The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has said Nigeria needs President Bola Tinubu beyond 2027 to ensure consistency and continuity in the economic reforms introduced by the administration.
Alake, who is the Lead Spokesperson of the 2027 All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council, made the statement on Wednesday during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.
He said Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly the removal of the fuel subsidy, had freed up resources for infrastructure development and other government responsibilities across the country, stressing that the reforms needed to be protected through the President’s re-election in 2027.
According to Alake, Tinubu took the risk of removing the subsidy despite being aware that the decision could have consequences for his political future and re-election bid.
He said Nigerians were aware of the state of the economy before the present administration assumed office in 2023, adding that the reforms and policies required to correct “these distortions and contradictions in the Nigerian society” had been identified by previous administrations but lacked the political will to implement them.
“If a man who is a politician himself, who should be very sensitive to elections coming back to office, decided to take the bullet, regardless of the consequences on his own political career, on behalf of the nation, because the nation had to be reset, I think it’s just very, very important for us to appreciate that. And that is the kind of person that Nigeria needs for consistency.
“Yes, those hard decisions have been taken. The hard decisions, as I said, must have their own attendant challenges. There’s no government policy anywhere in the world that is 100% foolproof, especially when it has to do with human beings.
“Like I always say, human beings are the most difficult factor of economic production or economic progress. What are the factors of production? Land, capital, and all that machinery. But the most difficult to manage is labour, because labour means human beings,” Alake stated.
The minister also said some individuals had benefited from the negative economic system that contributed to Nigeria’s difficulties, citing the former fuel subsidy regime as an example.
Alake maintained that oil cartels were among those who benefited from the subsidy arrangement and allegedly made large profits by purchasing fuel at lower prices and moving it across Nigeria’s borders.
“The beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy were the oil cartels. They would buy the fuel at a lower price, cross the border, immediately make humongous profits and come back to Nigeria to oppress the rest of us.
“Those people were benefiting from it, and so when the fuel subsidy was removed, did you think that they would fold their arms and be looking? No, they will fight back, they will push back, and they are fighting back, and they are pushing back.”
Source: Dele Alake
