Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the President inherited an economy that was “living on borrowed time” and dangerously close to collapse when he assumed office.
Speaking at the Working People United Good Governance Summit in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said Tinubu had a choice to govern “as a politician” or “as a statesman.” According to him, while “the politician thinks about the next election, a leader and statesman thinks about the next generation,” and the President chose the latter.
He said the fuel subsidy, which consumed trillions of naira annually, was unsustainable and mainly benefited a privileged few, while the foreign exchange regime was draining reserves and distorting markets. “Our options had become limited, and this President, to his lasting credit, chose the path of responsibility rather than the path of delay,” he stated.
Gbajabiamila acknowledged that the reforms came with significant hardship, saying, “We all know that these reforms exacted a real and painful cost,” with rising prices and increased pressure on households. However, he stressed that “we have never claimed that the medicine was painless,” insisting that “our country would not have survived without it.”
He added that the government’s responsibility goes beyond implementing reforms, saying it must also “ease the pain and nurse the nation back to health.”