Poverty can be reduced to its barest minimal if all levels of governments understand their constitutional mandates and discharge their responsibilities accordingly”. This was the position of the Director-General, DG of The Progressive Institute, TPI-Abuja, Olanrewaju Adebayo, Ph.D.
Speaking as a book reviewer at the launch of The New Nigeria; a book that highlights the achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, Dr Adebayo said that President Tinubu should be applauded and supported for his courageous policies that put an end to fuel subsidy. According to the DG of TPI, “the primary function of a president in any nation is to boost financial and security strength of the country. This is the focus of President Tinubu when he stopped fuel subsidy”.
Dr. Adebayo said what the Mr. President did was to free money from consumption and fund critical projects while also attending to welfare of the people. “Before now, state government borrowed money to pay salaries, perennial queues persist in the filling stations because a huge amount of our resources go to fuel subsidy. Nigeria subsidies for fuel consuming in many neighboring countries. This is nothing but wastage. It has a negative effect on our economy. Successive regimes have attempted to remove the subsidy, heavy resources have been deployed to achieve this removal in the past but failed because of its political interference. Today, we have a courageous President whose bold decision put an end to this culture of waste. We must be fair to president Tinubu. He’s bold decision is paying off. All levels of government now embark on meaningful projects. From the Federal to the states, and local governments, Nigeria is now a projects site. This is possible because Mr. President freed money from consumption to finance meaningful projects”.
Dr. Adebayo, The DG of TPI; Think Tank of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC who gave a pass verdict on President Tinubu’s achievements also scored the state governments low in wealth creation. The DG noted that while the federal government has increased their allocations tremendously more are expected from them in term of investment drive, job opportunity and poverty reduction in their respective states. He added that the state government are very important in poverty eradication hence the need for them to design a system that rapidly empower their states. He affirmed that by patronizing the local contractors at the states and local governments, there would more money in circulation and poverty will be drastically reduced.
In his review of The New Nigeria, Dr Adebayo stated that The Book’s Best-Argued Section is that of fuel subsidy removal. “The discussion of fuel subsidy removal is arguably the book’s best-argued section. It places the decision within the wider debate about the sustainability of the subsidy and recalls that leading presidential candidates in 2023 supported its removal, although their approaches differed”.
“This is an important contribution because it demonstrates that the subsidy question was not simply a partisan issue; it was also a longstanding national economic debate. The book makes a stronger case when it explains the rationale for reform and connects the decision to the fiscal challenges facing the country”.
“The book states its purpose as educating Nigerians about the reforms, addressing misconceptions with verifiable facts, and replacing rumours with evidence. The foreword by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Dr George Akume, describes it as a compendium of reforms across finance, energy, infrastructure, human capital, agriculture and security. It further presents the book as an advertisement for Nigeria as an investment destination”. Dr. Adebayo said.
About Author
