The Chairman of Media Trust Group, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, in his welcome address, said now is the time to interrogate and influence President Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda.
He said Nigerian leaders were not doing much to actualise the hope they promised the citizens.
Yusuf said over the years, promises by politicians to address the country’s socio-economic challenges were getting more creative; while things had, in reality, remained the same.
“When old hope dies, a new one is created to replace it. Welcome to the era of Renewed Hope Agenda,” he said.
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Yusuf raised a question on the “desire and discipline” of Tinubu’s Presidency to deliver on the difficult economic reforms he had embarked on.
“The president has a possible eight years in office. This is the time to interrogate and influence his agenda,” he said.
Yusuf said former President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic team “Left things worse than they met them.”
He said the team, at the beginning, gave an impression of taking Nigerians to the “promised land”, but the economy became more vulnerable than resilient.
Yusuf said it “Seems like yesterday, but in January 2017, early in the days of the Buhari government, the topic of our dialogue was ‘Beyond Recession: Towards a Resilient Economy.’
“Kemi Adeosun, the then Minister of Finance, was there; so was Godwin Emefiele, then governor of the Central Bank.
“Some of us left that meeting feeling, here at last are the people that will take us to the promised land.
“Mrs Adeosun spoke in crisp, Queen’s English, though one wondered if such a youngish, former finance commissioner of a state could handle Nigeria’s complex fiscal federalism.
“Godwin Emefiele, who continued as Central Bank governor under Buhari, seemed to master the numbers, though at that time, he was not accused of cooking them.
“Sadly, the economy has become more vulnerable than resilient. The Buhari team, by most economic measures, left things worse than they met them.
“They have their excuses, and are actively trying to whitewash this record. But as the Nigerian economy goes into a tailspin, its managers, in the last decade, cannot account for their mandate in one or two book launches.”
Yusuf called on world leaders to do everything possible to end the war in Gaza.
He noted that so far, 83 media workers had been killed in Gaza.
He commended South Africa for the “brave stand” it took to ensure that the war was brought to an end.
“The war in Gaza should be stopped. Majority of Nigerians want the carnage to stop. Nigeria missed an opportunity to communicate this to the US secretary of state who visited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday.
“The two-state solution is important but it has been on the table for more than 30 years. It’s not something new. I think what is urgent is to stop the war in Gaza. I am afraid that we may have lost this opportunity to tell Mr Antony J. Blinken
“On this call, I will like to congratulate South Africa whose ambassador is here for the brave stand they have taken in this direction. I think our government should join them and other African states,” Yusuf said.
