...Defends Tinubu’s economic policy, slams past waste.
.. Warns reckless borrowing may sink economy
Former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has declared that Nigeria has for decades been burdened with “lousy leadership,” warning that the country risks deeper economic collapse if its leaders continue on the current path.
Speaking at the second edition of the Kano International Poetry Festival (KAPFEST) on Saturday, the outspoken monarch said Nigeria’s stagnation was tied directly to the quality of its leaders and their inability to rise above petty politics.
“You rise and fall with the quality of your leadership, and Nigeria has had lousy leadership for a long time,” Sanusi said. “You cannot give what you do not have. Until we begin to scrutinize the people we choose to lead us, we will keep lamenting.”
The former Central Bank governor criticised what he described as the obsession of Nigeria’s political class with ethnic and religious debates rather than issues shaping global development.
“In most parts of this country, you look at people who are leading you and you say, oh God, is this really the person? How did we end up here? You see it every day in the news, in the legislature—pettiness, wasted time, frivolous arguments. Meanwhile, other countries are discussing climate change, artificial intelligence and new technologies.
“We are still stuck on whether one is Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Christian or Muslim—conversations we should have outgrown since the 1960s,” he lamented.
Sanusi urged Nigerian youths to take ownership of the nation’s future, insisting that they have the power to “retire” the old political elite.
“With determination, the youths can take over this country. They have the numbers and the energy. They should stop watching from the sidelines,” he charged.
On the economy, Sanusi defended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, warning that the policy was long overdue. According to him, continuing the subsidy regime would have driven Nigeria into bankruptcy.
“If you look at the billions spent on subsidy, if that money had been invested in refineries, we would not be in this mess. My objection has always been subsidy on consumption.
“We were simply keeping European refineries open and creating jobs abroad. Government revenue was no longer enough to pay subsidy without borrowing. At some point, it would have completely collapsed the system,” he explained.
Sanusi further sounded the alarm over the country’s rising debt profile, cautioning that reckless borrowing and squandering of public funds could sink Nigeria’s economy in the near future.
Earlier, the Creative Director of the Poetic Wednesdays Initiative (PWI), Nasiba Babale, said the festival—with the theme “Poetry in a Time of Crisis”—was organised to encourage poets to use art as a tool for peace advocacy amid the insecurity plaguing Northern Nigeria.
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