IZUNNA OKAFOR
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Anambra State, Chief Marcel Udegbunam, said President Ahmed Bola Tinubu has put smiles on the faces of Nigerians through the various interventions, transformative economic and social-oriented policies of his government.
Chief Udegbunam disclosed this while interacting with this reporter in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, on Monday over the current economic situation of the country.
According to him, President Tinubu, as a former governor, has the experience, knowledge, and the general leadership competence required to take Nigeria and Nigerians to the Promised Land. He added that the President has already begun to manifest his competence and the interest of his government in promoting the well-being of the citizens.
When asked how the President has shown these, the APC Chieftain said evidences abound, adding that the “Tinubu-led government took the bold step to remove fuel subsidy which Nigerians had been crying for since, declared state of emergency on food scarcity that has been in the country for decades, reformed and improved the country’s security architecture, increased the supply of fertilizer and farm inputs to boost food production; released of more than 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet, and other grains from the National Food Reserve to feed hungry Nigerians; and also rolled out many social and economic intervention programs to help better the lives of citizens.”
“And all these and many more have put smiles on the faces of Nigerians,” he added.
Concerning the unstable naira-dollar exchange rate and the continuous depreciating value of naira, Chief Udegbunam said the naira-dollar exchange rate did not start fluctuating today and has been there since the days of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP-led administration in the country. He added that the APC-led government is working hard to change the narrative for good, noting that Nigerians will be shocked and marvelled to see the effect very soon.
“You know that this issue didn’t start today; it has been there from the time of the PDP government. And so, nobody should blame Tinubu for that. However, the APC-led Federal Government is not sleeping over it. And I assure you that Nigerians will be shocked and marvelled to see the positive effects very soon,” he said.
When asked his view about the increasing high cost of living, he authoritatively stated Nigerians are the cause and the beneficiaries of the increasing prices of commodities, stressing that nobody should blame Tinubu for that.
According to him, “Aside the dollar issue which I have already spoken about, Nigerians are both the architects and the beneficiaries of the increased cost of living. Many Nigerians do businesses with greed and lack of contentment, always trying to take negative advantage of any slightest opportunity to exploit their fellow countrymen.”
When asked how, Mr. Udegbunam said: “Could you imagine that because of the upward adjustment in dollar exchange value to naira, many Nigerians began to add money unnecessarily to their goods. Even an old woman who sells palm oil in the village would tell you that dollar has increased and would therefore, add money to her palm oil. Tell me what the palm oil she produced in her backyard has got to do with dollar. Is that not greediness? And tomorrow people will start blaming Tinubu.
“Even some people who have some old stocks in their wares, once they hear that there is a price increase anywhere, they would immediately increase the selling price of those old stocks they have in his wares. And if you ask them why, he would ask you where will they see money to buy another one when they finish selling the ones they have. Pure greediness!
“Is it not supposed to be sold at the normal old price you ought to sell it, since you bought when it was at the old price; and then when you buy at news price, you now sell at new price? But many don’t do that. And that is pure greediness, I must tell you.”
Continuing, the APC Chieftain said “Be it as it may, I am not even worried about it because it is the same Nigerians who are the architects that are still the beneficiaries and the victims at the same time. If you add money to your palm oil, the person you’re selling it to will also add money to his garri or fufu, and you will still buy it with that same money you made from the palm oil. So who loses or gains at the end?
“If two of us are the only foodstuffs sellers in our village and we were buying from each other to make our soup with N4,000 before; after you must have doubled the prices of your foodstuffs and I doubled my own, you would see that we will now be making that same quantity of soup with N8,000 naira, and we will still be making the same percentage of gain we were making in the past. So, at the end, you will see that nobody is losing.
“So, my brother forget the noise making about high cost of living in the country because the same people who created it are the same people feeling it and still benefiting from it as well.
“If you ask me, the only people who may be at the receiving end of the negative effects of the price hike are the salary earners whose salaries may remain static overtime; even the drivers or transporters and artisans would also double the cost of their services. And at the end, they make up for the higher amount they paid on purchases, which will, in turn, reflect on the price of that commodity; and life keeps going.”