Amid the cost of living crisis in Nigeria, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, has advised families to sit and have frank discussions to judiciously spend their resources on basic needs.
According to the minister, Nigerians must tell themselves the truth that the country is not as rich as they thought.
Bagudu spoke on Wednesday in Abuja after Federal Government representatives met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Bagudu insisted that the Bola Tinubu administration made bold choices, arguing that state and local governments are now better funded.
He said, “Tough decisions might come with some challenges but we are dealing with them.
“When you are undertaking reforms, it is to stay the course and the benefits will follow.
“Most of the measures taken have begun to yield to a greater level of investment.
“We believe we have stopped the decline, we are not what we want to be. Let us confront our realities, let us tell ourselves that we are not as rich as we thought we were. So that everyone can mobilise, whether at the family level or the national level. Frank discussions can help mobilise everyone to greater action.”
FILE: People wait to refill their jerrycans and fuel tanks at a fuel station in Lagos on September 4, 2024. (Photo by FAWAZ OYEDEJI / AFP)
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Nigerians are facing one of the worst economic crises in decades, with soaring inflation fueled by skyrocketing energy and food costs.
Critics have faulted Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the foreign exchange rates which many Nigerians believed were responsible for the unimaginable inflation and soaring living and energy costs in the country. Thousands of Nigerians have stormed the streets in recent times to protest what they described as an unbearable economic situation in the country.
During his second Independence Day Anniversary Broadcast on October 1, 2024, the former Lagos governor sympathised with Nigerians over the economic hardship his reforms might have caused whilst he assured them that his administration had been busy implementing measures to bring down the high cost of living.
Tinubu pleaded for more patience and time, saying his administration is retooling its economic policies for the good of common Nigerians.
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