From Ijeoma John Nnewi
As May 29, 2024 when President Bola Tinubu will be marking his one year in office fast approaches, the All Progressives Congress (APC) South-East Organisng Secretary, Mr Dozie Ikedife (jnr) has ex-rayed some of the activities of the Tinubu’s administration with an ‘A’ as his score.
Mr Ikedife jnr who reflected on the President’s actions so far and his inaugural speech, told journalists in Nnewi, Anambra state, yesterday, that the time President Tinubu’s government removed the subsidy was apt.
He said that the bid to remove the subsidy started with the previous administration, saying what happened was that Tinubu’s administration came in and amplified subsidy removal.
He noted that subsidy removal had yield a lot of fruits and lots lot of dividends for the Nigerian masses. He argued that the only issue was that citizens had failed to hold their state governments accountable for the poor infrastructure in the states.
“Look at the allocations from the federal government to the states. The states allocations have doubled since Tinubu came in as President of Nigeria and all that extra money was accrued from the savings of subsidy removal.
“So, what the states receive now are quite higher than what they were receiving before and these allocations from the federal government are supposed to be felt by the citizens. Remember that the states are responsible to their citizens and the LGAs are responsible to people at the grassroots.
“The State has emasculated the Local Government system and decided to do as they pleased with the federal allocations. So that’s what’s going on. I will say squarely that they should blame the hardship on the state governments. The state Governors have refused to cushion the effect of subsidy removal by the federal government, “he explained.
On Tinubu’s fight against corruption, he said the President was on course. According to him, Nigerians should understand that corruption in Nigeria was endemic, adding that corruption had eaten deep into the fabrics of the system.
He said that anybody fighting corruption in Nigeria would have to spend a long time for you to see what the person is doing.
“But I want to tell you that this federal government under President Bola Tinubu is very serious about fighting corruption and government is doing anything within its powers to fight corruption and see that it is brought down to the barest minimum. So, I applaud the government of Bola Tinubu in what he has done fighting corruption so far.
“You have to understand that the fight against corruption doesn’t start and end with the government.
“It has to do with the citizens. How patriotic are we? You can ask yourself that question. The people running the government, I mean the civil servants, how patriotic are they?
“You will find out that we have more corruption in rank and file of the civil service than you have at the higher echelon. No corruption can be perpetrated in the ministry if the rank and file of people in the ministry are not part and parcel of it. We need to have total reorientation of our citizens over their mindset towards corruption for the fight to succeed, “he insisted.
On why federal government has not fulfilled its promise to make the refineries functional which was expected December 2023 as government promised, Ikedife assured that government had been busy in that direction. He disclosed that the federal government had continued to encourage the effort of Dangote refinery.
“The federal government has given the Dangote refinery maximum co-operation and in the next one month Dangote refinery is going to begin to distribute PMS. And I’m quite optimistic that if it begins to share PMS that the cost of the product will come down a little bit lower just like we have seen in the cost of diesel.
“And with the effort of this administration, you can see that our refineries in Warri and Port Harcourt are almost ready to start production. Also, a lot of modular refineries are coming up and I’m optimistic that by second quarter of next year Nigeria will begin to export refined petroleum products, “he explained..
He talked about power supply where he disclosed that right now Nigeria is generating more electricity than it is distributing. He insisted that Nigeria as a nation had to hold Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (Discos) accountable for them to be able to distribute more generated electricity. Discos, he said, must be held accountable so that they could find money and invest more on distribution.
He noted that the federal government has been bold enough to say that power generation is now out of the exclusive reserve of the FG. What this means is that states can now partner with private companies to generate electricity. We have to be patient and give this policy time to manifest. I’m very optimistic that the federal government is moving in the right direction.
On palliatives, he said: “Well, you have to understand that when the government comes up with such a policy, that is meant to ameliorate the sufferings of the people. A responsible government will always come up with palliatives. Palliatives distribution is a temporary measure just like bandage over a wound until you get to the hospital. It is just a temporary measure until the effects of the policy begin to get clear.
” Also in oil and gas sector, government has actually deregulated petroleum products like PMS and diesel. And as we get more products refined in Nigeria, the prices will continue to go down. Palliatives are just a measure until these refineries begin to work at optimum capacity and people will begin to appreciate and enjoy the federal government policy in all aspects.
“You said President Tinubu was overwhelmed by the problems on the ground when he assumed office. I don’t know what you mean by being overwhelmed. I don’t know who is coming up with that perception. Maybe that’s your personal view.
“This is a man who asked for the job, a man who campaigned for the job. He lobbied Nigerians to give him the job.
“He was sworn in as the Nigerian President and he hit the ground running. And when you look at his economic policies, he has implemented a lot and continues to implement a lot.
“Look at the policies he has been implementing across board, just a typical of a man who got the saddle and hit the road. President Tinubu cannot be overwhelmed over the problems facing Nigeria. He is tackling the problems one at a time. His score card is quite high. There is no well-meaning Nigerian that would not score President Tinubu an ‘A’ in his endeavour. Most Nigerians believe in him.
On Anambra governorship election in 2025, Mr Ikedife said everything was by God’s grace. He assured that the APC was going to take advantage of what he described as poor performance of Governor Charles Soludo. He said that Governor Soludo had shown that he was overwhelmed by the problem in Anambra, adding that the APC was going to take over the state to correct all the anomalies.
