The Senator representing Edo North in the National Assembly, Adams Oshiomhole said on Tuesday in Abuja that the President Bola Tinubu administration in Nigeria inherited a terrible economic situation, insisting that there is no quick fix to the country’s economy.
Oshiomhole spoke with State House correspondents after he had a private meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa.
Pointing out that the issues of Nigeria’s economy “is a work in progress,” Oshiomhole, who is former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said some painful decisions are necessary for the development of a nation.
“The government inherited a terrible economic situation. Everybody knows it. The government inherited an economy in which our total national revenue was barely enough to service our debt burden, spending 96%, which is to say every N100 Nigerian earns, 96k is going to repay debts, to service debt. So, you have only 4k left to pay all the salaries. So, nothing can be worse.
Oshiomhole said that the Tinubu administration came determined “to do business unusual; to arrest the drift; stabilize the economy and then begin to move forward.”
Drawing an analogy from a surgery required to cure an ailment, the former Governor of Edo State said that the policies initiated by the present administration in Nigeria were necessary decisions that would take the country out of its economic doldrums.
“It is like any of us that has been unfortunate to have an ailment that requires surgery. If you want to pretend, you can be applying Vaseline, perfumes, and creams and wear babanriga to cover all the manifestations of that disease.
“But a trained doctor that believes in the ethics of medicine will tell you that you need surgery. Surgery will be painful in the short run.
“They will give you a little bit of pain relief, but they only relieve the pain; they won’t cure the disease. You need surgery and they wheel you to the theatre.
“It might take three months, six months, but when you recover from that surgery and you bounce back; and you obey all the rules of the game, some of which may require a new way of life; it may require a change of lifestyle.
“You’ll be back and you find out that you can do a relay race because you are fit.”
Courageous Decisions
Pointing out that the Tinubu administration has taken courageous decisions in its policies, Oshiomhole appealed to Nigerians to bear with the government as it implements the policies and programmes.
“Already, the executive—the president and vice president—they’ve shown courage in terms of the decisions they have taken, a radical movement away from one in which if you are well connected you could make billions without adding value to one in which if you want to make money you have to work.
“We move away from a situation where CBN can favour you and you become a billionaire or they can pauperize you and your business collapses.
“Yes, it has created its challenges, but I don’t know of any drug without side effects. Doctors will always tell you that every drug might cure your ailment but it will have a side effect.
“So, in taking it you have to do cost and benefit analysis. On the whole, I believe that the broad economic, specific macroeconomic policies that have been put in place so far, both in terms of monetary policies and in terms of fiscal policies, are the best way to start.
“You remember just recently a minister of finance distanced herself from the monetary policies of a CBN Governor and they were not talking.
“If the hand and the leg are not walking in harmony, then there is no way you can get to your destination.
“So, I think we are in a better situation now, but my plea to Nigerians is, when I say I will bail you out, I will fix a complicated system that is malfunctioning, I believe everyone knows that the more terrible the situation is, the more time I will require to take the right decision, given the paucity of data and all the other basic infrastructure you need to take some quick decisions are not present but the decision has to be taken.
“When I was a governor I did the same thing. I said, let me use my first six months to take false decisions.
“I might lose a few friends in the process but when those decisions begin to manifest and translate to benefits I will regain, not just the friends I have lost, I will win more friends.
“That’s what happened in Edo and by the time I was running for my second term, I got more votes than I got in my first term because some of the difficult decisions I took in my first term came to fruition.
“So, there is no quick fix and there is no miracle in the life of nation-states. As they say, leaders and statesmen think of tomorrow, and short-sighted politicians think of what is politically convenient. I’m convinced that Nigeria is safe hands.”
Oshiomhole said he visited the vice president to share ideas and get some wise counsel from him.
