By Ahmed ‘Lateef
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is undertaking reforms through his renewed hope agenda to rescue the country from total collapse.
The Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mallam ‘Lanre Issa-Onilu, drop the hint in Ilorin on Thursday when he featured on the 46th Media Parliament of the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
It was themed “Can Citizens Still Be Hopeful in a Renewed Hope Era”.
Issa-Onilu told the media parliament that previous administrations chose to mend the cracks in the building instead of pulling down it completely for reconstruction.
He explained that Tinubu opted for reconstruction of the nation so as to give it a solid foundation, reminding Nigerians that reforms often come with pain.
The NOA Director General pleaded with the Nigerians to show understanding and exercise patience and assured that the ongoing reforms would yield fruit.
He noted that the withdrawal of subsidy on fuel, for Instance, has caused significant rise in the monthly allocation shared among the three tiers of government from the federation accounts.
Issa-Onilu added that with the availability of financial resources, many sub-national units of government have been able to execute infrastructural projects to the admiration of their citizens.
“We are anchoring the hope of this country on the fact that potential has always been there. If we have not realized it, it is due to our own fault. So, there is a cause to be hopeful. One day somebody would come and ensure that we realize that potential. That is why the hope has been anchored.
“In this era, the second leg of the hope where we also anchor that hope is the fact that we know who President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is, and I can tell you on my honour that I have had the privilege of interacting with him closely in a way that I can pontificate on any matter that has to do with him.
“And for those of us who have not had the privilege, we can take Lagos as our example. Lagos today, as I tell people, is on autopilot. There is no way anyone will be Governor and wouldn’t perform because it has become systemic, programmatic; it is plug and play. You only need to get it and continue from where the last person stopped. Everything you see happening in Lagos was in the blueprint. He started it, laid the foundation and successive governments have been coming in to continue and review.
“Why is Nigeria not in that situation. We have not had the privilege of a President that understands what it means to govern a problematic environment as ours. So, in 2023, the President climbed the rostrum, held his microphone and pronounced that subsidy (on fuel) is gone. If we begin to unpack that statement, it means a lot, and what has happened in the last 16, 17, 18 months, has attested to what that statement meant not only to the President but to the rest of this country.
“I made a statement in one of my recent interactions, which went viral. I said Nigeria has been like a building and all of us Nigerians like tenants inside the building. And the President or the government as caretaker. All the government that had come realized that the building has cracks and the danger of collapse was apparent.
“The building has become so bad that the only way out was to bring the building down, lay a solid foundation and rebuild. But where are you going to put the tenants during that period? The more they mended the cracks, the more the building was threatening to collapse. And thank God, if we had continued that way, God forbid, the rest of Africa will not contain the Exodus.
“With the situation that we are, we have journeyed through a lot and tortuous road. So, we had a President who says I’m not going to patch or mend anything otherwise the building will eventually collapse on our heads. What we need to do is to bring this building down, lay a solid foundation and put in place a solid building that all of us, when we move in, can be comfortable and safe.
“But when you want to do that, the tenants have to leave the building and in the process, they will be exposed to the elements; sun will beat them, rain will beat them and we cannot ask them to keep quiet when rain and sun start beating them.
“The question we should ask ourselves. Are we going to listen to people who say you should have left us in the building, let the building collapse on our heads. Or those who say we understand why we have to be in the sun and under the rain but be fast about the reconstruction. I think the people who say be fast about the reconstruction are the people who are more realistic.
“We all know that the option of allowing the building to collapse on our heads was not an option we should support in any way. The option that will take us through the difficulty but we know ultimately we would see the outcome that we all desire. I think that should be the option that we all should support”, the NOA Director General said.
END.
