 President Bola Ahmed Tunibu unveiled a broad plan to ease the cost of living pain in Nigeria. Tonight, it is cost the major highlight of his recent broadcasts and reactions that have followed. This is Post-Politics, Diane Mary Anacol. Bola Ahmed Tunibu, the president of Nigeria in his speech to the nation at 7pm yesterday, announced a series of measures aimed at fulfilling his campaign promises and easing hardships for Nigerians. According to him, over one trillion Naira was saved from fuel subsidy payments, which will be channeled into providing student loans for higher education, ensuring that no Nigerian student has to abandon their studies due to financial constraints. President Tunibu in his speech also acknowledged the current challenges, but expressed confidence in the effectiveness of his proposed measures to improve the country's economy and citizens' wellbeing. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labour Congress has expressed dissatisfaction with the promises dished out by the president in his national broadcasts speech, saying it maligns the hardships of Nigerians. Joining us to discuss this is Uppunabor Inko Tara. He is a public affairs analyst. Biyadu Shoumi, who is a political analyst, and Tunji Abdulameed, who is a legal practitioner. Thank you so much, gentlemen, for joining us. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you very much. Good evening. Good evening. Let's start by looking at Mr. President's opener. I'm going to allow us to just listen to what he said. A lot of reactions, like I said at the beginning, have trailed Mr. President's broadcasts, but then many people actually seem to appreciate the fact that the president did sympathize with Nigerians and, of course, seem to understand the pain that we are all facing. To that bit of his opening address. My fellow citizens, I want to talk to you about our economy. It is important that you understand the reasons for the policy measures have taken to combat the serious economic challenges this nation had long faced. I'm not going to talk in difficult terms by dwelling on economic jargon and concepts. I will speak in plain, clear language so that you know where I stand. More importantly, so that you see and hopefully we share my vision regarding the journey to a better, more productive economy for our beloved country. Many would say that this is a departure from the previous administration where many Nigerians begged the president to speak, especially at a time where they needed to hear his voice to most. I'll start with you, Mr. Showmie. Looking at Mr. President's approach and the opener, of course, many would say, like I said, he seemed to understand the plight of Nigerians. But what are your thoughts? Is it enough to say that you understand as opposed to letting the people see what you are saying as opposed to just saying it? Yes. What you've seen with President Bola Tinubu is we've seen a clear departure from the past, from the recent past where the president of the country had the borders to address Nigerians when we're facing challenges or very difficult situations which people feel to comprehend. And we've had a situation where government, you know, 10-tonne blind eye showed, you know, I disregard, you know, for the feelings of the people. But what we've seen with Tinubu's remark, which many people actually agree, is that we've seen a leader who appears to be very compassionate, who empathizes with the people, who feels the pain that they feel, even though he's not the one that presided over, you know, the economic downturns. For instance, the last administration inherited 10 trillion Naira worth of debt and then ended up borrowing 67 trillion Naira in eight years, you know, taking the debt, you know, to over, to about 80 trillion now, which the country is owing. And that is one of the major reasons triangulating the economy. And the fact that currently we pay 70% of our, sorry, 96% of our internal and external earnings to service debt, you know, leave us with no option other than to look for other means of raising revenue. And that is what government has done by removing subsidy. So, and Tinubu seems to, you know, to be in tune with the feelings of the people. We understand the need that we have to, you know, focus on issues, focus on how to alleviate the plight of the people while at the same time providing a long-suffer. And that is what he has tried to do by coming out with his own policies on education clearly to make sure that no one would be deprived of being able to go to school on account of not having money. Then he focused on transportation too, which is to ensure that they manage to have MCNG gases, you know, gas running, power buses, so that the cost of transportation can be brought down. And at the same time, looking at agriculture to bring down the cost of food, which is basically very important, is very essential. When you release 200,000 metric tons of grains from the National Reserve, you're talking about maize and rice. That will go a long way to stabilize the price while at the same time it's pledging to pumping over 200 billion, you know, into agriculture with a future increased productivity. And doing this will provide a sustainable, you know, price stability over a long period of time. And we should not also forget that he's thinking about, he spoke about helping these small-medium enterprises too, including the nano-industries. We will get to that part. I want us to break it down in bits. We will get to that part. I just wanted to, you know, talk about the body language of the president. But let me come to you, Puna, well, quickly. I think the number three thing that the president mentioned in his speech was, you know, that he has always maintained a position that fuel subsidy must go. But I ask you, that Occupy Nigeria protest that happened nationwide, that was, you know, that had frontline opposition members, and I'm talking about when former president Goodlock Jonathan was president. Can we really say that the president had always stood for subsidy going again? He also mentioned something that many of us have heard previous administrations. Jonathan told us that there was a cabal that was strangling, you know, the oil and gas sector. Bahari came and told us he was going to be dealing with the cabal. And now here we are again, president. It