That is the worry. Not the past—but the present trajectory.

By: Babafemi Ojudu

No serious or fair-minded Nigerian expects President Bola Tinubu to reverse 57 years of misrule in three years. That would be an unreasonable demand, and most critics are not making it. Nations do not heal overnight from decades of structural decay, military distortion, and elite capture.

However, there is a crucial distinction that must not be blurred: the difference between inherited problems and policies that deepen them.

While it is true that Nigeria’s crisis predates this administration, it is equally true that an incumbent government must be judged not only by what it inherited, but by whether its choices ease the burden on citizens or compound their suffering. When policies, however well-intentioned, translate into harsher living conditions, shrinking livelihoods, and rising despair, public anxiety becomes not only understandable but necessary.

No one asked for magic. What Nigerians asked for was direction, sequencing, empathy, and a sense that sacrifice is shared and purposeful. Reforms that are theoretically sound but practically punishing, poorly paced, or inadequately cushioned will naturally provoke resistance—especially in a society already stretched to its limits.

History explains our predicament, yes. But history cannot be used as a shield against present accountability. Each government inherits problems; what defines leadership is whether it stabilizes the ship or rocks it further while insisting the storm is old.

To say that Tinubu did not create Nigeria’s problems is correct. To suggest that his government bears no responsibility when conditions worsen is not.

The argument, therefore, is not about blame—it is about consequence. Nigerians are not impatient idealists demanding instant transformation. They are citizens reacting to lived realities. When hunger deepens, insecurity spreads, and hope thins, explanations—no matter how historically accurate—cannot substitute for relief.

Time may indeed put every character in their proper place, as it always does. But governments are not judged by history alone; they are judged daily by the condition of the people they govern.