A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu, to quickly address the growing hunger and economic hardship in the country.
Mr Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, made the appeal while speaking with journalists on Sunday, September 8, 2024, in Osogbo.
He said that the current suffering and hardship Nigerians were passing through required a faster and impactful approach.
According to him, although there was no doubt that the President was working hard to ameliorate the suffering of the people, a quicker approach was needed.
Mr Oyintiloye, a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), noted that the economic hardship through the hike in the prices of foodstuff, petrol, electricity, and cooking gas, among others was becoming unbearable.
He said the recent increment in the fuel pump price will no doubt worsen the hardship the masses were currently going through.
“Nigerians are hopeful that there will be a positive turnaround in the country but measures to achieve this must be accelerated.
“There is no doubt that the President is doing everything humanly possible to ameliorate the suffering of the masses but a faster approach must be considered.
“The President should ensure that every bureaucratic bottleneck that is impeding the swift implementation of policies that will put smiles on the faces of the masses is removed.
“The economic suffering the masses are currently going through is becoming unbearable and the President must act fast. Nigerians are hungry,” he said.
Mr Oyintiloye also urged the President to see to the delay in the implementation of the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imported food items two months later.
The APC chieftain said that since the initiative was said to be part of measures to combat rising food inflation across the country, there should not be any delay in its implementation by the concerned authorities.
Mr Oyintiloye, who noted that on August 7, 2024, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, assured that the implementation of the policy would commence the following week once the guidelines were ready, said up till now the policy was yet to be implemented.
“There is no doubt that the President is passionate and willing to put smiles on the faces of the masses but those who are in charge of implementing these policies should not be seen as roadblocks.
“The President gave a directive to the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Services that a 150-day duty-free window to allow the importation of maize, husked brown rice, and wheat and almost two months after this is yet to be implemented.
“This is not good enough. The President cannot be everywhere and that is why his foot soldiers must be proactive in taking steps to achieve the President’s desire.
“The masses are angry and hungry, and that is why all measures to ameliorate this should be acted on faster,” he stated.
He appealed to Nigerians for continued support to the President, saying that all the policies implemented at the moment might seem painful but would be of great benefit in the long run.