The national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has advised the Federal Government to take into cognizance the citizenry's survival amid restructuring the economy.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The ruling party, APC's national leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has advised the federal government to avoid hurting the people in its bid to restructure the economy amid the sharp plunge in global oil prices.
The former governor of Lagos state, asked the government to adopt creativity in addressing the challenges, saying the time had come to implement the diversification of the economy, which previous administrations never took seriously.
He urged Nigerians to exercise patience with President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, expressing confidence that the current administration would turn the fortunes of the country around for better.
He gave the advise on Sunday, January 24, when he paid a condolence visit to the family of Samuel Odugade, the late Olubadan of Ibadan.
“We are not the only country that is affected by the effect of this oil crisis. We have to be more creative in a way that will not hurt the welfare of the people,” he said. “We need to look inwards. There are so many ways and we are blessed to really create local demand, improve our disposable income and manage our own economy.
“There are so many ways to create and revitalise this economy; it is not as bad into the future as people make it appear.
"The diversification of the nation’s economy was always on the drawing board but had never been implemented. We keep talking about diversification of the economy. It is always in the drawing board. We never implemented it.
“The past is nauseating, terrible. There has never been any principle of good governance in the past. It has been cesspool of corruption.
“We face the challenge. We accept the need for the diversification of the nation’s economy. There are a lot of variables in the oil sector, which we have to look at critically. We have the resources, people and the blessing of both weather and mineral resources but it will take time.
“There is a gestation, rearrangement and re-engineering necessary for the economy to be beneficial to the people.
We must be patient, we must persevere and the leadership must be creative in order to rejuvenate the economy. Just bear with us.”