Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, has declared that President Bola Tinubu remains the only credible leadership option for Nigeria, insisting that no other potential presidential contender has demonstrated the courage or capacity to confront the country’s long-standing economic challenges.
Speaking at his monthly media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja,
Wike defended Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of petrol
subsidy, describing the decision as the boldest taken by any Nigerian president
in decades.
According to him, while the reforms have imposed temporary
hardship on Nigerians, they have strengthened the finances of state
governments, improved infrastructure funding and ended the era when states
depended on bank loans to pay workers’ salaries.
“Asiwaju is the only person we have now. He has not done
everything, and nobody says he has, but he has shown the courage to take
decisions others refused to take. Give him credit for that,” Wike said.
The minister argued that Nigerians should not expect an
economy weakened over many years to recover within a short period.
“When problems have accumulated for over 15 years, people
expect them to be solved in one year. It doesn’t work that way. Healing takes
time, but it will happen,” he said.
Wike described the fuel subsidy regime as “a cancer,”
recalling that as governor, he had to rely on bank borrowing to meet salary
obligations because of declining allocations to states.
“The fuel subsidy consumed over ₦3 trillion at a time.
Today, states receive more money. Pensioners are being paid, governors no
longer queue before bank managers to borrow money just to pay salaries, and
there are more resources for infrastructure,” he said.
He maintained that leadership is defined by the willingness
to make difficult decisions rather than by popular sentiment.
“Everybody agreed that subsidy was a scam, but no president
had the political will to remove it. President Tinubu took that decision. No
decision is 100 per cent perfect, but leadership is about taking
responsibility,” he added.
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