Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate Seyi Makinde has scored President Bola Tinubu’s administration 34 per cent, while acknowledging progress on state police and student financing but insisting the government has fallen short of what Nigeria requires.

Makinde gave the assessment during an exclusive interview with ARISE News, after being pressed to rate the administration’s performance across major areas of governance.

“It’s just about the same percentage of the people that supported him in 2023. Thirty-four per cent,” Makinde said.

The governor argued that Tinubu’s challenge went beyond implementing individual policies to building sufficient national support for his government’s programme.

“You need the 67 per cent of Nigerians that were against him in 2023 to be on board,” he said. “This is a massive number.”

Makinde, however, acknowledged areas where he believed the administration was moving in the right direction.

On the push for state police, which he has long advocated as part of his argument for bringing security decisions closer to communities, Makinde gave Tinubu credit for advancing the proposal.

“The President has done well with the formation of the state police,” he said.

Makinde has argued that state policing should not necessarily be imposed simultaneously across the federation, but should allow states capable of establishing their own police services to proceed while others join when ready.

He also offered qualified support for the Federal Government’s intervention in tertiary education through student financing, but argued that providing students with access to funds addressed only one part of a much broader education challenge.

“Having money for students to go to school… is a small fraction of what they’re supposed to do,” Makinde said.

“You need the teachers that are motivated. You need even security” for educational institutions, he added, arguing that reforms must ultimately ensure young Nigerians acquire skills and knowledge that make them employable or capable of becoming entrepreneurs.

Makinde said isolated interventions could therefore represent progress without necessarily solving the underlying problem.

“If you have three or four pockets and one is being addressed, I would say it’s a movement in the right direction,” he said.

“But that alone will not solidly ensure that our children have skills and knowledge that can either make them employable or turn them into entrepreneurs.”

His 34 per cent assessment comes as Makinde campaigns against Tinubu on the argument that the administration has achieved some macroeconomic stabilisation but has failed to translate it sufficiently into jobs, incomes and improved living standards for ordinary Nigerians—an argument he has also advanced publicly in explaining his presidential bid.

Makinde maintained that Nigeria needs a more coordinated approach to economic development, security, education and governance, presenting his proposed “Reset Nigeria” agenda as an alternative to the current administration. (AriseNews TV)