Politics

Tinubu Administration Has Failed to Improve Nigerians' Quality of Life - Baba-Ahmed

A former adviser to President Bola Tinubu on political matters, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has delivered a scathing assessment of the current administration, stating that it has failed to improve both the quality of life for average Nigerians and the standard of governance.

Baba-Ahmed made these remarks during an appearance on Channels Television's Political Paradigm programme on Tuesday.

"Clearly, the Tinubu administration has failed expectations that it was going to radically improve the quality of governance of (former) President (Muhammadu) Buhari," he stated.

Impact of Subsidy Removal

According to the former spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), the removal of petrol subsidy by the Tinubu government has significantly impacted the quality of life for ordinary Nigerians. While acknowledging that reversing the subsidy removal would be unrealistic, Baba-Ahmed criticized what he described as wastage of resources accruing to state and local governments from the savings generated by the policy.

He urged President Tinubu to take meaningful steps to enhance accountability and improve governance across all three tiers of government.

Call for Action Against Corruption

The former presidential adviser called on Tinubu to confront corruption and insecurity, alleviate poverty, prioritize infrastructure and social development, and exercise his executive powers to ensure that funds allocated to governors—particularly those from the All Progressives Congress—are used responsibly.

"So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on," he lamented.

Baba-Ahmed further asserted that the presidents who have governed Nigeria since 1999 have each proven worse than their predecessors.

"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 added.