•Tinubu
Stakeholders have scored President Bola Ahmed Tinubu low on his performance more than six months after taking over the reins of government, saying his administration has worsened the condition of Nigerians.
Most of the stakeholders who spoke to our correspondents on President Tinubu’s administration so far, while noting his boldness in the removal of petroleum subsidy, said his announcement at his inauguration which triggered a lot of crisis was hasty and put the nation into immediate suffering, reports Sunday Independent.
Dr John Kome, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, said that six months after President Tinubu was inaugurated, both those who voted for him and those who opposed his choice as president, are grinding their teeth in pain.
Dr. Kome, a cleric and the PDP’s Lagos State House of Assembly candidate for Ikeja Constituency 1, stated: “Come to think of it, fellow Nigerians are butchered in Plateau State at the moment as if the lives of Nigerians are Christmas chickens, defying the sanctity of human dignity in a religious season.
“While the world is crying bitterly over lives being wasted in a war situation in Gaza, lives are being wasted in a peaceful community unabated here in Nigeria without provocation.
“Consider the Nigerian economy for the past six months, for example, all we hear is the usual political promises of a better tomorrow.
“Our society is turning into a Voodoo one where slaughtering of human lives for rituals has become the way to make wealth or means of surviving the current economic situation.
“Every effort to dissuade Nigerians from leaving their land to other countries has proved abortive, even when they are seeing certain harsh conditions which their fellow countrymen and women are exposed to overseas.
“Look at the way elected officials at different levels of government in Nigeria are sharing our national wealth with immunity.
“Almost on a daily basis, we are inundated with stories of looted funds by past and present public officials with impunity. It has become a way of life in Nigeria, that there is nothing anyone can do to change the status quo.
“Nonetheless, I implore Nigerians to have faith in the promise for a better Nigeria with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s agenda of ‘Keeping Hope Alive’.
“As a Bible historian, God used unpopular kings to save His people at different times in history. I do have hope that it is not impossible for God Almighty to use Mr President to impact the current situation in Nigeria miraculously in the years ahead.
“Let every Nigerian, irrespective of their faith and religious leaning, keep to call upon God Almighty for His mercies and forgiveness for Nigeria due to too much ungodly shedding of innocent blood in the land, past and currently.
“We still have millions like me who believe that Nigeria will be great again.”
Government For The Ruling Class
Comrade Osatohamhen Ebhohon, Publicity Secretary, African Action Congress (AAC), Lagos State chapter, stated that the Tinubu administration would receive an A+ working tirelessly to build more wealth for the ruling class on the back, blood, sweat, and tears of the working people.
According to Ebhohon, from the moment he was sworn into office, President Tinubu launched a series of neoliberal attacks on the people of Nigeria.
He stated: “In just his first three weeks in office he increased the pump price of fuel by more than 195.86%, fraudulently claiming to have unified the dollar that still has a striving parallel market by floating it.
“The Tinubu administration approved the increase of electrical tariff by 45% and moved to start the commercialisation of our public schools, which saw the increase of school fees across Nigeria by more than 300%.
“All these with a N30,000 minimum wage. All these police benefit just the ruling class of Nigeria and take everything from the working people of Nigeria.
“This administration does not surprise us socialists, a bit because we have always known Tinubu’s antecedent as the Robin Hood of neoliberalism: ‘Take from the working people until they have no more and make those with capital and his cronies wealthy and more’.
“He is doing what he perfected in Lagos. Only now, it is on a national scale.”
Dr Rexkennedy Saltlove, a political activist and public affairs analyst, maintained that to assess Tinubu’s administration and the APC government in the past six months, though may look too early and would have needed at least a year, it is imperative because it is from the child the man will emerge.
Dr Saltlove, President/Executive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative), said it may seem ‘too early to assess the Tinubu administration because “The administration is running on the budget and platform made by the disastrous administration of Buhari and would need at least a year.”
He continued: “However, to assess him now, is not wrong either, because, first, he is not a novice to power or government and governance.
“Secondly, he used 20 years to prepare for the position of the president, which he is now and properly taken cognisance of the challenges the nation and its citizens are facing.
“Thirdly, he has been a strong player in the previous government and fourthly, it is still his party in power, and most policies the administration ran would not have occurred without him playing vital roles in them.
“To assess him should be premised on governance impact viz-a-viz human development Index (HDI) since he is at the helm of government.
