Nigeria Now Worse Than Buhari Left It in 2023, Says Baba-Ahmed

Former Special Adviser on Political Matters in the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has alleged that the Nigerian economy is worse under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu than during his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.
He made the claim during a live television programme, on Friday, where he spoke concerning his open letter to President Tinubu in which he asked him not to contest in 2027, why he stepped down from the administration, and the political defections rocking the country.
Baba-Ahmed served for 17 months before resigning.
Tinubu’s assumption of office on May 29, 2023, has seen bold economic reforms such as the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira.
At that time, Nigeria’s inflation rate stood at 22.41 per cent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). However, inflation surged to an alarming 34.6 per cent by November 2024, a rise many economists attributed to the president’s removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of the country’s foreign exchange rates.
 “It is worse than Buhari left it,” Baba-Ahmed said while commenting on the state of the economy.
On recent economic growth rate statistics by top world organisations, he said, “This is the thing with the statistics that the administration keeps reeling out. And you really wonder where they get the statistics from. You go to villages, go to Katsina, go to Zamfara, go to Niger State, go to Plateau, go to Benue, virtually, in fact literally, go to every part of Nigeria.
“More blood is shed now than it was maybe two years ago. And yet you see this kind of statistics that say there are fewer killings, there is less violence. You have to ask, do our leaders know how our people live? Who is telling them all this? How do these statistics get acquired? Because if you want to measure how people live, you do not do that by just some statistics that someone gives you. Do the president’s people tell him the state of the country? Does he know? Does he know the level of poverty? Does he know how many families, entire families, live in that village?”
Baba-Ahmed said he had hoped President Tinubu’s administration would bring economic development, given his role as former Lagos State governor who had also tasted poverty.
 “I saw a president who was stubborn, almost visionary, but he ran Lagos for eight years. Whether he ran it well or not, I do not know. But he ran Lagos well. He resisted former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s overbearing and strong determination to get rid of him. Beyond that, I saw him as a calculating politician. He gave his platform to Atiku. He gave his platform to Nuhu Ribadu. He participated actively. Then he agreed with Buhari and created a platform that allowed Buhari to become president. Because for 2003, 2007, 2011, Buhari was running, he did not get anywhere.”
He said Tinubu had played a major role in the election of former president Buhari.
“To be honest with you, I think that coalition, CPC-APC-AC, was decisive in terms of giving President Buhari victory. And as I said, I was part of the campaign. I had a front-line seat; so, I know what I am talking about. And Tinubu’s contribution to Buhari’s emergence was genuinely a deciding factor. So, in many ways, you have to give him credit for being a calculating president. I do not know what has happened since 2015, but I do not see the fire. I do not see that calculation. I did not see much of him, to be fair to him.”