The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s government, saying it inherited a fragile economy on the verge of collapse.
Chief Wike made this statement Friday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, dismissing claimed that the Tinubu government damaged the country’s economy.
”He took over an economy that was gone. Was totally gon.
“Nigeria was ready to be buried. Luckily, it has not been buried. Someone [Tinubu] came and said, ‘No, I will not allow you to be buried, ” he said.
Wike specifically defended the removal of fuel subsidy, saying it was a necessary move to prevent further economic drain.
Wike admitted that while the move came with a lot of challenges, including the hike in the cost of the essential product from around N200 to about N1,000 per litre, state governments now have more funds to work with.
“Take, for example, the fuel subsidy removal. Everyone said this was a scam. So what do we do? He [Tinubu] came and said, ‘I will not allow this again. It has to go.
“But a lot of money will be put in the hands of states or the federating units, ” he said.
He noted that state governments now have more funds to work with, and commended the policy.
“There’s so much, there’s so much money in the hands of the state, whether anybody likes it or not. There’s so much money, ” he added.
Wike’s comments come after former Minister Rotimi Amaechi claimed that the current government has “completely buried the economy.”
Wike however, disagreed, saying that two years was too short to judge the administration’s performance.
He praised President Tinubu for taking bold steps to improve the economy and called for support for the government.
