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By Ebube Egbufor
One of the strongest believers in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s capabilities, Sen. Wilson Asinobi Ake, says he is confident that the president would deliver Nigeria from the present hardship and economic crisis.
Speaking recently to newsmen at the Obafemi Awolowo International Airport (formerly Port Harcourt international airport), Omagwa, Sen. Ake who once represented Rivers West Senatorial District said his support for Tinubu is based on verifiable performance in his previous assignment as the governor of Lagos State and believes that the president still has that capacity, knowledge and exposure to take Nigeria out of the present sad situation.
He said the steps President Tinubu has taken so far (which the removal of fuel subsidy is among) are steps that are required of a true leader and someone who is determined to save a situation, stressing that though painful, they are realistic steps.
According to him, you ease a special pain by adding pain to it, pointing out that the steps are taken for the situation in Nigeria to be permanently resolved. “I think he has taken bold steps that certain people are afraid of taking. You cannot be pampering a difficult situation on and on because the more you pamper it, the more it continues to be there. So you have to take the bull by the horn”, he said.
Sen. Ake urged Nigerians to support and cooperate with the president, pray for him and encourage him by giving him useful advices that would move the nation forward because “if a leader fails, everybody has failed but if he succeeds, everybody will be happy. So that is why I think that whoever is in position of authority should be supported and given encouragement for them to succeed for the general good of everybody”.
Correcting the impression that Tinubu would have fixed the nation’s refineries before removing the fuel subsidy, Ake said it is good the president tackled the problem before constituting his cabinet because if he had done that later, some of those working with him would have gotten comfortable with the system and it would have been difficult to tackle the problems.
To him, the subsidy removal has to be done the way it was done because many people are benefitting from it at the expense of the nation. He expressed hope that the refineries could still be put in order once those gaining from the subsidy stopped benefitting from it because according to him, they are the ones sabotaging the fixing of the refineries and if there is no more special interest, there wouldn’t be grounds for anybody to work against it.
The senator also advised the president to pay more attention to agriculture and transportation as a means of boosting the economy of the country.
“To me, I would have suggested we have three ministers in the Agricultural sector, one for Animal Husbandry, one for Fisheries and another for Crops. Most times, we only hear in agriculture about pyramid of rice without knowing what is happening in the areas of fisheries and animal husbandry apart from the herdsmen.
“I would have expected three different persons so that we measure the development in these three areas”, he said, adding that food, which is the basic need of every human being and means of moving about to look for the food (transportation) are very critical and important.
