Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has predicted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win re-election in 2027, citing the administration’s gains in education, economic reforms and infrastructure development, alongside the growing political strength of the All Progressives Congress, APC, nationwide.
Omokri, who previously campaigned against President Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election stated this on Tuesday during an interview with the Deputy Director-General of Media, Communications and Public Affairs, CityBoy Movement, Ortega Ogra, at the organisation’s headquarters in Abuja.
He said his decision to support President Tinubu was informed by developments under the administration, particularly interventions in education, economic reforms and major transport infrastructure projects.
On education, Omokri argued that tackling illiteracy and expanding access to learning remained fundamental to addressing some of Nigeria’s long-term security and development challenges.
“The reason why we are spending trillions of naira today fighting insecurity is because in the past we did not spend billions of naira fighting illiteracy,” he said.
He identified the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, as one of the administration’s significant interventions in tertiary education, saying the scheme had provided financial support to students who might otherwise struggle to fund their education.
Omokri maintained that investment in university education would have longer-term benefits for the economy as beneficiaries graduate, enter the labour market or establish businesses.
“If you have university students, undergraduates who are only in school because of NELFUND student loans, that is a major thing,” he said.
On the economy, Omokri pointed to improvements in government finances and the capacity of federal and state governments to meet obligations to workers, arguing that regular salary payments have further implications for households and economic activities.
He also cited emerging macroeconomic stability as evidence that some of the reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration were beginning to yield results.
Turning to infrastructure, the Ambassador said improved transportation networks could reduce the cost and time involved in moving people, agricultural produce and other goods across the country.
“Transport is one of the biggest costs to Nigerians. Not just people travelling, but also because you need to bring food from the North to the South. You need to bring food from the rural areas to the urban areas,” Omokri said.
He cited the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway among major projects that will improve connectivity and reduce travel time when completed.
According to Ambassador Omokri, the benefits of such infrastructure should not be assessed only in terms of construction, but also by the potential savings in travel time, fuel consumption and the cost of moving goods between different parts of the country.
On the 2027 presidential election, Omokri said President Tinubu’s victory in 2023, despite the political circumstances that surrounded the election, his conviction that strengthened his victory in 2023 would be difficult to defeat in the next election.
“The best predictor of future events is past events,” he said.
Omokri argued that the APC currently has a stronger political position than it did ahead of the 2023 presidential election, pointing particularly to the increased numbers of governors aligned with the ruling party.
He said that the combination of the administration’s education interventions, economic reforms, infrastructure development and expanding political support had strengthened President Tinubu’s prospects ahead of 2027.
“I mean, he is going to win the election,” Omokri declared.
The Ambassador maintained that the opposition would face a tougher political contest in its bid to unseat the President in 2027.