was somewhat re-echoing what we've had before. And then the average Nigerian is saying, we know this. This is old news. What are you doing to put an end to this? Subsidy has been removed. But what has changed? You might have said that. What was the question? Oh, I'm asking. I'm asking. So the president did say that he was one that had always stood for subsidy removal. And I'm saying, if we look back at what happened during the Occupy Nigeria protest, can we really give credit to that statement? Again, he's also gone about talking on the issue of subsidy removal and dealing with the cabal. And I'm asking, what has changed now that subsidy has been removed owing to what the president has said? What has changed? The truth is, as far as I'm concerned, the president's speech is just a high blood pressure of deceptive veterans. You know, I always tell leaders, what he's doing right now is like, if you remember in those days, there used to be this breed of rats. They bite and they blow, so that you don't even know that they are biting. That's what the president is doing. You have what you call procedural obligations. You have what you call principia. First and foremost, he came, subsidy was supposed to end by June. So he took a rough decision. On the very first day, he took the oath of office, was the first day he removed subsidy without planning. That's what I'm talking about the president, without planning. And there is no excuse that the people have been in government in the system for years. Let me state this, there is no way in the world as time to be contradicted, where you don't have subsidy. Some come up with very reasonable arguments of the pump price of the tool is the cheapest in Nigeria. It's when you talk of the economy, it's a panto of issues. You can't just pick out an item and use that as an excuse. In the civilized class, you have the national health insurance scheme. You have so many other bloopers, such as the transfer system, the healthcare is working and so on. So what you pay for patrol has already been taken care of in these other sectors. Some come up to say the pump price of the tool in foreign countries, do they buy their generators? The generator is almost prohibited. When Nigeria was going to Ghana, a certain important generator, they were sent out. Here, you buy your generator, you buy, you repair even your hoots, your bore hoots, the healthcare system is quite expensive. You cannot walk in there, even if you don't have the money walking through the hospital, they would treat you even if you have to pull later. Do we have those facilities here? No. So when you, that's why they don't joke with their taxes in foreign countries. So when you start comparing that the pump price of the tool is cheapest in Nigeria and we also have refineries. Did you fix the refinery? Why did you wash to remove the subsidy? Before moving the subsidy, why did you take these other palliatives under advisement? Before you do, why not say by end of December we are going to end this subsidy? Was Buarele full when he said, no, it wasn't going to be in his time? Because definitely he's cognizant of the backlash. And he's also aware that certain measures have not been put in place. Why must Nigerians suffer vicariously? You say you know the cabal for eight years Buarele was minister for petroleum. Let's not get this far straight. I just hope that the clarity of what I'm saying will penetrate the minds of people and logic after that. For eight years you said you know these members of this cabal none was exposed, none was penalized for its solidiates. The same president Buarele today, has been a leader in this country for years. So whether he was in government or not is immaterial because that is one argument certain persons are going to be. He was a leader of the APC for eight years that Buarele ruled. You did not expose, what you would have done to sess was to expose these cabals and ensure that they are dealt with. Nigerians to a very large extent would have been passive. Now these cabals are there, they gone with the force of their crime and you're transferring the body of Nigerians. Is that fair? What has happened to the cabals? What has happened to the force of their crime? Okay let us leave that. Now let us come to his own government. What was the essence of the rush? There was no need for that rush. It was just a plane to the Buarele because most of the presidential candidates talked about the subsidy but we are looking at the procedures. The problem we have in this country are not the laws and not the policies but the implementation. The procedures. Why are you in a rush to move that subsidy? Because you know that definitely if you remove the subsidy the economy, what I like it or not what steps do you take to permeate the expected prosperity? What were the steps? And if you start from you, your number of advisers, your number of those on the enterprise, everything must start with you because you are the leader. Okay open up. We are going to come back. We are going to come back. You have not talked about the refinery. We will come back to this. Most of this you are going to eliminate most of the cost. Let's bring Tungi into the conversation. Tungi, let's pick it up from where Uppunabo stopped. The president has said that they have realized at least a trillion naira since the removal of subsidy and just as Uppunabo has said, many Nigerians have also questioned why these monies have not been necessarily reviving our moribund refineries. Now there is also an argument on the other hand that saying these refineries and the equipments that are there are old and they are not up to date anymore and so reviving these refineries will take another huge chunk of the budget. But I want to know also show me also said something about the fact that the president has mapped out a lot of things in terms of giving out grains, dealing with education, agriculture, et cetera, et cetera. But what happens in the interim for the average Nigerian, because all that we hear is the poorest of the poor. What about the other Nigerian that maybe used to be middle class but now has fallen down to the poor? I hear that the poor is being categorized into three now, so you have the poorest of the poor and I think there is the vulnerable. So this is where we are now. Are you very rich or you're