Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has criticized Nigeria’s political leadership, describing it as “lousy” and lacking the competence needed to drive national transformation.
Speaking on Saturday at the second edition of the Kano International Poetry Festival, organised by Poetic Wednesdays, the monarch said Nigeria’s progress has been hampered for decades by poor leadership choices.
“You rise and fall with the quality of your leadership, and Nigeria has had lousy leadership for a long time,” Sanusi stated. “Until we begin to pay attention to the people we choose to lead us, nothing will change. You cannot give what you do not have.”
He lamented that while other countries are focused on technology, artificial intelligence, and climate change, Nigeria’s leaders remain stuck in divisive debates about ethnicity and religion.
“In most parts of this country, you look at those leading you and ask yourself, ‘Is this really the person? How did we end up here?’ Every day you see it in the newspapers, in the legislature—the petty debates and the time wasted on issues that are totally unimportant. We are still having conversations we had in the 1960s,” he said.
Sanusi also weighed in on fuel subsidy, insisting that its removal was inevitable to save the country from bankruptcy. He argued that subsidies on consumption only benefitted foreign refineries while draining Nigeria’s resources.
“If you look at the billions spent on subsidies, that money could have built refineries here. I have nothing against subsidies, but they should support production, not consumption. By now, government revenues would not have been enough to sustain them. You would have had to borrow just to pay for subsidies,” he explained.
According to him, if reforms proposed as far back as 2012 had been implemented, Nigeria would not be in its current economic situation.
