BY GODWIN OBI
Abia State Governor Alex Otti has asked Nigerians to be patient with President Bola Tinubu’s government and believe its economic policies will pay off soon.
Otti, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), said this after visiting Tinubu in his Lagos residence.
“You know, he came in at a difficult time when inflation was close to 30 per cent, the national debt almost $40 billion, and unemployment close to 33.3 per cent,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“The President has been very courageous, unifying the exchange rate and removing fuel subsidy which had become a scam and costing the nation a lot of money,” Otti added.
“Those policies are good but they come with their negative sides. They come with challenges for an economy where over 60 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.
“So, it’s not going to be easy immediately but I believe that if we are patient and if we go through the policies without compromising, over time, things will turn around.”
During the visit, Otti thanked President Tinubu for his intervention on the long-abandoned Aba end of the Enugu-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway, which led to the resumption of work on the reconstruction of the federal highway.
Soyinka Visits President
On the same day, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka also visited President Tinubu and said he presented a seven-point agenda for moving Nigeria forward.
“I came here with a seven-point agenda and we had a very thorough discussion on those items,” he told reporters.
Soyinka said he told Tinubu not to run for the presidency.
“My first visit was an embarrassing visit because it was to try and persuade him not to run for office, I think I had written about that. I asked Atiku and himself to leave the ground for young people. That was the last time we met five years ago. I call him secretly ‘olori kunkun’ which means the stubborn one. He ignored my advice completely.
“I came to see him to find out how he is doing after neglecting my advice. I wanted to see how he and his wife are faring. I also came to wish them a merry Christmas.
“You know we are old friends. And it was as a friend that I told him ‘don’t run’,” he said
ADVERTISEMENTS
Pythrocin distributed by Pinnacle Health Pharmaceuticals Ltd
2023-12-16