‘So Much Waste, Abuse Of Resources, Corruption Ongoing’ – Baba-Ahmed Fault Tinubu’s Govt

Former political advisor to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has voiced his disapproval of the incumbent administration, asserting that it has not succeeded in enhancing the living standards of the average Nigerian nor improved governance.

According to Baba-Ahmed, there is a significant amount of waste, abuse of public resources, and corruption occurring under the present administration.

Naijaonpoint reports that he made these remarks while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm show on Tuesday.

Baba-Ahmed, who once served as the spokesperson for the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), stressed that it is evident that the Tinubu administration has not met the expectations of significantly elevating the quality of governance.

He pointed out that the elimination of the petrol subsidy by the Tinubu government has significantly impacted the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians.

Baba-Ahmed acknowledged that while it may be impractical for the current president to reinstate the petrol subsidy, he should address the “waste of resources” that local and state governments encounter from the savings achieved through the subsidy removal.

He stressed that the president ought to implement measures to enhance accountability and governance at all three levels of government.

He called on the president to confront corruption and insecurity, alleviate poverty, focus significantly on infrastructure and social development, and leverage his presidential authority to guarantee that funds allocated to governors, particularly those from the All Progressives Congress (APC), are utilised wisely.

“So much waste, so much abuse of resources and corruption going on,” Baba-Ahmed lamented.

Every President Since 1999 Have Been Worse Than Their Predecessors

The former NEF spokesman stated that the presidents who have ruled Nigeria since 1999 have been 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 said.

“Since 1999, every leadership that has taken over has been worse than the previous one. If you start from the first seven years of President (Olusegun) Obasanjo, I think, honestly, he did pretty well but as some versions of his critics say, he faulted his seven years by trying to see if he could get an additional term.

“President (Umaru) Yar’adua came into power and we had some kind of fresh air. Youngish president, visionary and strong but unfortunately, he didn’t last longer than two years.

“(President Goodluck) Jonathan took over and ran the country aground. We fought against Jonathan because we felt Nigeria deserved better leadership than Jonathan. We didn’t realise that we were going to put in place someone who was not even to govern at all.

“Jonathan governed badly; President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t govern at all.

“Now, you have a president who started on a faulty foot and says: ‘I am going to become president because it is my turn’.

“Even if you forgive him for making that comment, two years into the leadership of President Tinubu’s government, we judge them by their record.

“They will tell you they are doing great with all the World Bank statistics, all the international ratings and everything but that’s not only the measures you 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.”

Baba-Ahmed lamented that the problem of Nigerian democracy is the selfishness of those who find themselves in various leadership positions.

“Nigeria’s leadership problem is a problem of those who have aspired to lead, who have had the opportunity to lead power and they have governed in their interest rather in the interest of the people who voted for them.

“If you have this kind of people as leaders, put them in the best country, if the leaders have this kind of values, they will do exactly what they are doing now,” he said.