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President Tinubu thinks he’s the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in the last two years
Good morning, Big Brains. I’ve genuinely been scared of my work rate this week, and I think it makes sense to slow down. It’s going to be a long weekend for everybody on The Big Daily team due to the public holiday, and we hope you take time to rest too. We’ll be back in your inbox by 7 am on Monday. See ya!
Margaret
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Let’s get into today’s edition:
President Tinubu thinks he’s the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in the last two years
Tiv leaders want Nigerians to know that nothing has changed since President Tinubu visited Benue
The Big Deal
President Tinubu thinks he’s the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in the last two years
We don’t know who’s more delusional, the 14-year-old Nigerian girl who thinks she’s going to marry Lee Min Ho one day, or the average Nigerian politician.
On Tuesday, September 2, President Tinubu declared that his “bold economic reforms” have stopped Nigeria’s economic crisis and earned us newfound global respect.
He threw a subtle shade at his predecessors, saying that years of fake records, corruption, and currency trading illusions nearly killed the country, but his policies have raised Nigeria back to its feet, even though he’s only been in office for two years.
The president also channeled his inner Grey’s Anatomy character and said, “With your prayers, patience, perseverance and great understanding, I’m glad to tell you today that the economy is stabilised. The bleeding has stopped. Haemorrhage is gone; the patient is alive.”
Royalties like Soun of Ogbomoso, who were present at the State House, also praised the President for subsidy removal, forex reforms, and road projects.
Why is this a big deal?
It’s news to us every time President Tinubu swears that things have improved under his leadership, especially in a week like this, and we’ll get into why soon. Just last week, the president was in Brazil, telling an international audience how his economic reforms have rid Nigeria of corruption, even though Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index says otherwise.
It’s a new week now, but it’s still the same gospel our president is preaching, and if we’re being honest, he couldn’t have chosen a worse time to toot his own horn.
The president has recently authorised a new 5% law on fossil fuels that will take effect in January 2026. That means when you buy fuel of ₦10,000, you’ll be charged an extra ₦500 according to the requirements of the new tax law.
Energy policy analysts have confirmed that a flat 5% rate ignores the clear inequality in a country where the average Nigerian is still suffering badly from the same reforms the president keeps branding as the best thing after plantain.
If the president had to impose a new tax in such a financially challenging year, adding a rising charge based on people’s income would have made more sense so that the vulnerable Nigerians wouldn’t be hit the hardest.
Add this to the fact that the Tinubu-led administration has put a new price tag on the Nigerian passport, and you get even more confused about the improvement the president is talking about.
For context, this administration has changed the price of the 32-page passport from ₦35,000 in 2023 to ₦100,000 in September 2025. And the cost of the 64-page booklet has gone from ₦70,000 to ₦200,000.
While Nigerians pay way more than the country’s minimum wage for a national passport, Seychelles, which has the strongest passport in Africa and a minimum wage of over ₦700,000, only charges its citizens around ₦79,000.
Is the improvement in the room with us? Because things seem to be getting even harder for the average Nigerian.
Tiv leaders want Nigerians to know that nothing has changed since President Tinubu visited Benue
It’s been almost two months since a group of suspected herdsmen attacked Yelewata and Daudu communities in the Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, killing about 200 people, including children.
After being bullied out of his silence, President Tinubu visited the state and promised to authorise the arrest of the criminals and restore calm. But according to Victor Aleva, president of Mzough U Tiv UK (MUTUK), those promises have aged like milk.
Aleva, who visited Yelwata last week, told Channels TV that “nothing has changed.” The community is dealing with the effects of that attack, and no effort has been made to rebuild it. He described Tinubu’s trip as pure politics and insisted he had video evidence and testimonies from locals to prove it.
Tinubu had ordered service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to arrest the perpetrators, and within days, the police announced they had paraded 26 suspects. But Aleva dismissed it as a staged show. In his words: “You know that is a lie… this is more than two months, where are the people?” Interestingly, the Commissioner of Police, Emenari Ifeanyi, decided to protect the suspects' identities after the arrests, and so far, only one of them has pleaded guilty.
To him, the attack wasn’t just another farmer-herder clash; it was a calculated attempt to wipe out an entire community.
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