Nigeria’s acting Ambassador to the United States, Samson Itegboje, has told Nigerians in the United States that President Bola Tinubu inherited a “comatose economy.”
Mr Itegboje, who spoke at an award dinner at Nigeria House in New York to celebrate Nigeria’s 65th independence anniversary, however, said Mr Tinubu had not been lamenting over this.
“The president inherited a comatose economy; he inherited banditry.
” He inherited kidnapping, terrorism, herders and farmers clashes and all sorts of vices.
“He did not go into lamentation. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work.
”The first thing he did was to take out the fuel subsidy. It was corruption-laden. He took it out,” he said.
Mr Itegboje also said Mr Tinubu scrapped the corruption-ridden foreign exchange regime, adding that this did not go down well with some.
“At that point too, we were servicing a debt by 97 per cent of our revenue. I was surprised that we didn’t go into recession,” he said.
Mr Itegboje acknowledged that some of the president’s actions had initial repercussions, noting that prices of products went up and the citizens were badly hit.
He, however, said the measures were necessary in order to secure the future of the country.
According to him, after the initial rise in prices, they are beginning to normalise.
“I’m happy to inform you that our Naira has now stabilised.
”Prices of goods and services are coming down.
“We are now servicing our debt with less than 50 per cent of our revenue.
”Our foreign reserve has risen to more than 42 billion dollars and that is the highest in five years,” he said.
He said the decision of the president to go to the Supreme Court to ensure autonomy for local governments was one of the many good decisions of the administration.
”With the autonomy now in place, we can begin to have growth from the bottom up,” he said.
He listed the establishment of the Ministry of Livestock Development as part of the government’s bold decisions, saying this would stop headers and farmers’ clashes.
The Nigerian envoy also said that the bill on state police was before the House of Representatives.
Mr Itegboje said the Mr Tinubu administration has the interest of Nigerians in the diaspora at heart, saying this remained part of the four-point agenda of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“You (Nigerians in diaspora) represent a collective that Nigeria feels can transform our country,” he said.
He challenged Nigerians in the diaspora to build their country.
“The responsibility to build our country will rely more on you, the diasporas.
” We should stop the lamentations.
“We should stop bringing our country down, de-marketing our country.
” It is whatever you call your country that foreigners will call you.
“So please let us know that we all have a responsibility to uplift our country, to develop our country. The onus is on all of us,” he said.
He gave an assurance that Nigerian missions in the U.S. were ready to assist with facilitating projects and ideas that would uplift the country.
The event featured the presentation of awards to deserving Nigerians, including Ngozi Adeleke, the wife of the Osun governor.
(NAN)