Expectations for 2024, by Fredrick Nwabufo

Expectations for 2024, by Fredrick Nwabufo

The year 2024 wombs the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of over 200 million people. The promises of better days, of silver linings, and of blue skies inspire hope, excite essence, rally confidence, and stroke anticipation. Parturition is expected. As it is with reproducing life, after months in the throes of contractions, life comes with a bubbling of joy and happiness. In 2024, the seeds of possibilities and of change that have been planted by the Tinubu administration will begin to gestate and sprout.

This is not to aver that 2024 will be all plain sailing without its own share of vicissitudes, but seeds do begin to germinate, and for exotic trees that rule the forest, it takes the opportune time and latitude of nature for them to rise eclipsing the skies.

2023 was a challenging year. The concerns, the disruptions, and the pangs of novelty were all palpable. But all is well that ends well. There was a good reason. It was not all for nothing. The scaffolding for a superstructure had to be forged.

In 2024, Nigeria’s inflation rate is expected to dip, and the naira strengthened. According to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Olayemi Cardoso: “The outlook for the domestic economy remains positive and expected to maintain the positive trajectory for 2024. Inflation pressures may persist in the short-term but is expected to decline in 2024. Exchange rate pressures are also expected to reduce significantly with the smooth functioning of foreign exchange market.”

What does this mean for hard working citizens? It means a fairer and stable economic climate, salubrious for planning and earning.

In the New Year, a slew of plans and programmes of the administration will kick in. Two of such programmes, among many other policy staples, are the Student Loan Initiative and the Consumer Credit Scheme. In June 2023, President Bola Tinubu assented to the Student Loan Bill in “fulfilment of one of his campaign promises to liberalise the funding of education’’.

The bill, which was sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, aims to provide easy access to higher education for all Nigerians through interest-free loans.

Some of the cardinal provisions of the Act are: (A) ‘’All students seeking higher education in any public institution of higher learning in Nigeria shall have equal right to access the loans under this Act without any discrimination arising from gender, religion, tribe, position, or disability of any kind, and (B) ‘’The loans referred to in this Act shall be granted to students only for the payment of tuition fees.’’

In November, President Tinubu announced during his presentation of the 2024 budget proposals that the Student Loan Scheme as well as other education-specific initiatives would become operational in 2024 to address the long-standing issues in the education sector, and to create a more sustainable model of funding for tertiary education. The Tinubu administration is prioritising education with N2.2 trillion proposed for the sector in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.

A defining quotient of the administration is the preponderance of people-tailored policies and programmes. Nigerians are at the heart of the decision engineering of the leadership. They are the nucleus operating the cell of governance.

The Consumer Credit Scheme is one of the programmes to expect in 2024. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), about 70 percent of bank account holders in Nigeria lack access to credit. The Presidential Council on Industrial Revitalisation recently set up a Technical Working Group to develop the requisite framework for enhancing consumer credit in Nigeria and to achieve the country’s targeted $1 trillion economy by 2026.

According to the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka Anite, an efficient consumer credit system is a highly essential component of a burgeoning economy, as it works to improve market efficiency and fill in gaps in consumption and productivity by providing consumers immediate access to credit and allowing them to make purchases ahead of time.

“Nigeria has numerous financial institutions and credit schemes, but many Nigerians still face substantial hurdles in accessing credit due to stringent eligibility criteria, high-interest rates, identity-related challenges, fragmented data sources for proof of livelihood and financial worth, a lack of awareness or understanding of credit processes, and inadequate credit available for lending,” she said.

Reviewing the government’s strides in 2023 and prospectus for 2024 on Channels Television’s ‘News-Night’, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Presidential Spokesman, said of the Consumer Credit Scheme: ‘’There are a few things that Nigerians can be hopeful about with respect to the turnaround that is happening in the country. This is a direct consequence of the patriotic resolve of our people to allow Mr President to take these tough decisions. First, the over N1 trillion that is saved from the removal of petrol subsidy is a part of financing that we are using to fund a student loan programme. Secondly, the savings from the removal of petrol subsidy will go towards the establishment of a consumer credit system, for the first time in our history. What Mr President is doing is not only mobilising government resources, but also working closely with the private sector to re-engineer our credit system.’’

Essentially, more people-focused programmes customised for Nigerians of variegated class are expected to come on stream in 2024. The Nigerian people are the predominant concern of the administration.

Fredrick Nwabufo is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement