Fuel subsidy: Pls endure a bit longer – Tinubu begs Nigerians

President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to have patience and endure the current difficult situation in the country. He acknowledged the hardships people have been facing since the removal of the gasoline subsidy on May 29th.

Despite this, the President assured the citizens that the tough times would be temporary and that a brighter future with a more prosperous and inclusive economy awaited.

Tinubu expressed these sentiments during a meeting with a delegation of youth leaders from all 36 states, headed by the All Progressives Congress Youth Leader, Mr. Dayo Israel, at the State House in Abuja.

“You have endured; you just need to persevere a little bit more. It’s not going to be easy to make the necessary changes,” he said.

Tinubu told the delegation, “I plead your understanding that the economic reforms are very slow sometimes.

“I can assure you that I understand your pains and the pains of your uncles, brothers and your moms. I feel it.

“It is not easy to get out a monster of over 40 years that is called subsidy.”

The President said the economic reforms of the past over 50 days were necessary because the country could no longer afford subsidy, which, he said, benefits only a few elites at the expense of the majority of Nigerians.

“For a few elites fleecing Nigeria, it is unacceptable and will never be acceptable to us.

“Things that we cannot afford, we cannot engage in. We cannot afford the subsidy; it is clear.

“It is made for just a few elites. It is not beneficial to the generality and the greatest number of the people in this country.”

The President told the youths that his administration would include them in governance and decision-making processes, adding that “No decision would be too difficult for his administration to take for the prosperity and unity of the nation.”

He noted that his administration would do everything necessary to widen the net to accommodate more women and youths.

Echoing earlier remarks by Vice President Kashim Shettima on World MSMEs Day, Tinubu said his administration would provide access to single-digit loans for Nigerian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises within the shortest time feasible.

Earlier in his remarks, the APC National Youth Leader, Israel, told the President that, as representatives of all the youth organs of the party, they had come to congratulate him on the party’s victory at the polls and seek inclusion in appointments into the dissolved boards and agencies of government