Following the handing over of the mantle of leadership to President Bola Tinubu by the past administration, the newly inaugurated President has hit the ground running and ticked many of the right boxes, but there is still a lot to be done to truly delivered a dividend of democracy to the Nigerians.

However, it is important to state here that the administration of President Tinubu inherited a whopping sum of N77 trillion from former President Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

Tinubu has, however, kept mum on the issue, maybe because the past administration is from the same political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) he emerged as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

New Telegraph reports that since his inauguration on May 29, Tinubu has been dealing with managing of the assets and liabilities inherited from his predecessor.

It would be recalled that during the inauguration of the National Economic Council (NEC), President Tinubu admitted, saying, “The situation that we have seen is one- I inherited, and it is fundamental, I inherited assets and liabilities of my predecessor.”

Here are the liabilities President Tinubu inherited from his predecessor, Buhari.

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N77 Trillion Debt

The current administration inherited a debt burden of N77 trillion accrued by the previous administration

The figure was given by the Debt Management Office (DMO). This is perhaps the biggest liability the former administration left for the current government.

“The danger with the debt burden is that even with the removal of subsidy, a large chunk of the Federal Government revenue is going to be used for debt servicing, Lekan Olaleye, an Economist said.

He added that “The ongoing reforms mean the government cannot afford to introduce any form of new taxation. The government must increase the minimum wage and still deal with the loans.”

Emefiele/Naira Redesign Policy

Nigerians are still facing uncertainty over the old Naira notes in the pocket as the Supreme Court order still stands till December 31, 2023.

It would be recalled that Nigerians went through biting Naira notes scarcity in the first quarter of the year due to the Naira redesign policy of the now-suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Tinubu had in his inaugural speech promised to do cleaning in the monetary space, and Mr Emefiele appears to have been the first casualty of the cleaning as he is facing prosecution by the state secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS).

But Nigerians still don’t know if the Naira notes in their hands will be of value after December or not.

Fuel Subsidy

The outgoing administration made provision in the budget for petroleum subsidy till June 30, but Mr Tinubu did not wait for the due date, as he announced that “fuel subsidy is gone” in his speech on Inauguration Day.

While the administration has been able to remove fuel subsidy, however, the question of palliative and other intervention measures remains to be addressed.

The former government only planned to borrow $800 million as palliatives.

Census

One other thing the new administration inherited is the 2023 National Census. The past administration already expended N200 billion on preparations for the population census, however, the exercise was suspended.

Population census in Nigeria has always been controversial because of the political implications of census figures.

It remains unclear if the current administration will be willing to continue on this path.

Closed Land Borders

The Tinubu administration also has to decide on the closure of land borders. Only Atiku Abubakar made his position on the border closure very clear during the campaign.

However, there were reports that the former Vice President had vowed to open the border, a declaration that was criticized by Lai Mohammed, the immediate past former Minister of Information and Culture.

A memo for the re-opening of the Seme land border for the importation of vehicles is said to be awaiting the final approval of Mr President.