Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu on Friday said the proclamation of fuel subsidy removal in the first minutes of his administration saved Nigeria from imminent bankruptcy, noting that the reform is already yielding visible dividends for states and the entire nation.
A statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, quoted the President to have stated this while hosting state governors at his residence in Lagos for the celebration of both the Sallah festival and the third anniversary of his administration.
Governors of Lagos, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Taraba, Niger, Ekiti, Delta, Ondo, Edo, Adamawa, Benue, Enugu, Ogun and Kogi states, as well as the deputy governors of Borno and Kano states, were in attendance.
President Tinubu, who argued that the subsidy regime had for years consumed enormous resources that benefited only a small group of Nigerians, said ongoing reforms in infrastructure, agriculture, social investment, foreign exchange management and fiscal discipline were beginning to restore investors’ confidence and improve economic prospects.
While referencing the Sokoto-Badagry highway corridor, the Nigerian leader described it as a great asset for irrigation infrastructure needed for the development of the nation’s agricultural sector.
In his address, Vice President Kashim Shettima noted that Tinubu’s economic decisions were acts of historic courage that ended five decades of policy evasion.
speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said the subsidy removal and fiscal reforms had delivered a meaningful transformation in states’ capacity to meet their obligations, as governors no longer borrow to pay salaries of civil servants.
Governor AbdulRazaq also used the occasion to advocate an upward review of the national minimum wage, urging the President to consider raising it to at least N100,000
