Govt is Making Efforts, it’s too early to expect perfect result — Gowon

General Yakubu Gowon, retd, former military head of state, has appealed to Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu time in his bid to solve the challenges facing the country.

He made the appeal after his meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

Gowon said he was at the seat of power to discuss with the President on the crisis tearing apart the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and the economic challenges bedeviling the country.

Fielding questions on his advise to the president on how to tackle the economic situation in Nigeria, he said: “Well, I was telling him that there is no Nigerian leader who will get there and not have all the report of what is being said about him. But certainly, there’s no doubt from what one hears and sees in the various media.

“I think the government is trying its best to deal with the various problems of the country but with Nigerians, you will get criticised. People who get there know better than you know. I think all one can say is Nigerians, we’ve got to give the president time for things to be really done.

“It is too early to sort of say absolute result, perfect result will be achieved now. That is my opinion. I know and if I can remember when I was fighting the war, I was told I was too slow and that probably Nigeria cannot make it and that we should now seek discussion. Well, did we do it or not? They probably do not know the problem underground, so that is where we are.

This is my first visit to Mr President since the inauguration but I was there at the inauguration to wish him well and all success. If you remembered how busy he was after that, with visitors, members of government, various personalities, so it was not possible for me to be able to see him.

After the time, I had to travel abroad where he was able to reach me on my birthday and after that interesting social media report that I was dead.

But when I came back I made a number of efforts but unfortunately I think because of his busy programme, it was not possible for me to see him.

Luckily, this time, he was able to give me the opportunity to see him and to discuss various matters, especially the issue of the ECOWAS problem at the moment, which I think needs to be resolved.