Uche Nwosu, a former chief of staff to the governor of Imo State and president of the President Ugwumba Leadership Center for Africa, claimed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu utilized the proclamation of a state of emergency on food security as a platform to mitigate the effects of the removal of fuel subsidies.
Nwosu praised Tinubu for his choice in a statement, adding it was the appropriate one.
“The President by this action has demonstrated his understanding, and appreciation of the impact of the removal of subsidy on Petrol Motor Spirit (PMS), on Nigerians, especially the economy of households.
“The current food inflation in the country has been a cause of concern to stakeholders, as hope have in most recent times heightened that the administration would quickly find immediate, long lasting, and innovative solutions to the hardship experienced by citizens as a result of this.
“But by prioritizing urgent intervention through the declaration of a state of emergency in this area, Mr President has left no one in doubt that he is a hands-on-leader who follows developments across the country everyday.
“He has further shown that he is not unmindful of the rising cost of food and how it affects the citizens.
“I therefore agree with the following thematic areas of focus contained in the President’s speech, which underscored that ‘As a direct and immediate response to this crisis, a number of initiatives will be deployed in the coming weeks to reverse this inflationary trend and guarantee future uninterrupted supplies of affordable foods to ordinary Nigerians. As with most emergencies, there are immediate, medium- and long-term interventions and solutions’.
Nwosu also praised the administration's plan to use some of the money saved from the fuel subsidy removal to restructure the agricultural sector and to immediately distribute grains and fertilizer to farmers and households to lessen the impact of the subsidy removal.
