Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu addressed major African issues while calling for equal partnerships with the global West, but Nigerian analysts say he must first show strong leadership back home.
Mr Tinubu spoke during the General Assembly world leaders’ speeches on 19 September. He took office on 29 May immediately announcing he was dropping petrol subsidy as one of his first acts. The move doubled transportation costs across the country of 213 million people in less than 24 hours. Many Nigerians had to abandon their cars as the cost of petrol rose by about 200 per cent. This has further worsened inflation with food prices skyrocketing in a country where about half of citizens are poor. Nigerians accused the president of triggering a panic that could have been avoided on his first day in office.
At the General Assembly, Mr Tinubu, nevertheless, gave a strong speech focusing on many of the problems that Africa faces and the fact that the West is not ready to deal with Africa on equal terms, said Kelechukwu Ogu, a Nigerian energy analyst who is currently based in Berkeley, California. “But back home in Nigeria, there are a lot of things wrong with Tinubu’s signalling,” he said.
