From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Olatunbosun Oyintiloye has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to act quickly and save the masses from further hardship.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker said the suffering Nigerians are passing through at the moment has made it mandatory for the President to act faster and employ strategies that would bring instant reprieve.
Although the APC chieftain expressed confidence in President Tinubu’s ability to ameliorate the suffering of the masses, he however suggested that strategies that would bring instant relief should be adopted.
Oyintiloye, a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), also noted the economic hardship the masses are currently going through due to the increase in pump price of petrol which has led to the rise in prices of food stuffs, as well as rise in electricity tariff, cost of cooking gas, among others, thus making life unbearable for Nigerians.
Oyintiloye stated further that the recent increase in the pump price of petrol has worsened the hardship Nigerian masses are contending with.
He said”Nigerians are hopeful that there will be positive turn around 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,” he added.
Oyintiloye also urged the president to address the delay in the implementation of the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imported food items two months after the initiative was announced.
The ex lawmaker also said 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.
“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 road blocks.
“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.
“That is not good enough. The president cannot be every where 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 implemented very quickly,” he said.
He appealed to people responsible for the drafting of the guidelines for the implementation of the policy to do the needful, adding that the initiative, when implemented would crash food prices without affecting local production.
He urged Nigerians to continue supporting the President, saying that all the policies implemented at the moment may seem painful but would be of great benefits in the long run.
