Tinubu’s First Interview: 11 questions that should have been asked

President Bola Tinubu granted his first media interview on Monday since assuming office in May 2023.

While he addressed some pressing issues, his responses left many gaps, and several critical questions Nigerians are eager to have answered were notably absent.

In the interview, Mr. Tinubu touched on governance, security, and the economy:

• He insisted he would not reduce his cabinet size, while at the same time pledging to cut the cost of governance.
• He expressed satisfaction with the state of security and ruled out probing defence spending.
• On the economic hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidies, he defended the policy without regret, appealing for Nigerians’ understanding.
• Regarding the stampede that left 67 dead last week during a scramble for free Christmas food, he deflected blame, attributing the tragedy to poor crowd control rather than widespread hunger.
• On tax reforms, he vowed to press ahead but suggested his administration might negotiate and offer concessions.

The president did not give clear commitments on tackling corruption. He vaguely linked raising the minimum wage from ₦30,000 to ₦70,000 and removing the fuel subsidy to anti-corruption efforts, declaring, “To me, that is anti-corruption.”

The interview, conducted by Reuben Abati (Arise TV), Esther Ogun-Yusuf (Channels TV), Azubuike Ishiekwene (Leadership), Ruth Olorounbi (Bloomberg), Omar Farouk (VOA), Babajide Otitoju (TVC), and Nnamdi Odikpo (NTA), lacked specifics on crucial topics like inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, and practical steps to improve agriculture. Follow-up questions and fact-checking were notably sparse.

Here are 11 questions Nigerians believe should have been asked. Hopefully, the president will get to see and answer these questions in future:

1. Your government has been slow in dealing with the economic hardship. In July, more than a year since removal of subsidy, the government pledged to import food and set aside tariffs and tax on food to tackle runaway food inflation and hunger. That programme was not implemented. Why did the government fail on this after giving Nigerians hope?
2. You have urged Nigerians to show understanding and be patient, but you and other top officials of government haven’t shown the same patience with your spending. The president bought a new aircraft, and the vice president got a new mansion, both costing several billions of naira. Isn’t that wrong?
3. The argument has gone beyond whether fuel and electricity subsidies should have been removed. The question now is why has there been no tangible mitigation effort by the government to help over 100 million people who are clearly hit so hard by these policies and are unable to even feed?
4. The National Bureau of Statistics said in a November report that 66% of Nigerians are unable to feed properly. The government cannot claim economic success when majority of your citizens can’t even buy food. Can it?
5. The statistics office also said in a different report this month that over 600,000 were killed in the country in the last one year. That’s a really scary figure at peace time? What’s your response to this report?
6. Mr President, there has been increased reports of police abuse and attacks on citizens, journalists and people with opposing views in the last one year. What are you doing to deal with this?
7. An example of what appears to be increased violation of rights was the killing of protesters in August, and subsequent incarceration of minors who took part in the demonstrations, on allegation of treason. Has anyone been held to account for these violations? If none, why?
8. Your pledge to cut cost of governance to enable resources go to people more, isn’t showing much in spending. We have a record budget this year: N47.9 trillion. One would think at a time of growing poverty, greater attention would go to dealing with that. Yet, only 1.13% of the budget goes to social development and poverty reduction programmes. That’s N539 billion for the entire country. National Assembly alone is getting N345 billion. Would you consider adjusting some allocations?
9. The election that brought you in was deeply controversial and divisive. Are you committing to electoral reforms? What areas do you want to see improvements?
10. Looking back after nearly two years on the job, what areas would you say you need to do better in the remaining two years of your first term?
11. This is your first media interview in 18 months. Why take so long to speak to the people you lead?