President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not play shy of confronting corruption while government at all levels pay urgent attention to curbing rising food inflation in Nigeria.
These were highlights of the views expressed by former presidential aide, Laolu Akande, on Thursday on Channels TV's Sunrise Daily.
Akande called on President Tinubu and state governors to collaborate to curb food inflation, emphasizing its centrality to alleviate poverty in Nigeria.
Akande emphasized that food security is fundamental to reducing misery in the country, urging the federal and state governments to work together urgently.
"We need to pay the highest level of urgency and focus on how to make the prices of food come down. This is where I think the president collaborating with the governors is very critical," he added.
He noted that agriculture, a key driver of food production and affordability, is under the purview of state governments.
"Agriculture is entirely, totally in the hands of those governors," Akande said, urging them to take the lead in implementing policies and programs to boost agricultural productivity and reduce food costs.
Reflecting on President Tinubu's New Year message, Akande acknowledged a marginal decrease in fuel prices but stressed that food prices remain a key concern.
"They [the leaders] have to inspire hope. Whatever they say is quite important. It could be significant for how people think," Akande said. He underscored the importance of rhetoric in shaping public perception and motivating collective efforts, urging leaders to communicate effectively and show tangible progress.
"One thing that nobody can deny, which the president also mentioned in his New Year message, is the price of fuel has decreased, even if marginally. But if we are able to solve the problem, especially of food, misery is gone," he said.
Akande also said, "I think the president is shy to address the big elephant in the room in this country - corruption. The level of corruption in this country has become corrosive. The president is somewhat lackadaisical, he is being shy, saying you can use policies to fight it. To continue to ignore the grand corruption, the corrosive corruption is not going to work."
On the proposed youth confab, Akande said "if we're going to have the confab in the first quarter of the year, the federal government has to roll out its communication strategy on this confab to explain what is the agenda.
"It will seem that the idea of the youth confab followed after the ##EndBadGovernance protests of August last year. If that is what it is, then it has to address some fundamental societal issues around politics and governance."
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Speaking on the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, he said, "What the Minister of Power is not doing or what we don't see him doing is holding the people that we are told are sabotaging the efforts accountable. We haven't seen him hold them responsible. There are no consequences.
"We heard last week that the target of 6000MW wasn't reached because of sabotage. Too bad. But, what has happened to that?"
He urged the minister to hold the DisCos accountable in their own areas.
