Tinubu's Renewed Hope promise has turned to hopelessness - NEF member

Prof Usman Yusuf, a member of the Northern Elder Forum (NEF), has made a scathing remark about President Bola Tinubu's administration, saying the current government has brought hopelessness to the country contrary to its Renewed Hope mantra.

Yusuf, a political commentator and former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), said this while evaluating Tinubu's performance since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.

During the campaigns, the former Lagos State Governor adopted the 'Renewed Hope' phrase as his slogan and has continued to parrot the mantra to assuage dejected Nigerians amid the prevalent economic hardship.

“People have lost hope. It pains me to see our people lining up to collect cups of palliatives. Renewed Hope has turned into hopelessness. People have lost hope,” Yusuf said on Channels Television's Sunday Politics programme on May 19, 2024.

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Tinubu's painful reforms

Tinubu introduced some radical reforms including the petrol subsidy removal and the unification of the foreign exchange market. However, critics have questioned the timing of these decisions, which have contributed to surging inflation and ballooning the cost of living.

As the effects of the reforms continue to put pressure on the masses, the government continued to assure Nigerians that the pain of the moment will be temporary

But, Yusuf claimed, “the last one year has been a year of nothing but deception, destitution and hopelessness”.

“From next week, they will start telling us their propaganda.

“What have they done to benefit the ordinary people? In a span of one year, they have brought millions of people back into multidimensional poverty, they have pushed millions more children out of school because their parents cannot pay their school fees,” the NEF member added.