In this interview, the national president of the Eastern Union, Hon Charles Anike, evaluates President Tinubu’s one year in office, describing it as lacking direction. The excerpts.
Evaluate President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office
The administration has been characterized by voodoo and food scarcity. It has been a government that is heading to no direction; an unprepared leadership that has no clear agenda on how to govern. It has not given priority attention to any particular challenges facing the citizenry. The government has rather settled on ostentatious living at the height of deadly scarcity. It has been a government that has not shown any serious commitment to findÃng the solutions to the enormous problems left behind by the Buhari regime. We have seen an unprepared government that also does not enjoy legitimacy. The president and his appointees are lacking courage and confidence. It’s a government that is being hunted by its past. And because of this, there is no record of any meaningful achievement so far. It has embarked on frivolities, like going back to the old colonial national anthem. Why didn’t they consider going back to the old pump prices of petroleum products?
What are the challenges of the Tinubu administration?
The major challenge is legitimacy. It is a government that lacks trust by the people and for that reason, it does not enjoy trust of the Nigerian masses. From the day INEC declared Tinubu winner and when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the INEC coup, an average Nigerian does not trust the government and therefore not willing to cooperate with it. The spirit of the people are not working in agreement with the Tinubu government.
Another major challenge of the Tinubu government is the careless and unwarranted announcement of subsidy removal during his presidential inauguration. That announcement was not just hasty but uncalled for. That immediately sent wrong signals to the citizens that further escalated their hatred to the incoming government.
Do you blame Tinubu for Nigeria’s poor economy?
I don’t think it would be right to blame the Tinubu government alone for this. The foundation of the collapse of the Nigerian economy dates back to the millitary era. The successive military governments laid the foundation for the poor economy of the country. Then various civilian governments continued to worsen the already worsened situation by incessant borrowing of foreign loans, especially this past Buhari regime. The Tinubu administration is only fulfilling its campaign promises of continuing Buhari’s improvishment of Nigerians, by his incessant and penchant for foreign loans. The government must understand that every loan, especially foreign loans, will always come with conditions that will usually not be favourable to the citizens. It is also very disheartening that those loans were not for investments, but to satisfy the insatiable appetite of those at the corridors of power.
The government economic policies are crafted against the poor masses. And that has increased the hardship in the land. The government rather than thinking outside the box is busy imposing different direct and indirect taxes on the citizens and removing subsidies on household commodities.
The Tinubu administration has shown lack of genuine commitment in tackling the escalated insecurity across the country. The government keeps offering lip services while the country has become a safe haven for criminals and terrorists. Kidnapping is the new oil boom, and the government is gladly paying ransoms. No genuine commitment to flush out the idiots.
What is your take on the performance of the ministers?
I don’t think there is any sharp different between the Tinubu government and that of his ministerial appointees. Remember the legs cannot move faster than the head. Even though some of the Tinubu ministers are pretending to be busy, but there has been nothing to show so far. Those ministers were appointed either as political compensation or for future political calculation and considerations.
Therefore most of them are square pegs in round holes.
How do you rate South-East governors so far?
The governors of Abia and Enugu are doing their best to bring dividends of democracy to our people. The major problem that usually affects the performances of our governors is god-fatherism. You can see what is happening in Rivers State now between Wike and Fubara. There is always distraction by godfathers who are usually failures and would always want the failure to continue. Nothing much is heard about Ebonyi State governor probably because of what I just highlighted.
Alex Otti has shown capacity and competence and every Abia person is so proud of him. Abia has become a reference point, and that is what governance should be. In Abia, the past 24 years has been considered as wasted. Our prayer is that such miraculous leadership locate Imo State especially and indeed the entire country.
