Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris has appealed for patience from Nigerians, assuring that the economic reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration will yield the right results.
He also reminded Nigerians that President Tinubu had only been in power for seven months, saying it would take time to see the benefits of the long-term strategies.
The minister spoke Thursday while featuring on Channels TV Sunrise Daily, monitored by Blueprint in Abuja.
According to him, Tinubu’s mission of leading Nigeria to “the desired prosperity” is clear and unambiguous.
The minister said: “I want you to remember that the president is seven months old in office. I am not going to make excuses that seven months is just a short time.
“But for a long-term plan, you need a lot more time to put structures in place. But of course, as you trudge along, there will be shocks, turbulence, and occasional dislocations that you would find. But the vision of the president is very clear: he wants to take Nigeria to the desired prosperity.
“He works day and night to achieve that. Every day, all the ministers and everyone else are working in that direction, but the results are not seen yet. We ask Nigerians to be a little more patient.
“I know it’s difficult, especially when people are finding it hard to purchase food items as a result of these policies, but the government is doing a lot to address them.”
While admitting that the government was aware of the hardships Nigerians were facing, he reassured that the country’s leadership was tirelessly working to reverse the trend.
The minister also said in the wake of the subsidy removal, the government had introduced some measures to curtail the impact of the move.
He listed some of them to include the wage awards to federal government workers and plans to roll out the CNG buses across the country
…To cut transportation cost by over 50%
In a related development, the minister commended the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) for its remarkable efforts at championing the course of Green Energy introduced by the federal government following the removal of fuel subsidy.
A statement by media aide to the minister, Rabiu Ibrahim, quoted Idris as making the commendation Thursday in Abuja when he received in audience the National Executive Committee of IPMAN in his office.
He said the federal government was working towards bringing down the cost of transportation by over 50% through the CNG initiative.
“In the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy, of course it was expected that the price of PMS will go up. This will in turn affect the transportation cost for Nigerians going to and fro their various places of work.
“The federal government immediately thought it wise, in addition to other measures, to introduce the CNG. The CNG is expected to bring down the cost of transportation by more than 50% and I am happy that IPMAN is in the forefront in this vanguard of achieving the CNG Initiative,” he said.
The minister said Tinubu’s bold move to remove the fuel subsidy had presented a unique opportunity for organisations like IPMAN to take the lead in shaping the energy landscape in Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria as a nation was looking for alternative ways of bringing down the cost of transportation, saying the CNG is the surest way to go.
Idris said, already, “the federal government, in the first instance, has set aside N100 billion for the purchase of CNG buses and the establishment of CNG centres across the country.” This, he said, was in addition to the introduction of tax waivers for the importers of CNG kits as well as other investors in the sub-sector.
“You would recall that the Federal Government in the first instance, set aside N100 billion for the purchase of CNG buses and establishment of CNG centres around the country,” he said.
While enlisting the support of IPMAN for the success of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the minister acknowledged them for considering his ministry as well as its agencies as veritable partners in their desire to counter fake news being propagated on the activities of IPMAN.
He bemoaned how fake news had done so much damage to the various fabrics of the society, saying “there is a ray of hope through the collaboration of his ministry and UNESCO to come up with measures to curb the menace of fake news.”
The minister pledged to give more visibility to the in-house curated programme of the association tagged “IPMAN Today”, on the various public information agencies under his ministry.
Idris also promised to utilise the 30,000 member structure of IPMAN in the implementation of the value re-orientation programmes encapsulated in the National Value Charter.
…IPMAN pledges support
In his remarks, IPMAN President Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi Shettima pledged the unalloyed support of the association for Tinubu’s CNG Initiative and promised to complement government in the green energy programme, which will give a boost to the realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President.
He decried how prices of petroleum products were constantly being manipulated through the spread of fake news and sought the support of the ministry to combat the menace.
