A human rights activist, Barrister Emmanuel Umohinyang, has said President Bola Tinubu deserves some credit for economic reforms carried out so far to revamp the nation’s economy.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos, he said most of the country’s challenges are problems inherited from the previous administration.
He appealed to Nigerians to instead commend the president for the economic initiatives he has taken so far, particularly on the move to reform the tax policy, fixing the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries that were formerly comatose.
Umohinyang noted that the president’s decision to remove the petroleum subsidy was in the interest of Nigerians, adding that Nigerians have many things to benefit from in the future from the removal of the fuel subsidy. That part of the benefit is making more revenue available to state governors so that they can execute more projects.
“What we have seen is that they do not want to give Bola Tinubu credit for the good things that are happening in Nigeria, but they want to blame him for every bad thing that happened, even if those things do not occur under his administration, and this is where the problem is.
“We must be able to commend an administration that has done well and criticise the one that has not done well. The purpose of criticism is not to run a government down.” He said.
Umohinyang appealed to Nigerians to refrain from criticising a government in power because the person in office was not their preferred candidate.
“I see it that we must begin to move away from that attitude where any government in power we don’t like, they want to bring it down.”
He maintained that criticising an administration is not bad, but such criticism should not centre on bringing the government in power down but on suggesting solutions to a problem.
“When you criticise, you suggest a solution; it is not to be one-sided, and you were not suggesting what he would have done better; that is why the opposition party is referred to as an alternative government because whenever an administration is not doing well, they criticise and offer solutions.”
Umohinyang stressed that every Nigerian should be concerned about joining hands with the Tinubu administration to build a strong future for the country.
