It’s Plenty:  “If I Do Ninety-Nine…” — Tinubu’s Reforms and the Burden of Leading an Impatient Nation

It’s Plenty:  “If I Do Ninety-Nine…” — Tinubu’s Reforms and the Burden of Leading an Impatient Nation

“Up till now, I don’t understand why
No matter what I do, it’s not enough
If I do ninety-nine good e go remain one
Don’t know how to show you my love without f……’ up

• Burna Boy

There is something hauntingly familiar in Burna Boy’s lyric: “If I do ninety-nine good, e go remain one…” In those few words lies the eternal struggle of any reformist leader. No matter how many leakages you plug, distortions you correct, or structures you rebuild, the public eye often fixes itself on the one thing left undone. And in the Nigeria of today, this lyric could easily be the quiet lament of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a leader attempting to rebuild a country living through four decades of accumulated dysfunction.

Across the past year and a half Tinubu has undertaken reforms so fundamental that Nigeria’s economic infrastructure is being rewired from its foundations. From the politically dangerous removal of fuel subsidy to the unification of the foreign-exchange system, from sweeping tax restructuring to deep power-sector recalibration, the administration has been engaged in the kind of systemic overhaul previous governments tip-toed around but never dared to execute .

The removal of the petrol subsidy, for instance, was not just a fiscal decision — it was a liberation from an economic illusion that drained national revenue, encouraged smuggling, and enriched a cartel of insiders at the expense of 200 million citizens. It was a reform every president promised but none implemented. Tinubu did — knowing full well that the pain of short-term adjustment would drown out the long-term gain. That was one of the ninety-nine.

So too was the consolidation of Nigeria’s chaotic FX windows, a reform that ended the era where well-connected individuals could make billions in a single phone call simply by exploiting arbitrage. It broke a racket that had distorted the economy for years, restored sanity to monetary policy, and signaled that fairness was returning to the foreign exchange landscape. Yet critics still say “nothing has changed,” because the naira did not instantly behave like a miracle. That, too, is the nature of the ninety-nine.

Then came the tax reforms — the most ambitious in Nigeria’s post-independence history. Over sixty fragmented, overlapping, nuisance levies were harmonized into a modern, efficient system that expands the tax net, protects low-income earners, boosts compliance, and strengthens government’s ability to fund infrastructure. For the first time, Nigeria has a legal framework built for growth, not confusion. Still, opponents cling to the “one remaining” problem, ignoring the ninety-nine resolved.

The power sector is also undergoing the first real cleansing in two decades. Tinubu approved the refinancing of trillions in legacy debts owed to generation companies and gas suppliers, clearing the logjam that had trapped the sector in dysfunction. The administration is investing heavily in renewable energy, constructing solar farms and mini-grids across universities and federal institutions, and boosting supply reliability. The reforms are working — but the national impatience with darkness often overshadows the light. Such is the burden of the ninety-nine.

Even more dramatically, the administration has embarked on the largest federal infrastructure expansion in 50 years. The Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway — a 700-kilometre engineering marvel — is unfolding along Nigeria’s southern spine, set to unlock tourism, port efficiency, real-estate expansion, and jobs running into the hundreds of thousands. In the north, the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway is reconnecting neglected communities, reactivating trade routes, and giving the Sahel a direct commercial artery to the Atlantic. These are not roads; they are national transformations. Yet some still ask, “Where are the achievements?” Maybe because the human eye recognizes the one unfinished lane instead of the ninety-nine already graded.

There is more. The rebirth of NELFUND — interest-free student loans — has already touched the lives of over half a million Nigerian youths, giving the children of farmers, traders, and artisans a doorway into higher education. It is one of the most socially impactful reforms in the Fourth Republic. But Nigerians often respond like the lyric: “Don’t know how to show you my love without…” because even monumental progress can feel invisible when daily challenges press on the mind.

On the global stage, Nigeria has shed the FATF grey list, regained Eurobond investor confidence with a record-breaking 477% oversubscription, restored airline repatriation confidence (bringing Emirates back), and triggered rising foreign reserves. These shifts signal a nation returning to credibility. These are not cosmetic wins — they are structural.

And yet, the familiar complaint returns: “It’s not enough.”

Maybe it never will be — not in a nation that endured decades of deferred maintenance, political hesitation, and economic band-aids. Tinubu inherited a country where foundational systems had endured years of corrosion. He is rebuilding those foundations, often at great political cost, often in ways that will only reveal their full benefits in the coming years.

This is why Burna Boy’s words echo so powerfully: “If I do ninety-nine good, e go remain one…” Because reformers carry the curse of the unseen ninety-nine — the structural victories, the long-term shifts, the invisible heavy lifting that does not trend on social media.

But here lies the truth:
Nigeria is in motion.
Painful motion, yes — but forward motion all the same.

And as long as the ninety-nine continue piling up, the one remaining will eventually be overtaken.

Reform is not a love song, yet it carries the same plea:
“Don’t know how to show you my love without…”
without breaking old habits, without dismantling old structures, without shaking a nation awake.

Tinubu has shown the ninety-nine.
History — not impatience — will judge whether Nigeria finally sees them.

Written by Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah
Principal & CEO, Bush Radio Academy
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