The Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abiodun Ajiboye, has defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, saying the current government is confronting long-standing national challenges that previous administrations failed to address.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Ajiboye said Tinubu’s reforms are laying the foundation for long-term development by addressing decades of policy neglect and infrastructural deficits.
According to him, many of the infrastructure projects currently being executed by the administration were originally envisioned in development plans dating back to the 1960s and 1980s but were abandoned by successive governments.
“The situation of Nigeria is like a country that has existed since 1960 and had no direction. Some of the infrastructure President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is undertaking today were part of old development plans that previous governments never implemented,” he said.
Ajiboye argued that Nigeria’s current economic and social challenges are the result of years of poor planning and ineffective leadership since independence.
“The problems we are facing today have existed for decades. Leadership since 1960 failed to address the country’s fundamental issues and did not intentionally build a proper society,” he stated.
He maintained that the administration’s infrastructure drive, including projects stretching from Lagos to Calabar and from Badagry to Sokoto, would stimulate economic growth and create employment opportunities across the country.
Defending the APC’s record in government, Ajiboye said assessments of the party’s performance should take into account prevailing economic realities, including changes in currency valuation and government spending.
He also cited rising foreign reserves and increased budgetary allocations as evidence that the administration’s economic policies are making progress.
“The foreign reserve left by the Muhammadu Buhari administration was about $3.7 billion, but by 2026 it has risen to approximately $50.26 billion,” he said.
On government borrowing, Ajiboye argued that borrowing is a legitimate tool of governance, pointing to increased allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and funding for regional development commissions as indicators of improved fiscal capacity.
Addressing the security situation, the APC chieftain linked the surge in insurgency to instability in neighbouring countries following the withdrawal of French military forces from parts of West Africa.
He noted that terrorist groups such as ISIS and ISWAP had exploited the security vacuum created in the region.
Ajiboye, however, maintained that Nigeria’s security agencies are actively responding to threats and stressed the need for international cooperation to tackle the growing insurgency.
“The military continues to confront these threats, but the scale of insurgency has become massive and requires both local efforts and international support,” he said.