Tinubu taking measures to address challenges brought by reforms – Presidency

The presidency said on Saturday that President Bola Tinubu has started taking measures to address the challenges brought about by the bold reforms initiated by the administration in all sectors of the economy.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

He added that more such measures would be taken in 2024.

Tinubu, according to Onanuga, had never shied away from acknowledging the temporary pains triggered by the reforms.

He said: “Many of these measures are already being taken and in the New Year, we expect the silver linings that are currently understated, to blossom into rays of sunshine to be experienced by all Nigerians.

“The removal of fuel subsidy and the move to merge foreign exchange rates, two headline reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration since late May.

“(It’s caused by) problems such as high fuel prices and the depreciation of the Naira, two monstrosities which combined to cause a general spike in costs of services and goods.”

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He said the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put Nigeria’s inflation at 26.7 percent in September, and 28.2 percent in November from 27.33 percent in October, adding that food inflation remained untamed.

‘’The truth is that the new policies alone are not solely responsible for the economic problems we are facing today. We were destined for the tough and rough patch where we are today because of the prevailing conditions before Tinubu took over on May 29.

”As of June 2023, the budget deficit was N10.8 trillion. Actual debt service was 98.95 percent of revenue, far higher than the projected 59.37 percent. Inflow into the country’s foreign reserve came in trickles.

“And so bad was the state of affairs that Nigeria could not remit about $800 million fund of foreign airlines. JP Morgan exposed our near insolvency by claiming in a report that our net foreign reserve was just about $3.7 billion, not the $33 billion-plus flaunted by Emefiele’s CBN.

“President Tinubu, who promised during the campaign to take hard and difficult decisions, moved to tackle the economic problems from Day One, by first dispensing with the wasteful fuel subsidy that was billed to consume about N7 trillion this year, five times more than what was provisioned for capital spending,” the president aide added.

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