Interior minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has attributed Nigeria’s unprecedented hardships to a century of mismanagement.

When asked on Sunday during an interview on Channels TV if he was aware of prevailing hunger, unemployment and poverty under President Bola Tinubu’s government, Mr Tunji-Ojo blamed decades of Nigeria’s maladministration.

”Economy is not built overnight. It’s easier for things to be destroyed than to be built. The fact is what you see today is an accumulated mismanagement over the last 100, 60, 40, 30, 20 years,” Mr Tunji-Ojo said.

The minister added, “I personally believe Nigeria is going through a surgical process. We are pleading for more time.”

Mr Tunji-Ojo contended that 11 months was insufficient to hold Mr Tinubu accountable for the economic woes ravaging the country, specifically highlighting the mismanagement by Mr Tinubu’s predecessors.

“Refineries had not worked in the country for how many years? People did not say let us go and do this… there was a time it was alleged that the naira was being printed because of the economy,” the minister explained. “Even ways and means by the central bank that we inherited, how much did we inherit as liabilities as a government? Today we have cleared that.”

In an editorial piece assessing Mr Tinubu’s 15 months in office, Financial Times said his “disjointed” policies plunged “tens of millions of Nigerians into misery.”