A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye has pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to act fast and end the hardship and hunger in the country.
According to him, what Nigerians are experiencing at the moment makes it mandatory for the President to act faster and employ strategies that would bring immediate relief.
DailyPost reported that Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, expressed confidence in President Tinubu’s ability to alleviate the suffering of the masses while speaking with journalists on Sunday in Osogbo.
However, he suggested that strategies that would bring instant relief should be adopted.
He also noted the economic hardship the masses are currently facing due to the increase in pump prices, which has led to the rise in food prices, electricity tariffs, cooking gas costs, and other essentials, thus making life unbearable for Nigerians.
He said the recent increase in the pump price has worsened the hardship Nigerian masses are contending with.
In his words, “Nigerians are hopeful that there will be a positive turnaround in the country, but measures to achieve this must be accelerated.
“There is no doubt that the president is doing everything humanly possible to alleviate the suffering of the masses, but a faster approach must be considered.
“The president should ensure that every bureaucratic bottleneck impeding the swift implementation of policies that will put smiles on the faces of the masses is removed.
“The economic suffering the masses are currently going through is becoming unbearable, and the president must act fast.”
Recall that mid-last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) fixed the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at N855 per litre.
The increase, however, forced most filling stations to raise their pump prices to between N1,100 and N1,200, depending on the availability of PMS.
Oyintiloye also urged the president to address the delay in implementing the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imported food items two months after the initiative was announced.
He added that since the initiative was intended to combat rising food inflation across the country, there should not be any delay in its implementation.
Oyintiloye recalled that on August 7, 2024, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, assured that the implementation of the policy would commence the following week once the guidelines were ready, lamenting that, up until now, the policy has yet to be implemented.
He appealed to those responsible for drafting the guidelines for the policy’s implementation to do the needful, adding that the initiative, when implemented, would lower food prices without affecting local production.
He urged Nigerians to continue supporting the President, noting that while the policies being implemented might seem painful at the moment, they will be of great benefit in the long run.