Bugaje Criticises Tinubu’s First Year In Office

A former member of the House of Representatives and elder statesman, Dr. Usman Bugaje, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s government for failing to handle the nation’s critical challenges in an assessment of his first year in office. 

He stated this during an interview with Channels TV’s Politics Today on Wednesday, when asked about the government’s choice to commemorate Tinubu’s first year in office quietly, with no fanfare.

Bugaje said, “Well, as Citizens and as people who have been in government, clearly the last year has been a tragedy, simple. There is not one problem they have been able to solve, so I cannot see any other than low-key.”

Bugaje explained that the administration’s low-key approach reflected its acknowledgment of the public’s displeasure and indignation.

“I mean, I give them the sense that they are feeling the pressure, they can see the faces of Nigerians and so perhaps they trying to see how can they assuage this anger because the people are angry,” he said.

Expressing concern over the government’s inability to address the country’s challenges, Bugaje stated, “Since this Administration came one year ago, I’ve not seen one problem that they have solved. If anything, the policies they started with have created far more problems than they found, and in this one year, they are clearly groping in the dark without very clear [direction].”

Bugaje underlined the necessity for the administration to seek assistance from experienced persons, regardless of party background.

“This is the time really to admit and to then seek help from those who know, and Nigeria is full of people with the experience with the expertise, they may not be in your party, they may not even be in politics, but this is the way many countries have been able to get out of the problem they have found themselves,” he said.

“We as a nation should have by now developed metrics for evaluating governance. In the academic cycle, there are, and there are statistics. Every government should have come up with a baseline. After one year, they will be able to say scientifically this is the production in terms of Agriculture, what we found in 2023, and this last season we have improved by a number of metric tons. In the field of security, these are the figures we would have improved.”

“So my point is really what I’ve had so far are empty rhetorics that have not spoken to the problems on the ground,” Bugaje noted.