Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi has addressed the timeframe required for President Bola Tinubu to address Nigeria’s challenges. 

Malagi in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program emphasized that seven months were insufficient for Tinubu to fully address the nation’s issues.

He stated,  “I want you to remember that the President is seven months old in office. I am not going to make excuses that seven months is just a short time.

“But for a long-term plan, you need a lot more time to put structures in place. But, of course, as you trudge along, there will be shocks, turbulence, and occasional dislocations that you would find. But the vision of the president is very clear: he wants to take Nigeria to the desired prosperity.

“He works day and night to achieve that. Every day, all the ministers and everyone else are working in that direction, but the results are not seen yet. We ask Nigerians to be a little more patient.

“I know it’s difficult, especially when people are finding it hard to purchase food items as a result of these policies, but the government is doing a lot to address them.”

Malagi defended the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy despite the ensuing increase in living costs and inflation. He argued that the removal was necessary to address longstanding economic challenges and free up resources for development.

While acknowledging the difficulties faced by Nigerians, Malagi underscored the importance of recognizing the broader economic context and the need for structural reforms. 

“You’re premising your argument on the fact that this problem just started yesterday. The foundation of our economy had taken a beating a long time ago.

”The substructure of our national economy has been one that cannot hold a meaningful substructure on it.

“So, it is important that Nigerians recognise that the President and his team would have to go back to reset that and that is why from day one, he said, ‘look, subsidy issue has to go’.

”He had to expect that there would be this pain, of course. He anticipated that Nigerians would encounter some difficulties but it would be worse if that subsidy did not go.

”It would have been difficult to carry out any meaningful development. We needed to free up resources,” he stated.