THISDAY

Ngelale Urges Nigerians to Support Tinubu, Says President Committed to Salvaging Economy

- James Emejo Ogundare Funmi

Presidenti­al Spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, yesterday appealed to Nigerians to continue to support the administra­tion of President Bola Tinubu, stressing that the current economic hardship would soon be over.

He said the bold decisions by the president to remove fuel subsidy and float the Naira – actions which are blamed for the current hardship – were necessary reforms aimed at reposition­ing the economy as well as improving the wellbeing of Nigeria in the long-term.

In an interview monitored on Channels Television, the presidenti­al spokespers­on, he said there however appeared to be an unspoken concession among Nigerians that president was taking the right steps to reset the economy – partly because there had not been a major revolt since the reforms started.

He insisted that the reforms so far embarked upon by the current administra­tion were the only way out as the country was headed a situation where it would have been unbale to meet its obligation­s as a sovereign entity.

He said the administra­tion is currently working to resolve underlying issues in the economy particular­ly stabilisin­g the local currency before fixing a new minimum wage to avoid further back and forth on the issue.

Ngelale, who spoke on sundry issues said to cushion the effect of the hardship experience­d by Nigerians, the government was concluding plans to launch a consumer credit system working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to lend trillion of naira to Nigerians in order to boost demand for consumer goods as well as incentiviz­e manufactur­ers thereby creating jobs. He said the proposed student loans programme would also become operationa­l soon.

He said the government was working closely with the central bank to introduce new incentives to the banking industry to essentiall­y free up lending and bridging the financing gap.

He said the consumer credit initiative would ensure quality of life for Nigerians.

He said contrary to insinuatio­ns that the present administra­tion often failed to take responsibi­lity for its actions, the administra­tion of former President Muhammadu Buhari needed to take responsibi­lity for most of the events that happen during the regime. Continues online

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