Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former special adviser on political affairs to the president, has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s administration for failing to improve Nigerians’ quality of life.
Baba-Ahmed spoke on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm programme on Tuesday and accused the president of failing to meet expectations for better governance.
“Clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance,” the former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) said.
Baba-Ahmed recently resigned as special adviser on political affairs in the office of the vice-president.
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Baba-Ahmed argued that officials should judge the administration’s performance not only by international ratings and statistics but also by the real impact on citizens’ lives.
“They will tell you they are doing great with all the World Bank statistics, all the international ratings and everything, but that’s not the only measures you use to measure a government; you measure by the way citizens live, and if that is the yardstick by which we are going to measure this administration, then clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance of President Buhari,” he said.
The former adviser urged the president to address corruption and insecurity, reduce poverty, and devote considerable time to infrastructure and social development.
Baba-Ahmed noted that the Tinubu government’s removal of the petrol subsidy has significantly hurt the quality of life for average Nigerians. He also called on the president to use his presidential power to ensure that governors, especially those from the All Progressives Congress (APC), spend money properly.
“So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on,” he lamented.
Baba-Ahmed believes the president should take steps to increase accountability and governance across the three tiers of government.
