As President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government marks its two years in office in the next few days, Senators from the opposition and the ruling parties have expressed divergent opinions over on the performance of the administration so far.
While some outrightly concluded that President Tinubu’s administration has only aggravated the sufferings of Nigerians in the last two years, others gave him a pat on the back for what they considered as his impressive and impactful governance within the period under review.
In an interview with Saturday Telegraph in Abuja, Senator Mustapha Khabeeb, representing Jigawa South-west on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lamented that nothing good had happened to Nigerians in the last two years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governance in the country.
He accused President Tinubu of imposing instantaneous hardship on the citizenry while he was still on the podium on the day of his inauguration as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The politician also accused those who defected from opposition parties to the ruling party of living in hypocrisy, noting however, that their defections would not guarantee their victory during future elections in the country.
His words: “Well, I will give you my own perspective. The day Tinubu was sworn in, he didn’t come down from the podium and he imposed hardship on us, Nigerians. He devalued the Naira and he increased the cost of petrol. And that one is still facing Nigerians. Life is becoming more difficult by the day. He has not made life better for the ordinary Nigerian.
“In the area of insecurity, Boko Haram is coming back, banditry is spreading; it was centred in some areas before Tinubu came to power, but now it is spreading all over the country. It was in the North-west, it was in the North-east, but now it is spreading to the North-central. So, what is the big deal there. It is spreading and it will soon go to the South.
“Yes, as you observed, members of my Party are defecting in their numbers to the APC. But I know that they are doing it against their will. So, I call what they are doing sycophancy. They are those who do not believe in themselves and those who need protection.
“I don’t know what the mass defections portend for Nigeria. But your guess is as good as mine. But let me tell you one thing, big men moving together into one political party doesn’t mean that they will win election.”
However, giving a briefing assessment of President Tinubu’s two years in office, Senator Emmanuel Udende, representing Benue North East Senatorial District on the platform of the APC, commended the President, saying that he has done well in the last two years he steered the ship of the country.
He said: “I will say that he has done very well. He took over very dilapidating state that was almost comatose by the time he came. He had the courage to remove fuel subsidy. Though we have suffered untold hardship, it was courageous enough for him. He saved Nigeria from collapsing. Inflation skyrocketed, and you can notice that it is now coming down. Even prices of foodstuffs have come down drastically. He has done well in that area too.
“In the area of insecurity, he also has done well. It was very terrible. You could hear in the past, of bombing in Abuja. In economy generally, I think he is not doing terribly bad. I will give him pass mark. I still believe that in the next two years, he will double his efforts in terms of economic and security challenges we are having.
“Yes, insecurity has escalated in the North Central and other areas as you rightly pointed out, but he has also made so much efforts. You see, insecurity is not a one man show, though he is the Commander-in-Chief, all of us are to put our hands on deck. In my state, we have suffered so much insecurity, but through his efforts the situation is calming down, and if he doubles his effort, we will overcome the challenge”.
Senator (Prof) Anthony Ani, representing Ebonyi South and a chieftain of the APC, also praised two years of Tinubu’s governance, saying that he has done very well, judging from the situation the present administration met on ground.
“My brief assessment is that he has done very well beyond the imagination and expectations of people. In all sectors of Nigerian existence: education, health, infrastructure, power; he has done wonderfully well compared to the past administrations, given the shortness of time he has been in that seat as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“On security, the problem there is that he has a lot of saboteurs. Many people are sabotaging his administration. And they have been doing this through security, trying to undermine his governance. But in all, he has done his bit because if not because of his tact and resilience towards the security issue, the situation would have been worse. So, I give it to him that he is doing well.”
Another PDP stalwart and Senator representing Niger South Senatorial District, Peter Jiya, gave President Tinubu a pass mark, saying that he had taken some bold and courageous decisions in terms of policy making and implementation.
“Well, Rome was never built in a day, and so is every society. When we came into office, things were not in the best shape. And from day one, he attacked the two vital issues that had plagued the nation: the dual exchange rate question and the fuel subsidy. And that has allowed for some funds revenue to the government coffers and therefore, making the distributions to the three tiers of government.
“At the national level, things are picking up gradually, although the people are feeling the pinch. And having regard to the kind of population we have, it will not be easy for things to go round everybody at the same time. But there is a marked difference between this administration and the last administration in terms of policy formulation and policy execution. I am not saying there are no lapses, but this is an improvement upon what we had in the previous eight years.
“The security situation in the country, certainly is not the best but this has persisted over the years. Again, the security architecture of the country needs to sit up, because it is not the function of the President. The President’s function is to provide funds and leadership.
“And I think, reasonably, much has been given to the defense sector, especially in 2025 budget, security is number one that has the highest share of the votes of the Federal Government. So, the challenge is more on the security Chiefs to put their heads together and see how they can resolve this”, Jiya stated.
