• Says there is a difference between Buhari and Tinubu’s beginnings
  • Suggests how to manage subsidy returns

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

One month is not enough time to rate the performance of President Bola Tinubu in office, according to elder statesman and chieftain of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) Buba Galadima on Monday.

The politician said the president has started on a good footing when compared with ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in the same period.

Galadima who spoke while featuring on Arise Television breakfast show monitored in Kaduna however expressed worry on whether there is a workable plan in place on how the money that would accrue from the fuel subsidy removal would benefit the masses irrespective of their location and social statuses.

He said, “One month is too early for anybody to access an administration that inherited a myriad of problems in a Country like Nigeria. However, so far we have seen that the man has started on a good footing.

For instance, he has made appointments for him to secure himself within and around the villa by appointing commanders and sub-commanders to take care of his security. We are also aware he has replaced service chiefs including the Inspector General of Police who are now all in the process of appointing unit commanders across the Country so they could take the war on criminalism to Boko Haram, kidnappers and other criminal elements.

“Of course, he has also appointed key government officials like the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and National Security Adviser to help him set up the structure.

“It is also on record that the man has touched the economy by trying to match the parallel market and official rate with the dollar even though is going up but we know for sure it will subside.

“It is also on record that the man has taken some far-reaching decisions which the previous administrations were afraid to take. If I was close to him, I would have advised him to investigate what brought about the subsidy so we can avoid the pitfall of what has led us to this scam across the Country.

Mr Femi Falana has raised concern about how billions of dollars ended up in individual pickets. This is another hard decision Mr President has to take to recover looted from those individuals because the danger that faced the Country today is that there are individuals who are richer than the Country or their state government.

“The national assembly has been inaugurated, key leadership is elected and they are in the process of appointing committees.
What is remaining is the appointment of ministers that will help the government-run day-to-day activities of the Country.

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From what we heard, the man is trying to look for the best quality people and partisan consideration in his appointments. I will say we must be patient by giving him some latitude as done during the Buhari era. It took me two years to give Buhari two years long rope so we could see him properly before assessing him.

“The difference is clear because this is a government of politician by politician and unlike the military regime, you could see that from what he is doing, he has been trying to consult across the Country including eminent stakeholders across different political parties.

“So to access an administration that inherited a distorted economy and if he continues in doing this, definitely the sky will be the beginning of the success of his government”, He added.

On how to manage money that would be accrued from subsidy he said, “We know that no one is subsidising the poor because the poor don’t have cars. We have been subsidising the elites. There are a lot of things we can do to make living better for the poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

“Government must expedite palliative measure to cushion the effect of subsidy removal because when we push a ‘common’ man and woman to the wall, we cannot predict what they can do.

Secondly, we should now allow a few people to be in charge of our economy. Let us operate an open economy where different people are involved in exporting and importing business opportunities.

“We know for sure that even if we carry all the subsidy money and give to one governor, he will still come back to say he does not have enough money to do this or do that.

“So we need to do a budget regime that when governors and central government make their budgets, they should not be allowed to deviate from that budget. There should be a system of monitoring all the monies that go to states because the monies are being diverted and that is why the Judiciary and anti-grafts agencies must wake up.

“For instance, a situation where local government chairmen are sending money to their governors’ private accounts is a concern. By the time some of these local governments are arrested continuously for three months, they will stop passing money meant for the development of local government to any governor anymore.

“So if we don’t have the will to fight corruption, it does not matter how much government earns, it will not be channeled towards development, it will not be channeled towards the interest of a common man.

“It is for us the citizens to be proactive and demand from those in authority what they do with our commonwealth. We should be police ourselves. We should not rely on conventional security people who also partake in the sharing to help us in this current situation”, he submitted.