President Bola Tinubu has revealed that he stopped reading newspapers and commentary to avoid pushback to his economic reforms.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that Tinubu made this known at the just-concluded Africa CEO Forum on Friday in Kigali, Rwanda, defending his reforms in the early stages of his tenure, saying reform is a difficult decision but necessary.
According to Tinubu, the country cannot continue to spend its future generations’ endowment before they are born.
He said, “It was very necessary to reset, recalibrate and reform the economy. It is a fake life to think you can, in a global economy, continue the subsidy that is wasteful, it is an encouragement for falsification of papers, (and) smuggling.
“And that is a very critical situation for the country. When you look at the economic problem of the country, and you see that you are almost going bankrupt. Of the 36 states, 27 of them were unable to pay the salaries of the workers. Where is the money?
“You are an oil producer, you are earning, you are giving fuel, you have no refinery that is functional. It is not possible to continue that trend.
“It is difficult, it is painful, but just like a woman reproduction process, a woman carries the pregnancy, endures the pain of labour and will have a very big smile when you see the live child.”
Tinubu further stated that there are more challenges facing Nigeria despite the multiple reforms his administration has carried out, from subsidy removal to the unification of the naira, so he will do more work in his second term if elected.
The president also likened the pushback over the economic reforms to ‘sitting on a hot burner’, stressing that the naira is stable, predictable, and planners can do a reasonable budget.
Tinubu added that his reforms have enabled the government to support education for students who would otherwise stay out of school because their parents cannot afford school fees.
He noted, “The philosophy I came with in governance is believing that the hallmark of a transformative leader is the ability to take decisions, do it at the time it supposed to be done on behalf of the people.
“If you miss that curve, you are not on the path to success. That’s what I believe. First term, took hard decisions, regardless of pain, I stopped reading newspapers and commentary because I knew I was going to get big pushback, and I did. I was sitting on a hot burner.
“But we made the curve. Today, there’s a very bright light at the end of the corner. The naira is stable, predictable, planners can do reasonable budget, they can plan their lives well, the students are in school, the vulnerable are being helped; we have a direct transfer to very poor households.”