Economic Hardship: Agbakoba Reveals Failures Of Tinubu’s Administration

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, has revealed the failures of the Bola Tinubu administration.

According to the senior lawyer, the Tinubu administration is not empathetic to Nigerians over the country’s current economic hardship.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) also said the government is not communicating hope to Nigerians or leading by example by cutting down on the cost of governance.

Speaking with TheCable on Wednesday, Agbakoba said there is growing tension across the country due to the economic meltdown and expressed fear about the future.

He said: “I agree with those saying the presidency is not leading by example by moderating their lifestyles and cutting down on the cost of governance. It is very clear. The empathy of the government is not apparent.

“There is something that former US President, Franklin Roosevelt, said in the Great Depression years of America in the 1930s. The thing to do about making people happy is not to give them a job, you first give them hope.

“So, the government ought to be communicating hope. They ought to be saying ‘we are going through this difficult period but there is light at the end of the tunnel’. This government is not communicating that at all, which I think is a big error.”

Agbakoba said that while Nigerians can manage in difficult times, the failure of the government to give them reassuring words is worsening the situation in the country.

He added: “Failing to communicate hope makes Nigerians depressed. It is not that Nigerians cannot live with high food prices. They will always find ways to manage difficult situations. Even IBB (Babangida) said he doesn’t know why Nigeria has not collapsed.

“The problem we have is that the government is not communicating hope. If you communicate hope and say to a person who has malaria that ‘don’t worry, in two weeks’ time you will be well’, that will lift the person’s spirits because he has that hope.”