By Alaowei Okoronwanta
Former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege spoke the truth when he decried the unbearable hardship foisted on Nigerians by the numbing economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress APC.
Senator Omo-Agege in his 2024 Christmas message said: “We acknowledge that the recent reforms have caused hardship for many Nigerians, particularly with the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the naira’s multiple exchange rates.”
This truth resonates well with the reality that has become the misfortune that has become the lot of Nigerians who daily pine away in economic distress.
Nigerians today have had their life value reduced because of the actions of the APC Federal Government that removed subsidy on fuel without giving a deep thought to the action it was taking and the negative consequences of such on the well-being of Nigerians.
Nigerians recall with disappointment the sad turn of events on them since the Tinubu-led APC Federal Government came to power.
And this disappointment is further exacerbated by the obvious uninspiring efforts being made without success to turn things around, thus confirming the claims of the generality of well meaning Nigerians that the President Tinubu administration is clueless and incompetent to run the affairs of Nigeria.
Therefore, when Senator Omo-Agege saw the truth and declared it, he simply confirmed the cynicism, disappointment and dissatisfaction of Nigerians with a federal government that failed to consider the well-being of Nigerians, especially the negative implications that its policy initiatives would have on the people.
Today, the value of the Naira, Nigeria’s national currency is not worth the paper on which it is printed and Nigerians are provocatively hungry.
What Nigerians expected of the President Tinubu administration which the government appear not favourably disposed to do was to put an end to the importation of fuel by encouraging the Dangote Refinery with support and backing to make fuel available to Nigerians at low cost.
But it appears that the government is more disposed and comfortable with selling crude oil to oversea buyers who now bring them in as refined products with high cost thus making life unbearable for the people.
A government that is serious and disposed to the well-being of Nigeria and Nigerians would have in the first six months of assuming office taken valuable steps that will restore the country’s refineries to viable production.
This is why Omo-Agege’s lamentations about the plight of Nigerians in the face of the economic challenges they face because of the terrible policies of the President Tinubu-led APC Federal Government must be understood as speaking the truth.
His decrying and denunciation of the evil effects of the policies on the people resonates well.
What it means is that the reality of the devastating effect of the APC Federal Government’s policy on Nigerians can no longer be denied.
Senator Omo-Agege now sees clearly, and his statement decrying the harsh effect of the Federal Government’s policies is very well acknowledged.
