President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, urged Nigerians to persevere with his administration some more, saying he understands the pains they must be experiencing since the discontinuance of the petrol subsidy on May 29.
The President gave the assurance that the hardships of the moment would eventually give way to a more prosperous, equitable and inclusive economy.
“You have endured; you just need to persevere a little bit more. It’s not going to be easy to make the necessary changes,” Tinubu told a delegation of youths leaders from across the 36 states, led by the All Progressives Congress Youth Leader, Mr Dayo Israel, to the State House, Abuja.
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.
