Fatimah Otunsanya
President Bola Tinubu on Friday urged Nigerians to count their blessings relative to Kenya and other African countries he said were grappling with deeper economic crises.
This was as he acknowledged that fuel prices were inflicting hardship on citizens and promised measures to ease the burden on vulnerable Nigerians.
“Let’s just thank God together that you are better off listening to them in Kenya and other African countries. What they are going through,” Tinubu said while inaugurating projects executed by Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri in Yenagoa, the state capital.
They include a bridge linking communities, dual carriageways and the Yenogwa City Road.
The comparison comes weeks after pump prices climbed to N1,300 per litre, largely driven by the US-Israeli military action against Iran which blocked the Strait of Hormuz and rattled global oil markets.
Upon assuming office nearly three years ago, Tinubu removed the petrol subsidy on his first day in office, a decision that triggered a cascading surge in fuel prices and transport costs that has since compressed household incomes across the country.
In Bayelsa, the President said, “The fuel prices are biting hard. But look around. We will continue to find ways to ameliorate the suffering of the vulnerable.”
He added: “This is a government that cares. We will look at the numbers with the finance, economic planning and budgeting, and we will see what we can do to ease the burden.”
Tinubu attributed the hardship partly to global forces beyond Nigeria’s control, describing it as fallout from “the challenge of the war we didn’t call for, but the effects of an interrelated world that we share.”
Kenya has witnessed its own economic turbulence in recent times, including widespread anti-government protests in 2024 over tax hikes that forced President William Ruto to withdraw a finance bill and reshuffle his cabinet under public pressure.
In Yenagoa, he commended Diri for what he called “very purposeful leadership,” and said the projects demonstrated that development accelerates when federal and state governments work toward a shared purpose.
“Development advances further, faster when the federal government and the state government work in partnership and towards a shared purpose,” he said.
In a lighthearted exchange, Tinubu pushed back on the governor’s bid to have a state-built road reclassified as a federal road and attract reimbursement from the Federal Government.
“When we met in my office, you were asking for this exception and that waiver and everything. Now you want reimbursement. It’s now Federal Road. I will take it with me,” he quipped.
The President also reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to defeating terrorism and banditry, saying his government would “continue to train our men and women of the armed forces.”
