I Wish Otherwise, I Feel Your Pain, Suffering – Tinubu Begs Nigerians

• Okays N500bn palliatives to cushion suffering, biting poverty

BY EDMOND ODOK – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has admitted being fully aware and conscious that Nigerians are suffering and being hurt by the adverse effects of the fuel subsidy removal on cost of living in the country.

Consequently, he has unveiled measures to cushion the effects of the economic downturn, caused by current developments, assuring that his mission is to help, not to hurt the citizens.

To demonstrate his administration’s resolve to remedy the situation, the President has approved N100 billion for the procurement of 3000 20-seater buses fueled by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), to ease the high cost of transportation caused by fuel subsidy removal.

Additionally, the administration is promising to energise micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the informal sector as drivers of growth with N125 billion.

Of this amount, N50 billion would be spent on conditional grants to one million nano businesses between now and March 2024, with the government targeting to give N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 local governments across the country

President Tinubu, who wished there were other paths to follow in turning around the country’s economy without removing fuel subsidy, said he was sad that for now there is no other alternative pathway to the expected economic recovery.

Speaking in a nationwide broadcast on Monday night, the President assured Nigerians that the new administration means no harm and has no intention of hurting the masses, adding conscious steps and measures were being taken to ease the pain.

“Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Households and businesses struggle. Things seem anxious and uncertain.

“I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is not. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love.

“What I can offer in the immediate is to reduce the burden our current economic situation has imposed on all of us, most especially on businesses, the working class and the most vulnerable among us.

“Already, the Federal Government is working closely with states and local governments to implement interventions that will cushion the pains of our people across socio-economic brackets.”

On the four Executive Orders signed earlier this month, President Tinubu said there were in line with his campaign promises of addressing unfriendly fiscal policies and multiple taxes currenly stifling the business environment.

According to him, the Executive Orders on suspension of some taxes would provide the necessary buffers and headroom to businesses in the manufacturing sector to continue to thrive and expand, adding; “To further ensure that prices of food items remain affordable, we have had a multi-stakeholder engagement with various farmers’ associations and operators within the agricultural value chain.

“In the short and immediate terms, we will ensure staple foods are available and affordable. To this end, I have ordered the release of 200,000 Metric Tonnes of grains from strategic reserves to households across the 36 states and FCT to moderate prices.”

The President further explained thus; “We are also providing 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to farmers who are committed to our food security agenda”, stressing that the government’s “plan to support cultivation of 500,000 hectares of farmland and all-year-round farming practice remains on course.”

Specifically addressing the fuel subsidy removal, President Tinubu stated his speech thus; “For several years, I have consistently maintained the position that the fuel subsidy had to go. This once beneficial measure had outlived its usefulness. The subsidy cost us trillions of naira yearly.

‘’Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.

“This group had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance.

‘’To be blunt, Nigeria could never become the society it was intended to be as long as such small, powerful yet unelected groups hold enormous influence over our political economy and the institutions that govern it.

“The whims of the few should never hold dominant sway over the hopes and aspirations of the many. If we are to be a democracy, the people and not the power of money must be sovereign.

“The preceding administration saw this looming danger as well. Indeed, it made no provision in the 2023 Appropriations for subsidy after June this year. Removal of this once helpful device that had transformed into a millstone around the country’s neck had become inevitable.

“Also, the multiple exchange rate system that had been established became nothing but a highway of currency speculation. It diverted money that should have been used to create jobs, build factories and businesses for millions of people.”

Insisting that there was an urgent need to combat the serious economic challenges Nigeria has long faced, the President hopefully many Nigerians “will share my vision regarding the journey to a better, more productive economy for our beloved country”.

‘’Our national wealth was doled on favourable terms to a handful of people who have been made filthy rich simply by moving money from one hand to another. This too was extremely unfair.

“It also compounded the threat that the illicit and mass accumulation of money posed to the future of our democratic system and its economy.

“I had promised to reform the economy for the long-term good by fighting the major imbalances that had plagued our economy. Ending the subsidy and the preferential exchange rate system was key to this fight. This fight is to define the fate and future of our nation. Much is in the balance.

“Thus, the defects in our economy immensely profited a tiny elite you might call them. As we move to fight the flaws in the economy, the people who grow rich from them, predictably, will fight back through every means necessary.

“Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Households and businesses struggle. Things seem anxious and uncertain.

‘’I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is none. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love.”