Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former political adviser to President Bola Tinubu, has criticised the current administration, saying it has failed to improve the quality of life of the average Nigerian and also the quality of governance.
“Clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance,” he said on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm programme aired on Tuesday.
Baba-Ahmed, a former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), stated that the removal of the petrol subsidy by the Tinubu government has significantly impacted the quality of life for average Nigerians.
He said, though it was unrealistic for the current president to reverse the removal of the petrol subsidy, he should tackle the “wastage of resources” that accrue to state and local governments from the money saved from subsidy removal.
Baba-Ahmed said the president should take steps to increase accountability and governance across the three tiers of government.
He urged the president to tackle corruption and insecurity, mitigate poverty, devote considerable time to infrastructure and social development, and utilise his presidential power to ensure that money sent to governors, especially those of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is used judiciously.
“So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on,” he lamented.
The former NEF spokesman said the presidents who have ruled Nigeria since 1999 have been worse than the previous ones.
“Nigeria is a tragedy. Even though we have a democratic system, the key element has been missing: that element is the idea that people elect leaders to serve, protect their resources, and use their resources to build a country that is in the interest of the citizens,” he said.