poor? What happens in the interim? Tunji? Many have that question to be to the president and not to me because I want to align myself with the position of the openable. Totally. If you know my position before now my position has been that the president did not do it in the way and manner subsidy was removed. Yes, subsidy may be an issue but according to the government I don't believe that it's an issue. What is an issue is lack of government political way to fight corruption and transparency where you know people who are corrupt, who have been given this money to do subsidy and they are not doing it, they are not going after them. If you say they might know or timing a few people and those three people the president prefer to punish the majority at the expense of the few people. I don't understand why we should remove subsidy when there are no plans on grant. Can you be able to get the house without foundation? It will collapse and what the president did was he also build a house on the surface and after building the after trying to when they let the thing start they are not trying to patch it and see whether or not they can rescue it. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to start. What the president is doing now is what the president ought to have done even before the removal. If they have done this and some people who come and say it wasn't the one who removed the subsidy that would not project for subsidy yes I understand. There is nothing that says the president cannot come and say my people I know you want subsidy to go. I also want subsidy to go even though the president does not say so in 2012 I also want subsidy to go but for what is on grant now will cost us a shift. Any policy of government that will cost us a shift to the people should not be implemented should not, no matter how good our policy is once you know that would be cost us a shift. What we need to do for us is to remove those obstacles that would make it cost us a shift to the people. When we now remove those those blocks you cannot implement it then you just come up implement the policy without anything on grant to cushion the effect. So as far as I am concerned the president has created this crisis for the country what we are facing today now was a deliberate lack of good policy the policy was not well thought out and that was why we are having this problem. So as far as I am concerned all these the policy or plans that have been set by president yesterday I see it as just a campaign after the election. I see it as upper thoughts. I see it as as just useful we don't lack promises there have been promises before this for now government that have gone in the past have made promises were there for free that is the area of problem. How well would this one, the president came to talk about the student loan what is the implementation of the student loan today they are still working it out so how many months will it take to work it out when will the bosses come to the president in 2024 we are talking about emergency now when people are dying of hunger we are talking about what he called again the president talk about giving people loan or whatever how many people will get this loan let him talk about the transportation system he said they will bring 3,000 buses 3,000 divided by taxes maybe 81 buses divided to local governments a local government that has 40 local government will get just 2 or 1 in their local government what will that one take care of so we have created a lot of issues for ourselves and what they are bringing up now will not solve it for me the subsidy remover was not properly done and I don't, just like Ababa said why are the people behind the subsidy not being punished why are they not being named so they are finding convenience to punish the masses those few people that say they now make more money in this subsidy so as far as I'm concerned what the president is doing now it's like we are see campaigning because the president is not saying it's premises and we have gone past premises this is where we are supposed to be seeing results or even to be saying look we have done this, we have put this in place to cushion this effect that's where I was expecting the president to come and say look I know there was no subsidy in our budget because of the situation you submitted a subsidy budget for a six month or a year why you now bring up these policies and then why you now put out those ones out why those ones are being done you now implement your subsidy remover at that time people will not complain because today you have created a lot of hardship in the land and it's going to be difficult for us to go out of this crisis that we found ourselves by virtue of lack of good policy of the government I'm concerned, I see that deliberate tactics to punish the masses just because they are looking for money because that is the basis they just want to get more money they want to get more money and not to even that money they are getting I need clarity regarding how I'm feeling they say they saved I remember the last month they said they saved money are you sure it's not that money they saved or where did they get the money that has been saved so the one they said they've got it they've saved it again did you see the impact of the lack of money saved by the governor you won't see any impact they will remove subsidy sub-arrows and then they will take people back to some people who will send it for their own personal use as far as I'm concerned this wrong step has been taken and I think it's too late to remove the farzi of the decision and then let's start afresh and then this policy you brought up and now people have said isn't that too late in the day to be done let me quickly say this I'm so sorry you have a minute because I need to go back to Shegun that's what you said of course like you've actually asked what you're locking the step where the steed is at actually I find it infernal when the president uses child bet as an example when you are pregnant you start preparing from the day you know you're pregnant the hospital you go to the baby things you're going to buy the doctors and so on so the issue of telling me in this case Nigerians were not prepared so you're telling me that just like child bet and you enjoy the bed I mean it suffers from ethics because when you talk