ACF asks Tinubu to set timelines for easing hardship

The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has asked President Bola Tinubu’s administration to set clear timelines for easing the hardship facing Nigerians and acknowledge shortcomings in its assessment of the impact of its economic reforms.

The forum’s Publicity Secretary, Tukur Mohammed-Baba, made the call during an interview with ARISE News on Thursday.

He said the government should admit that its policies had not produced the intended outcomes and explain how it planned to address their consequences.

“What do I want to see from the administration? An open admission that things are not going the way they were intended, or rather, they did not do their work very well on impact analysis,” he said.

Mohammed-Baba criticised the government’s repeated justification of the reforms, saying its assurances that the hardship would eventually ease had done little to address the suffering of Nigerians.

“All this attempt to justify reforms, ‘we will see the pains,’ ‘we are now feeling the pains,’ ‘the sunshine will come after the rains,’ you know, these are all hallucinations,” he said.

He said the impact of the reforms was evident in the declining purchasing power of the naira, rising living costs and deteriorating living conditions across the country.

“Look at the purchasing power of the Naira, look at the living conditions of Nigerians, look at rent, look at housing materials, look at transportation, look at electricity costs, see the condition of the roads in Nigeria, and above all, see the level of insecurity that has been pervading this country,” he said.

The ACF spokesman also questioned whether the administration had conducted adequate due diligence before implementing its economic policies, particularly regarding their implications for citizens already struggling with difficult living conditions.

“Look, there is what we call due diligence. Has this regime done any due diligence on the conditions of Nigerians, especially with regards to these economic conditions? Secondly, have they done any due diligence regarding the existential conditions of people, and so on?” he asked.

He urged the government to move beyond appeals for patience and provide specific, measurable targets that Nigerians could use to assess its performance.

“When you say ‘more time,’ just how much more time do you need?” he asked.

Mohammed-Baba said the administration should outline what it intended to achieve within specific periods, including the first, second and third years of its tenure.

“So we begin with the politicians, tell us how much time will you need, give us timelines of achievement: ‘By one year, we hope to do this. By second year, we hope to do this. By third year,’ and so on and so forth,” he said.

He added that three months should be sufficient for the government to introduce measures capable of providing some relief to struggling Nigerians.

“Three months is enough time, I think, to put in place certain measures that will ameliorate the sufferings of people,” he said.

The ACF spokesman further urged the administration to communicate honestly with Nigerians about the challenges facing the country and demonstrate a genuine commitment to addressing them.

“The administration should be open and direct with the people.

“It should state clearly that it recognises the point, will show, will do something about it, and show from the point of view of their own living standards that they are willing to do something about it,” he said.

He also criticised what he described as a disparity between the sacrifices demanded of ordinary Nigerians and the willingness of government officials to make similar sacrifices.