Bola Babarinde, a former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in South Africa, says President Bola Tinubu must be ready to step on toes in order to achieve the Renewed Hope agenda of his administration.
Babarinde, in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday, said hard decisions must be made to get Nigerians out of the current economic hardship.
“For the present government to succeed, President Bola Tinubu should be ready to steps on toes of enemies of the people to make Nigeria better and a proud country for all of us,” he said.
The APC chieftain also said that the president should be ready to fight corruption toward getting the country on the right path and be respected in the comity of nations.
According to him, any nation that treat corruption with kid gloves is on the way to obliteration and perdition.
“Corruption should be the aberration and should not be a case where the corrupt are the favoured while honest ones are the outcasts.
“A nation that treat corruption with kid gloves is on the way to obliteration,” Babarinde, a member of APC National Advisory Council, South Africa Chapter, said.
The diaspora leader noted that the present system of government in Nigeria is too expensive in relation to the level of poverty index.
According to him, it will be a miracle to actualise good governance with the way the country’s system is currently structured, which negates growth and development.
Babarinde said though this may not be the total fault of the elected officials, but rather the process that produced them, and the rigid parasitic system that made the rich to be more richer and the poor to be more poorer.
“The militarised American styled democracy that was forcefully adopted by Nigeria had not been fair to us, and will not be the best for Nigeria unless some drastic amendments are made to our constitution.
“The previous cosmetic constitution amendments are just mere polishing the surface; there is a need for complete constitutional and institutional reforms to be adapted to our realities.
“Our system of government should be home made with ideas from successful systems all over the world be it Western Democracies (America and UK), Asian system (mixed communism), Singapore, Russia and others.
“Combining and integrating these systems inline with our local culture and diversity should be able to give our people the best they deserve,” he said.
Babarinde also said that the bicameral legislative houses the country is operating was too expensive for the country to maintain and should be reviewed.
“Something drastic must be done to reduce our cost of governance to show the ordinary Nigerians that they are also important; people are not blind to what is happening to their resources.
“Basic things of life such as affordable quality food, accommodation, health-care services, water/sanitation and energies should be prioritised.
“This can only be achieved when the leaders consider the people’s well being as priority and practice meritocratic system, where the people are selected on merit,” the diaspora leader said.