It was surprising, as the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, called for the immediate devolution of power, as an only option to take the nation out of the ramshackle economy.
Tinubu, who was ably represented by Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, on Tuesday, at the 91st Anniversary of the oldest Newspaper in Nigeria, the Daily Times, presented a Lecture titled: “Daily Times at 91, Building the Future by Respecting the Past.”
In the Lecture, Tinubu said except the country redefines its future in the face of the dwindling economy; slump in oil prices, which had exposed the ‘weakness of our economy for even the blind to see’, may threaten its corporate existence.
Tinubu said it was time the nation’s leaders rose to the challenge, with a view to rescuing Nigeria from the economic woods.
“Nigeria is at a juncture where it must redefine itself, or forever forfeit the right of way to a better future.
“The primary challenge of our time, is our political economy. The slump in oil prices exposed the weakness of our economy for even the blind to see. The truth be told, we always knew this weakness existed.
“Yet we did nothing to cure it, when fixing the gap would have been less painful and less urgent. Through indifference, selfishness, or ignorance, we failed to forge a consensus on how to resolve the collective problem. This failure speaks to a problem of our politics, because the decision on how to structure the economy, is essentially political in nature.
“For all the energy invested in politics, the output has been minimal. In short, our politics has been directed at the wrong things. Because of this, Nigeria has for too long traveled a self-defeating economic road.”
Recall, that Tinubu is making this call for devolution of power, at a time when there is a clarion call for President Muhammadu Buhari to resign, based on health grounds.
