Foremost journalist and political analyst, Mr Dare Babarinsa has said expectations of Nigerians from the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not be met without pains.
Babarinsa, a newspaper columnist and one of the founders of TELL Magazine, spoke on Tuesday morning, as a guest on a Lagos Television (LTV) program, to discuss the MOOD OF THE NATION.
Asked by the presenter to put a timeline on when the campaign promises of the present administration may start to yield dividends, he said “it is not going to be an easy thing, but there are many things Nigerians are expecting and they have the right to expect, but it is not going to happen quietly and without pain.”
He added that “Firstly we must know that we must move from where we are to somewhere else and movement is an inconvenience.”
Babarinsa stressed that “For example we know the country has an infrastructural deficit and infrastructures must be built. If you’re going to rebuild infrastructure, you have to break down old structures and if there is most likely no money you have to borrow. All those things won’t be easy.”
Speaking on the cost of governance, he said “In the past when Nigeria had only 3 regions, there were 16 ministers. Then when the military came it went from 4 regions to 12 (states), to 36 and the constitution says that every state must be represented in the Federal Executive Council. And following tradition, every geopolitical zone must again be represented. So the president must follow the constitution and within the constitution he must also look for those he can work with. So with that, we have the cabinet, the Special Advisers who are closer to the President and then others.”
He pointed out however that “Since 1999, in fairness to those who have been running the government since then, privatization has reduced the tentacle of the government. In the past The Federal government used to be in charge of telecommunications so privatization has really helped.”
As part of the measures to reduce the cost of governance, Babarinsa said “we need transparency on the part of the government, we really need to know how much they are using to service the National Assembly. We need to know the cost of maintaining a Minister. In the past these things used to be known, but now it isn’t.”