Former Governor of Oyo State and Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Senator Rasheed Ladoja, has expressed firm confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s capacity to steer Nigeria through its current challenges, arguing that while the country is far more complex than Lagos State, the President has a clear grasp of what needs to be done.
Oba Ladoja spoke on Friday after paying a courtesy visit to President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he said the primary purpose of the meeting was to appreciate the President for attending his coronation in September last year.
According to the revered monarch, the visit also provided an opportunity to convey the general satisfaction of his people with the direction of governance at the national level.
“I have been trying to come since September 26 to thank him for finding time to attend my coronation. I was in Abuja for the Daily Trust Dialogue, so I took advantage of the opportunity to see him, thank him and also let him know that we are happy with what is happening in the country,” Ladoja said.
Offering his assessment of President Tinubu’s leadership style, the former governor noted that the President’s years as governor of Lagos State had shaped his approach to governance and problem-solving.
“If you know where he is coming from, you will understand that he knows what he is doing. He was able to guide Lagos from where it was to where he left it,” he said.
However, Ladoja was quick to point out that governing Nigeria presents a different order of difficulty, given its size, diversity and competing interests.
“Nigeria is more complex than a state. Not all of us have the same idea of what we want as a country,” he observed.
The Olubadan also remarked that states now enjoy greater financial capacity than during his tenure as governor, a development he attributed to ongoing reforms at the federal level. He expressed optimism that the President’s economic policies, though demanding, would deliver sustainable benefits over time.
“By and large, the economy has to be fixed, and it is being fixed. We hope that by the time he is leaving office in 2031, Nigeria will be in a position that all of us will be proud of,” he said.
On expectations from the Tinubu administration, Ladoja urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts in key areas such as food security, healthcare delivery and national security, which he described as the most urgent challenge confronting the country.
“We expect the government to do more on food and health. We need standard hospitals where our people can be properly treated. But the major problem we have now is insecurity,” he said.
He lamented that insecurity had disrupted farming and economic activities, with farmers increasingly afraid to access their farmlands, warning that the situation was no longer confined to any one region.
“Farmers find it difficult to go to their farms, and it is already spreading to the South,” he noted.
Despite the concerns, the Olubadan maintained a cautiously optimistic outlook, insisting that the security challenge was not beyond resolution.
“I don’t think it is insurmountable. By and large, we believe that the President is tackling it the right way now,” Ladoja said.
