The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) has challenged critics of President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast on the protests to provide facts to disprove his position on what his administration has been doing to manage the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy on the citizenry.
In a statement signed by its Chairman, Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary, Dapo Okubanjo, the group noted that it was ironic that those who insisted on a Presidential address to appease protesters are same people dismissing the speech as empty because it does not match their scripts.
The fact remains that many of them did not bother to listen to what the President had to say. They were out for what they wanted to hear. The more reason why their reactions were decibels of rancorous and discordant tunes, very dormant, dogmatic, and pedantic, the group said.
“We find it strange that people who are supposedly concerned about hardship in the country and opted to stage ‘peaceful protests’ were not prepared to listen to appeals for calm and initiatives being taken by the administration to address their concerns.
“For us, the speech was a revealing one in which President Bola Tinubu opened up on how revenue accruing to the federation account has doubled in the last six months as a result of his reforms, and proceeded to enumerate how funds were being utilized and would be utilized for the people’s benefit.
“We believe that if those people had listened with an open mind they would have picked where the President said thst aggregate revenue has doubled to N9.1 trillion in the first part of this year and the use it could be put into by all tiers of governments to improve the living standards of the citizenry.
“But because there is already a jaundiced mindset preconcieved on regime change and anarchy, they opted not to hear anything. For them, anything short of the President acceding to their 15-point demand, or the key one on restoring fuel subsidy, was not acceptable.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to take a closer look at what the President said he was doing with saved funds and hold him to his words or even suggest ideas on how better the funds could be used, if they had any?
“As for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its perennial Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, we were not surprised that they have refused to toe the path of a responsible and reasonable opposition with their reaction to the President’s speech inspite of their posturing.
“Rather than encourage chaos and dissent with their opportunistic stance on the speech, we think it would be appropriate for Atiku and his party to ponder over comments made by former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the ongoing protests in England. There is also a recent example closer to Nigeria from Kenya on how an opposition is expected to behave when faced with a protest capable of compounding a country’s politico-economic issues.”
The TMSG also took a look at some of the things the President said and challenged critics to prove him wrong.
“For the first time in Nigeria, we now have a student loan scheme with about N45 billion disbursed to universities of the first set of successful applicants.
“There is also a first-of-its kind N200 billion consumer credit scheme which has now kicked with 1.6 million Nigerians showing interest within the first few weeks of the opening of its portal.
“The Renewed Hope Housing scheme is gradually taking shape with the first phase under construction in 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with plans to have estates in each of the 36 states and the FCT.
“As for those who are rightly concerned about skyrocketing food inflation, it may be worth reminding them of the President’s directive on a 150-day, duty free importation of essential food items including rice, wheat, maize and cowpea which the Nigerian Custom has began to implement.
“This is aside from tonnes of food items handed to state governments for onward delivery to vulnerable people in their respective domains.
“It is already common knowledge that all tiers of government have, in the last 14 months, received improved allocations from the Federation Account with an average disbursement of N1.2 trillion a month compared to an high of N655 billion in May 2023.
“But it also recently emerged that N570 billion has been released to states, including those governed by opposition parties for livelihood support.
‘In addition to this, 600,000 nano businesses have benefitted from nano grants, while an additional 400,000 others are waiting to benefit.
“These are a few of the initiatives rolled out by the Tinubu administration and we make bold to say that if fuel subsidy has continued, it may have been impossible to put these things in place,” the group added.
TMSG also urged Nigerians to consider taking subnationals to task on what they have been doing with their improved allocations rather than accepting unnecessary excuses for non-performance from state governments.