President Bola Ahmed Tinubu says he understands what many Nigerians are going through at the moment due to the economic situation in the country.
Tinubu’s government has ended the multi-billion subsidy regime which has thrown not a few people in the country into extreme poverty, apart from unifying the naira exchange rate with other foreign currencies, aside from other austerity measures his government has imposed since coming to power on May 29.
The belt-tightening measures have been trenchantly criticized by his critics including civil society and Labour, who for instance, described his government as anti-people.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, have directed their members to embark on a nationwide protest from Wednesday this week to press home their demands for the government to provide immediate palliatives to cushion the effects of removal of subsidy.
But speaking in a national broadcast today, President Tinubu said there is no other way out from the current economic situation in the country, saying his administration means well for the people.
To ameliorate the hardship in the country, the president said he has ordered various interventions to help Nigerians survives the economic hardship.
Tinubu said, “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.”