“These indexes are on three basic aspects of human development. They include Health: Health issues or challenges are causes of recent death of former House of Representatives Speaker, Ghali Na’Abba, and Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu, are strong message to discerning Nigerians and the world that in the health sector, we are still far from a strong healthy system.
“Knowledge: The level of education is still poor. In this 21st century, we still have 31% of our over 200 million illiterates.
“While the government is pressing the issue of investing strongly in the education sector so our graduates can be competitive with others from advanced and developed countries, there is no tangible impact on what he has said so far on the citizens.
“Six months into this administration, there are no policy frameworks and actionable plans that can convince anyone that they mean what they say.
“Standard of living: This is another index of measuring leadership impact and is easily quantified such as income, employment opportunities, cost of goods and services, poverty, the inflation rate, among others.
“His emergence was on the platform of questionable character, based on certificate forgery, INEC’s culpable compromise of its own process that produced him and ethno-religious bigotry, which greatly polarised the nation.
“Despite the Supreme Court judgment, people would be deceiving themselves to admit that the misgivings by reasons of the aforementioned, the nation is yet to be completely healed, enough to work along with Tinubu’s APC administration to pursue his eight-point agenda.
“Within these six months, poverty has increased astronomically with inflation because of subsidy removal and impact on cost of living, while the naira to dollar parity has devalued by virtually over 100% from when he took over… $1 USD = ₦460.7202. On Boxing Day, it was $1 =N1, 200+.
Surge Of Insecurity
“Security of lives and properties is nothing to write home about as our own security agencies who swore to protect the citizens are ‘accidentally’ bombing law abiding citizens, and terrorists in what is akin to what Hamas did to Israel on their New Year celebration, massacred over 160 lives, destroying properties on Christmas Eve.
“These, plus the jamboree of SUVs bought in billions by lawmakers, the Presidential Yacht issue, the over bloated entourage/delegates of 1000, plus those that attended the COP’28 in midst of paucity of funds, do not speak of a leader or administration that is frugal in spending or ready to cut cost and make maximum positive impact while citizens are groaning in lacks and pains.
“Within the six months of his emergence, the national grid has collapsed thrice, plunging the nation into darkness. For the superstitious, that is not a good sign. “When one take Buhari into consideration, under whose administration the national grid collapsed, was on average once monthly, left the blackest legacy of a leader impoverishing its citizens like no other administration in Nigeria history.
“When one takes a look at the budget, means of raising the fund to finance the budget and the benchmark the budget is pegged via oil, we know it is a budget designed to fail and not meet its expectations.
“In conclusion, one area one would commend this administration is the subtle probe of the past administration through the immediate-past CBN Governor, Emefiele.
“Though, much needs to be said about using a sole investigator, but, I commend the courage to look into such activities in the previous administration.
“In summary of Tinubu/APC administration putting it on a scale of 1-10 in the past six months using HDI and other indices, one will give him 3.
“This implies that he is a dismal failure and has not lived up to the expectation of his ‘Renewed Hope’ that has turned to ‘Renewed Hunger’, hazard and hardship.”
Prof John Ebhomien, a former World Bank/IMF economist, stated: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over the leadership of this country when Nigeria was facing a lot of challenges from inflation, insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and other vices that were begging for solutions from 1999 to date.
“This recurring decimal has been on for a very long time. Nigerians need to be patient with the present administration and commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the bold steps he has taken to fix the economy and put Nigeria on the path of economic prosperity and sustainable development.
“The removal of fuel subsidy must be appreciated by all Nigerians because it has been on top burner right from the regime of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to that of Umaru Yar’Adua, to former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, since he came to power, has taken far-reaching decisions and actions that would help drive investment, bring down inflation and other policy decisions and actions for economic growth.
“All the decisions and actions taken so far would take time to yield results. So, Nigerians need to be patient with President Tinubu’s administration.
“Fixing the economy is not rocket science. It requires dynamic economic approaches with a high sense of responsibility.
“The ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Agencies must key into the President’s agenda and policies for economic growth.
“President Tinubu must develop a master plan for policy monitoring and implementation. There must be probity and accountability for budget implementations at all levels.
“My advice for President Tinubu is to re-jig the NNPC for proper management and accountability. The NNPC is seriously sick and dying.
“The National Assembly must go deep into the $60 billion loss and unearth and prosecute those who are culpable in accordance with the rule of law.
“There should be no plea bargaining. It has been abused several times. It is retrogressive and unacceptable. Every money stolen from our economy must be recovered and accounted for.”