of child bet you prepare for it unless you're talking of the child bet of a woman unless that's what you're referring to because every disabled human being will prepare for a child best for everything let me move back to be able to show me there are eight palliative plans that Mr. President has put out in his speech about the new minimum wage he talked about the 125 billion for MSMEs he talked about the 9% interest for SMEs and start-ups he talks about food price stabilization 200 billion for farming infrastructure support for states 100 billion for mass transit and funding of student loans Mr. Showme I did ask this question to my other guest to ask it to you again these are all mid-term plans most of them long-term if you ask me in the interim I just want to paint a picture but I'm sure that you'll be able to align with this picture the average person who earns let's take for example 100,000 ERA and spends about 60% of that just to pay his transportation because the price of transportation doubled if not quadrupled the price of food in the market because we know how things are in this country the moment the price of fuel or petroleum products go up everything else skyrockets now just as some of the people who have contributed on the show tonight have said no cushioning effects we don't have light we still have to fuel our generators so we can power our businesses and our homes we still don't have good infrastructure transportation is bad road infrastructure is terrible how is the president hoping to deal with these issues in the interim or are we just going to slog it out while members of the National Assembly are joyfully going to receive car keys for their bulletproof vehicle while the average person continues to languish until hopefully if in the future things stabilize how do we hope to deal with the interim the things that are happening now and I'm talking about we including you sir yes not that I heard clearly what Opunaboa said and my other colleague they have a very simplistic view of the situation if you permit me to quickly you know address one of them which is about the identity of those who are the whole teams or whichever you would agree with me that they are not easy to come by I just I remember clearly that when Gwari came to power Desani and so many other people were being chased over brown tripping and over subsidy for subsidy claims Desani went into hospital claims she had them cancer and she still abroad some of them obtained another nationality they are not dealing with people who are easy to deal with and we should not forget the relations that came out quite a lot of them about the involvement of military and naval forces in concrete you will agree that for you to take out about 3-6 million liters of oil a day out of Nigeria through the land border you probably need about 133,000 tankers of 45,000 liters so 133,000 so it's practically impossible they are not going by land because I'm not in any way trying to attack you but it sounds like it's just Desani were talking about and even if there were just 5 even if there were just 6 you're telling me that a whole country that has the navy that has soldiers that has the guys who are at the borders that have the civil defense because I'd like to let you know that in Port Hackett where we have these illegal bunkering most of the people who have been fingered by the governor at the time where members of our security agencies if these people are working for us and still working for these old thieves so called old thieves you're telling me that in 8 years that the former president was the petroleum minister he could not in any way get these security men who have been aiding and abating these so called thieves even if it's not to the main person but to whoever is in the chain of command you're telling me that if we devoted our time and energy to dealing with these people we wouldn't have as opposed to saying that this is the golden fruit which is taking out subsidy what has changed you will remember one thing very clearly apart from the military the connivance of some of our security officers including military and navy because it's impossible to take out a whole cheap tanker of oil through bunkering without being detected by the other forces so it's obvious some unscrupulous officers not all the Nigerian naval officers are unscrupulous or the Nigerian army you have always had the bad eggs so they are obviously the ones who are getting our oil to neighboring countries of Cameroon, the J-Republic Benedicubic and so on and so forth but there's also another complexity to it that's why I said it to be a simplistic view of it the international dimension we've had of the arrest of Ukrainian ship and Ukrainian sailors in the last 10 years so many times but it was inside I'm so sorry to talk over you but it was insiders who welcomed the Ukrainian if the insiders did not present oil the Ukrainians wouldn't come to buy would they? you need to understand the context that we have problems in the Nigerian let people say it as things and we are the sources of the health the arms were being extinct for oil let us say what it is as it is we are the sources of arms in the Nigerian they came from the oil they were being used in a state in Bata for the oil that was how we ended up with these problems we cannot deny that yes people are doing some bunkering on the land with pipes and all that but that's not the major problem how much more well can you still learn before being detected? the major thing is the ship when you load a tanker you load one alone you know how much that is going into neighboring countries sold or taken to Ukraine in exchange for arms that is the problem which the Navy has to deal with within the Nigerian Army has to deal with in a way that in the Nigerian today we have the very formidable highly heavily harmed people military the same thing with Bukwara where do you think they get the arms from? where do they get the money to buy the arms from? they are colluding with some people I agree but the fact of the matter is they need to take a tough decision in order to hurt these characters who are not only creating economic nightmare but a security mess for the country and that is why they remove all of that subsidy as that's a major blow to these characters because they will not be able if you no longer