International Director of Studies for the European Centre of Advanced and Professional Studies, Professor Anthony Kila, has said that the Tinubu Administration needs to work faster and smarter to improve the condition of Nigerians, because as it stands, Nigerians are yet to see the result of this administration’s labour.
The professor said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday where he discussed the first year of the Tinubu administration, where he also said that it was “shallow” for senate President Godswill Akpabio to say that Nigeria reverting to the old National Anthem was an achievement and a step in the right direction.
Kila, while he was analysing Tinubu’s first year in office, “The expectations for those who supported was very high, and I think the reality is matching it. Those in government say this is a time to sow the seed, and hopefully, we shall soon get the fruit. But I think, honestly speaking and speaking for most Nigerians because this is what we’re here to do, we should notice that at the moment, the situation in the country is like when you’re hungry at home or at a restaurant and people tell you, we’re working hard in the kitchen to get the food ready, but you are hungry and the food is not there yet.
“I think the message to the president and the presidency is that the fruits of their labour are not showing yet, and perhaps they need to find a way to work faster and smarter to make sure we get the benefit of that fruit. Because at the moment, what people remember this administration in the past one year is -subsidy is gone, and the price of fuel went up, the price of food and other items went up, and the tariff of energy has gone up as well. I think at some point, the government is hoping that all these things will lead to somewhere better. So far, we’re not somewhere better yet.”
Kila then said that the change of the National anthem came as a surprise, reiterating that no one saw it coming. He said that the Senate’s choice to change the National Anthem is an “index of the disconnect between Nigerians, because at the moment, on the streets of Nigeria, when you say Nigeria we hail thee, it’s a joke. You say it when things are tough or when the Nigerian system has done something wrong to you. But you know, those are things of aesthetics and sentiments. I am not one that is very moved by these symbolic things. I see the importance of them as a student of aesthetics. I can see.”
He said, “I think Nigerians at the moment are more interested in their jobs, the price of food, and other things that will affect them.”
“I do not think the President has done us very well by his own gift for these 25 years of democracy being this (changing the National Anthem) because there are some contradictions in it. We’ve abandoned an anthem written by Nigerians for an anthem written by foreigners,” he added.
The professor then addressed Akpabio’s statement that the changing of the National Anthem was a huge achievement as he said, “The statement of the Senate President says more about him than the rest of us, that we have to be very careful of how we speak with people in institutions. By defining that as a very important achievement or step is a shallow statement to make. And it does not show connection with reality. So, I suspect the Senate President is living in a world that is very disconnected with the world in which millions of Nigerians are living.
“We need to guide our utterances, and I think, of all people, the Senate President is somebody that needs to be taken to a classroom to be shown what he needs to say and not to say anymore. He has this habit of saying the rather wrong thing, and it’s unfortunate because he seems a jolly good fellow- maybe he’s too much of a jolly good fellow for that position, he needs to sharpen himself.”
Kila then said, “The swiftness with which it was adopted and executed is a new standard that we need to aspire to for when we need to deal with pressing issues in the country, I think we need to look at it that way. I mean, it’s difficult to understand the reason that led to that change.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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