Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu
Jan, 26, 2024
Malam Garba Shehu, former Media Aide to former President Mohammadu Buhari has called on Nigerians to lower their expectations on political leaders in the country.
Shehu made the called in his remark at the 21st Daily Trust Annual Dialogue organised by Trust Media Group on Thursday in Abuja.
He said his principal no doubt had some challenges in ruling the country which to him is normal, adding that there no nation or.leader that never had challenges.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is a victim of crisis of expectations; and I think that the lesson for Nigerians from what I saw during the Buhari period and even Tinubu is, Nigerians should begin to lower their expectations on political leaders.
“This is because, these expectations are simply inhuman. Leaders can do a lot of things, but no leader can do everything.
“During the time of Buhari, travellers to the Eastern Region used to spend about three days on the road, but after massive investment on infrastructure by Buhari, the travel time have reduced to about six hours.
“The government then also banned the importation of rice; after that, our farmers became so productive that production of rice skyrocketed and we were even feeding the whole of West Africa,” Shehu said.
According to him, Nigerians are still feeding well today.
He said if one doesn’t know where he or she is coming from, one would not know where he or she is going to.
The annual Daily Trust Dialogue is part of the Media Trust Group’s contributions to stimulating discussions by Nigerians and fellow Africans towards enhancing national, and indeed, African integration and cohesion, which are crucial for sustainable socio-political growth and economic development of Nigeria, and the African Continent at large.
Since 2002, Media Trust has hosted the annual public lecture series to discuss topical issues on various aspects of governance.
The series of dialogues had been attended by past Heads of Government, the leadership of the National Assembly as well as captains of commerce and industry, aside from members of the diplomatic corps.
They include the late former President of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings; and Salim Salim, former Prime Minister of Tanzania.
Others are the late Winnie Mandela of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle; Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; and Samia Nkrumah, daughter of late Kwame Nkrumah.
Several serving and past presidents of the Nigerian Senate and speakers of the House of Representatives, governors and deputy governors, also participated in the event over the years. (NAN)
