Against the current of widely held public perception by the general populace, a University Don, Prof. Oladele shocked participants at the popular monthly interview discourse, BOILING POINT ARENA, on Sunday when he declared that “even angels from heaven would not have governed Nigeria better than President Bola Tinubu” over the past 14 months in office.
Prof. Talabi spoke as Guest Speaker and Discussant paired with popular civil rights activist and lawyer, Comrade Dele Farotimi who could not eventually participate in the discourse for reason of network hitches.
The topic of discourse was “The National Protests: Gain or Loss? The Threats to Democractic Cohesion and Remedies”
The current affairs programme which held via Zoom and broadcast live on a radio station, Sweet 107.1FM, was hosted by a media professional, Dr Ayo Arowojolu.
Foremost traditional ruler, the Gbegande of Ososa-Ijebu, Oba Dr Adetoye Alatishe was the Keynote Speaker, holding brief for the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Prof Saka Matemilola who is Chairman, Boiling Point Council of Royals and Elders.
Prof Talabi, a professor of veterinary medicine at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) was asked whether or not he believed there was bad governance in Nigeria to have warranted any protest.
Here was his drift: “When you talk about bad governance, it is a relative term. It depends on the point of view you are looking at. If you look at the advent of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria, we have had 16 years of Peoples Democratic Party and now we have just had nine years of APC. So when you talk about bad governance, like I said earlier, it depends from the side of the divide you are speaking from.
“The reality is that every nation will always have the type of leaders that they deserve. As far as I am concerned, Tinubu has not done badly in that Office as President. Nigeria is a difficult country to govern. Even if an Angel drops from heaven, that Angel would not have ruled Nigeria better than Tinubu is doing.
“We keep forgetting that the rain has been beating us dating back to some decades. The policemen in Nigeria didn’t drop from heaven. They were selected from amongst Nigerians. The politicians in Nigeria didn’t drop from heaven. They were selected amongst the populace. When you have a people who believes that if you construct roads is not as important as stomach infrastructure.
“Our issue in Nigeria have to do with our growing population which was just around 44.9million at nationhood in1960. Our population grew to 64.7
million around 1976 and by 1990, we were already 95.2 million. And by this year, 2024, we are 223 million Nigerians.
“And that is the fundamental problem that we have in Nigeria. As long as we are unable to address that, we will continue to have issues.
A lot many of our farm farm settlements have become housing estates. With our increasing human population, there should have been a commensurate increase in the farmlands.The problem causing hunger in is due to the fact that as the Nigerian population is increasing, the farm size is shrinking”
Prof Talabi submitted that the problems of Nigeria were legion saying that the blames for the nation’s economic adversities should not be heaped squarely on President Tinubu whom he said is steadily on course in the task of revamping the country.
Curiously, Prof Talabi’s viewpoint was heavily criticized during the interaction session as virtually all participants who spoke took on President Tinubu for spearheading an Administration laden with the highest level of Profligacy, culture of wastages, huge cost of governance and bloated cabinet size.
