to lead a country that by 2050 is forecast to become the third most populous nation in the world, tied with the United States after India and China.

He has promised to build on Buhari’s efforts to deliver democratic dividends to citizens in a country where deadly security crises, widespread poverty and hunger have left many frustrated and angry.

And with his election still being contested in court by opposition parties and among many young Nigerians, Tinubu has also pledged to reunite the country.

Symbolic of a transition of power and loyalty to the new president, Gen. Lucky Irabor, Nigeria’s chief of defense staff, presented old national and defense flags of Nigeria to Buhari and received new ones from Tinubu, who is also the Chief of the Armed Forces.

Following the national elections in February, newly elected governors also took their oath of office in many Nigerian states on Monday.

At the inauguration venue, neither of the two main opposition candidates challenging Tinubu’s election in court was present and many Nigerians tweeted in protest to Tinubu’s inauguration.

The outcome of the court challenge is due in about three weeks. If the opposition challenges are upheld, it would be the first time a presidential election would be nullified by the court in Nigeria’s history.

Tinubu’s manifesto of “renewed hope” prioritizes the creation of sufficient jobs and ramping up of local production of goods, investing in agriculture and public infrastructure, providing economic opportunities for the poorest and most vulnerable as well as creating better national security architecture to tackle all forms of insecurity.

However, Tinubu’s ambitious plans could be threatened in his first 100 days in office by a mountain of challenges, from insecurity to a fiscal crisis, poverty and deepening public discontent with the state, said Mucahid Durmaz, Senior West Africa Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

Some analysts also say the promises made by Tinubu and the hope they bring are reminiscent of when Buhari was first elected president in 2015 as a former military head of state.

His priorities were to fight insecurity and build the economy but he ended up failing to meet the expectations of many.

“No Nigerian president has come into office with so much goodwill from citizens as President Buhari but no other president has squandered it as quickly as President Buhari did,” said Dr Seun Kolade, a Nigerian development expert and associate professor at De Montfort University, in the U.K. “In terms of expectations and what is possible, this is a very mediocre eight years, to put it mildly.”