The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi
Adesina, in this interview with OLALEKAN ADETAYO, speaks on the various
allegations of dictatorial tendencies levelled against President
Muhammadu Buhari among other sundry issues. But the part that struck me
the most is when he said it’s not true that Nigerians are suffering.
This
government promised Nigerians a better life but in the last one year,
all what they have experienced is suffering. Was the change mantra about
a change for the worse or for the better?
“It is mendacious to say that in the last one year, what Nigerians have been experiencing is suffering. It is not true. That can only be a private opinion. Whoever
holds that opinion has a right to it but to say that all Nigerians have
experienced in the last one year is suffering is not true.”
“There
is a lot of hope in the land. When this government took over about a
year ago, there was despondency in the land. One did not even know
whether Nigeria was going to continue to exist as one country or not.
But now, that is no longer the situation. In terms of security,
anti-corruption fight and even the economy, there is a lot of hope.”
“Nigeria
is like a plane taking off with its nose in the air. As long as the
nose of the plane is in the air, you know that it is gaining altitude.
Before this government came, the nose of the plane was down and one did
not know whether it would land safely or crash-land. There is a lot of
hope in the country now, so I will not agree that there has been suffering in the past one year, it is not true.”
So
with the high cost of products and services in the market due to the
increase in fuel pump price, the disappearance of common tomato and 100%
increase in food products, with power supply at a record zero
megawatts, a record 1.5 million Nigerians jobless, people losing their
businesses because of the high cost of production, companies downsizing
and people losing their jobs to join the already crowded labor market
Mr. Femi Adesina says we are not suffering. If our government don’t
think we are suffering then we are on a very long thing.
…PUNCHNG