Tinubu’s New Year address worsens national woes, says Babalola

Former governorship aspirant in Kwara State, Sunday Babalola, has said President Bola Tinubu’s New Year address is worsening the problems the country is facing, including insecurity, depreciating naira and other sectors of the economy.

He urged the Federal Government to address worsening poverty and food insecurity, pleading with the President to ensure that strategies are activated and executed to address unemployment, depreciation of the naira, high inflation, insecurity of life and property, and other national malaise.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, yesterday, he advised the President to ignore sycophants, who would want to deceive him with concocted sweet reports that do not reflect the present realities.

According to him, the sycophants would present such reports to curry favour from him and make him think that all is well with Nigerians, even when many Nigerians are wallowing in excruciating poverty and heightened insecurity.

The former Deputy Director of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) urged the President to create a friendly environment for businesses to thrive.

He said: “My candid advice to the President is as follows: he should not listen to sycophants that are surrounding him, who will be telling him that all is well with Nigerians, those who want him to think that he is on top of everything. He should not listen to them.

“Second, he should do an independent search, or questioning, of the people that are sincere. It is not what people tell him alone; he, as the President, must have a way of getting in touch with the masses. Definitely, he was Lagos State Governor and leader of All Progressives Congress (APC). He was also the person who coordinated Southwest for victory. All those we give to him. But he should use the same method to reach out to people, who will tell him the truth.”

Babalola also urged Tinubuto find a way of reaching out to the peoplesuffering directly, to know exactly what is happening in town.