Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms and the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’, saying the President’s decision to take some difficult measures was necessary to rescue the country from long-term economic failures.
He said President Tinubu, therefore, took bullets on behalf of entire Nigeriansallmental and poverty by not allowing Nigerians to carry a wheelbarrow loaded with Naira notes to buy a loaf of bread, as there would have been terrible inflation in the country.
The Minister who spoke during a press briefing with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday also said there was no shortcut to restructuring an economy that had been badly damaged by years of previous governments’minister inconsistencies and reluctance to take difficult decisions that would have saved the country from total collapse.
Alake further noted that previous administrations were aware of the need to correct the country’s economic problems but avoided them stylistically because of political consequences and inclinations, to the detriment of the masses.
He said the fuel aubsidy removal subsidyjor example of President Tinubu’s bold step to governance, pointing out that successful administrations and even presidential contenders in the 2023 Presidential election opted for the ntotial end the subsidy regime but repeatedly postponed the decision because of fears of public protests and electoral victimisation.
“Now, we have a bold leader who decided to swallow the bitter pills, took the bullets on behalf of the entire nation to remove the subsidy after assuming office. First thing, in May, 2023, that’s a courageous leader indeed.
“So there’s nothing new that we are going through, especially when you are trying to restructure a badly damaged economy as our own. It does not need me to tell you or elaborate on the fact that we knew what the Nigerian economy was before 2023,” he said.
According to the minister, those hard decisions have been taken. The hard decisions, as I said, must have their own attendant challenges. There’s no government policy anywhere in the world that is 100% foolproof, especially when it has to do with human beings.
“In the fuel subsidy regime, there is a cartel that takes the product outside the shore of the country to sell, make food money and come back to harass the poor.
“When you break the whole thing down and you are pri,vy to the numbers and to the logical analysis of the situation, you discover that, in the era of subsidy, if most say average Nig,eria, ns and those who are even fairly well-off would have one car or a vehicle to a family, at most maybe two, there are Nigerians who belong to the lowest of the ladder who had none.
“So when subsidy was on, the well-to-do, the well-heeled, the elites, the upper crust of the society – one family will have five vehicles, 10 cars, and you are subsidising fuel for those 10 cars belonging to one family, whereas the average Nigerian had one. So when you do a logical analysis of the situation, who was benefiting? The upper crust. Not the average Nigerians that you thought would benefit.
“Of course, every government policy would have merits and demerits; rather, there are those who will benefit and those who will be shortchanged. Ideally, what a statesman does is to go for the policies that would engender or elicit the greatest good for the greatest number. It can never be for every single individual in that society.
“If a man who is a politician himself, who should be very sensitive to elections, comes back to office and decides to take the bullet, regardless of the consequences on his own political career, on behalf of the nation, because the nation has to be reset. I think it’s just very, very important for us to appreciate that. And that is the kind of person that Nigeria needs for consistency,” Alake stated.
In the 2023 election, the minister urged journalists to go forward with the campaign, saying, “I will enjoin you to do your job as it should be done, but with a high sense of responsibility, credibility, and integrity, knowing fully well that elections will always come and go.
“We have a four-year cycle of elections. So this is not going to be the last election or campaign we are going to have. By the grace of God, God sparing our lives, there will be many more, but the society will remain.
“Like I said, as in 1960, when Nigeria obtained independence, if you do a content analysis of our historical trajectory, you will discover several governments have come and gone. And it will be like that because a society, a nation, is a work in progress, an ongoing project.
“So, when you are analysing and criticising, do them credibly and proffer solutions objectively,” he added.
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