A lawmaker from Osun Central, Senator Ajagunnla Olubiyi Fadeyi, has advised President Bola Tinubu to call an urgent national stakeholders engagement forum to discuss long-term solutions to the country’s severe challenges, as the cost of living crisis worsens amid rising levels of insecurity.
The Punch stated that Fadeyi expressed her appreciation to the President for giving Nigerians palliative care, but she questioned why the intended recipients were not receiving the aid.
The senator from the Peoples Democratic Party stated that, as a legislator who represents the people, the state of affairs in the nation has come to a point where decision-makers need to band together to find a solution.
In response to inquiries about his evaluation of the country’s situation since the start of the current administration, Fadeyi stated, “I would say, it’s dire, and I can confirm that with all sense of responsibility. We feel the misery of the people far more easily than any other politician because, as representatives of our people, we are closer to the people on all levels. Is it the rising expense of living, rising levels of insecurity, the depreciating value of the local currency, which inevitably makes inflation worse, or even the harsh effects of the elimination of gasoline subsidies?
“I think the president has to urgently call for a stakeholders engagement, a no-holds-barred, non-political but frank conversation. This kind of national stakeholder engagement needs to be spearheaded by the president. At such a forum, concrete solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems now facing the country must be agreed upon.”
The Senator argued that the manner the palliatives’ managers and drivers have been carrying out the initiatives has to be reviewed to determine why the desired outcomes have not been obtained.
In June of last year, Tinubu declared in his inauguration speech that the petrol subsidy would be eliminated. A program of uniformity of exchange rates was also instituted by the administration. Both policies appear to be ineffective. The administration has stated that the difficulties will end shortly. Nonetheless, Nigerians continue to perceive the situation as intolerable.
However, according to Fadeyi, hard choices must be made to protect Nigerians from their rapidly deteriorating economic circumstances.
“To be honest, very courageous decisions may need to be made if we are to prevent our men and women from going hungry, businesses from closing, and unemployment from getting worse, he stated.
‘”For instance, we’ll reverse the subsidy elimination policy if necessary! Instead, why not turn it around and address the corruption in the supply chain? This will stop inflation if it occurs.
“It is common knowledge that the largest expense borne by any organization, regardless of size, is energy. There will be less money spent on food, so at least people can eat. Labour discontent will also decline since salary increases won’t need to be discussed.
The Harvard Senior Executive Fellow stressed the necessity for decisive action to address the difficulties, even though he acknowledged there were no fast remedies.
Without a doubt, there are no shortcuts. You can’t anticipate any rapid fixes because some of the problems we are facing have been developing for a while. The current leadership won’t resort to magic, but at the very least, we can stop things from getting worse before taking further action, according to Fadeyi.
Fadeyi praised Tinubu for his monthly savings of over N200 billion from the federal budget. Nonetheless, he supported the creation of the National Subsidy Fund. This would assist the government in implementing food, agriculture, transportation, education, and other important infrastructure projects that will benefit Nigerians, particularly the income assistance program for unemployed youth.
