President Bola Tinubu is confident of an economic rebound and is asking Nigerians to keep faith in his administration’s reforms.
Inflation levels in Nigeria have reached new highs, pushing the cost of basic commodities beyond millions of persons in Africa’s most populous nation.
But at the graduation ceremony for the Executive Intelligence Management Course 17 at the National Institute for Security Studies in Abuja, President Tinubu said the future looks bright for Nigeria.
The president who was represented by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu acknowledged the difficulties but said the government is working tirelessly to rewrite the story.
“Things are happening in our country today. People may not like us. They probably will disagree with one or two. But fundamentally, things are changing. And Nigeria will change,” he said months after the government floated the naira and also stopped the payment of subsidy on petrol, two policies experts say are responsible for the state of the country’s economy.
“The economy is changing. Very tough, very difficult, very huge challenges we are facing. But I can assure you, better days are ahead of us,” he added.
Apart from the economy, Nigeria is also facing a myriad of security challenges in some parts of the country.
However, the president says his government would go after criminals in a bid to restore peace to Nigeria.
“If you are a bad man, whether you are inside Nigeria or outside, you are in trouble. We will go after you. We will bring you to justice,” he said.
At the event, a former governor of Niger State Babaginda Aliyu faulted those against the Tax Reform Bills which have faced severe criticism, especially from the northern region.
Aliyu said many against the bills have not read the content but said the government should enlighten the masses more about them.
“I was speaking to the NSA when we were in the common room, and I said to him, look, many of the people debating the tax bill have not read it. But again, there is the problem of communication, the government should speak,” he said.
“People can know that there is no policy that will come to somebody, if the majority comes and one person is disturbed, you can only tell him. But you cannot say because of one person, the policy cannot be taken. So communication is very, very important,” the former governor added.