To boost national development and strengthen the economy, President Bola Tinubu has decided to eliminate multiple foreign exchange rates and cut the fuel subsidy.
On Sunday, Tinubu said this while speaking to the country on a webcast on the continuous nationwide demonstrations.
To stop the greed and profits that smugglers and rent-seekers were abusing, the President stated he made the difficult choice to cut the fuel subsidy and destroy several foreign exchange networks.
Tinubu further said that the action also stopped the excessive subsidies the nation had given to surrounding nations to the disadvantage of its citizens, therefore weakening the economy.
The President said that numerous misalignments had hampered the development of the Nigerian economy, which had stayed anaemic for decades.
“Just over a year ago, our dear nation, Nigeria, reached a point where we could not afford to continue using temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn generations,” he added.
“These choices I took were required if we were to undo the decades of ineffective economic mismanagement that failed us.
Yes, I agree; I stop the buck right here. For that reason, therefore, I can guarantee you that my whole attention is on providing effective government to the people.
Tinubu said that throughout the past 13 months, his government had dropped debt servicing expenditure from 97% to 68% from earlier levels.
He said, “We have also cleared about five billion dollar legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations without any negative effects on our programmes.”
“This has given us greater financial freedom and space to spend more money on you, our citizens, to finance vital social services like education and healthcare.
“It has also led to our state and local governments receiving the highest allocations ever in our country’s history from the Federation Account.”
