Vice President Kashim Shettima has said that President Bola Tinubu’s policies have helped to revive the nation’s economy and salvage the money market.
The Vice President spoke as a special guest speaker at the Second Chronicle Roundtable in Abuja on Thursday.
He said: “His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, chose the option that will save the life of the nation instead of one that will merely prolong its imminent and predicted economic death.”
He stated that the President chose the harshest but most certain path to recovery.
He said: “Soon, Nigeria’s economy will experience significant growth once we’ve overcome these sacrifices.
“Positive changes will soon be evident across all economic indicators – inflation, per capita income, GDP numbers, poverty reduction, food security, and all aspects close to the hearts of our people.”
Shettima said this is not the time for blame games, but a time to make far-reaching decisions to reposition Nigeria’s fortune to benefit every citizen.
“We understood why our predecessor decided to remove the subsidy. We do not resort to blaming the previous administration.
“Leadership is about courage, leadership is about continuity, and leadership is about making far-reaching decisions.
“Before we took charge, the biggest issue was the fuel subsidy removal. We had to get rid of the subsidy, or the subsidy would have destroyed the Nigerian nation. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but necessary.
“The government is a continuum. Whoever succeeded the previous government could either steer the ship through the storm as President Tinubu is doing or let the country implode,” Persecondnews quotes Shettima as saying.
Shettima cited Nigeria’s debt-service-to-revenue ratio, which rose to 111.18 percent before Tinubu assumed office, describing it as “an economic death sentence.”
“Fortunately, this is why some of our brothers and sisters who ran for this office could not question our methods.
“Whether in handling the subsidy matter or the FOREX crisis, we had also promised the solutions we adopted.
“Those who tried to backtrack were instantly proven wrong by data, history, and the facts,” he added.
Sometime in February this year, a presidential candidate in the last election rushed to point Argentina as a model for Nigeria.
“In barely two weeks, he watched as Argentina’s inflation rates soared, yet refused to acknowledge that every country’s journey is different.
“Every country is a product of its economic history and context. We respect what President Javier Milei does there, and we wish him well, but governance is not the photocopying machine some of us believe it is.
“Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, though humbly it might be, there’s no place like home. We have to unite; we have to fuse into one. Politics is over; we are now in the phase of governance.
“We need to move this nation forward, not for my own sake, not for the sake of the people on the high table, but for the sake of the black man,” Shettima said.
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