be economical for them to be able to do what they are doing I agree is creating pains I feel the pain too just like every other person I know how much poorer I am today I know that but the fact of the matter is there is no gain without pain we have to go through a process where you already have a rotting economy you need to go through a surgical process in order to get it better there is no good time or bad time to remove subsidy we are already down we were using 96% of our income to pay debt to service debt not to repair the debt to service debt only we started printing money Governor warned us the whole country about it we started printing money do we have to wait till the whole country collapse before the government can do something about it I think there is no good time to do it I think the right time to do it is now and when you want to take up cancer you have to do a surgical operation and that's what I believe it is the idea that we should go back to the era of subsidy and then come back again can I come in can I come in can we let him finish what he is saying he did not can he land and then you can take it up from there please let's just allow him finish so the idea that we can go back to the subsidy regime and then we will now come with a six months program when we know at the end of the day that will not work we know what will happen trade unions will go on strike the moment you want to do that and pressure the government to abandon it that happens to Guari we can't deny that they are always prejudiced left, right and center but nobody will talk about how do you how do you rescue the country for instance if you take away forex I agree with some of your submission if we can get a product called refineries working by October and you have only refineries working in January that would take a long sum a huge amount of money about 25-28% of what's of the pressure that we are facing on forex so isn't that better than sharing 10,000 or 50,000 now to Nigerians how many 50,000s can get a thousand of the situation that we are in right now I would never support the idea of sharing money that is better let us fix the system we are working on it what is working on that we are hoping they will stick to the time table of October let us improve productivity particularly through agriculture once we are able to bring down the cost of food we are able to moderate the cost of transportation through gas powered buses then things will be a lot better than what it is now let me allow a bottle coming and then of course tinge you my brother show me a simple question when if you have a case of armed robbery in your house and you suspect the gate man what I ask for you to do is it not to arrest and kill the gate man are you going to move out of that building already you have identified when you talk of the Niger Delta no problem yes you said the Niger Delta are involved in arms and all those things but can you please hear me yes we can okay I evolve now is it my responsibility to arrest them or to end it is it not the Niger Navy they are not part of the government what is the work of the Navy what is the work of the civil defense that is what we are talking about the same thing we do involving the oil subsidy theft and I am telling you that because there is high level of pollution in this whole thing because the former president was the minister for petroleum now you are talking of subsidy you are still paying turnaround maintenance for refineries that are now working and you could not even arrest them to get all those that receive the money for the turnaround maintenance so you are also you can the no president can educate himself like I said if your house is being invaded and closed and locked up no you are going to investigate and that is what we are saying because the Nigerians had once suffered for the sins of the microscopic few so what you would have done was first and foremost yes some of them are running like designee but you don't have just designee and the designee they are showing the way they have been confiscating all our property everything including our jewellies and so on because these other ones we are just hearing of designee and that is because designee belong to the bourgeois party are you telling me now that the PDP members were the ones that are responsible for that for the subsidy fraud no so even in the case of subsidy fraud there is a lot of politics Nigerians just want transparency that is all we want because there is nowhere in this world it is ridiculous that we are even exporting our goods to get refined product in return it is all ridiculous it is all ridiculous but because the federal government is fully involved in this world and that is why they are trying to act certain characters because once you mention it open up I want to take you on you just said that the federal government is in on it where did you get that information and when you say the federal government you are also implicating Mr. President please it is simple it is simple just one minute there is no time it is simple I just explained I said who pays for the turnaround maintenance who pays for the turnaround maintenance who pays for the turnaround maintenance did you get the result for that payment what did you do for the turnaround maintenance and no refund what did you do to recover the money and to also penalize all those that got the fund for the turnaround maintenance you also claim that you knew those involved in this subsidy why did you name and change them and also prosecute them that is it is an abetting you are also an accomplice if it is somebody stills and they keep quiet you know that Mr. A. committed murder you are an accomplice for that crime because it is your duty to expose such a person and you are the minister for petroleum so the federal government cannot excretate itself for whatever reason because under a passenger we are not talking about party under a passenger he was minister for petroleum he was minister for petroleum so these are persons that ought to be prosecuted come and explain to us what happened to our oil under your reign we won't address it if you don't stop then you are also an accomplice you are an abetting that is it so deductive reasoning we don't need God to come and tell you and they were the ones who were paying for the turnaround maintenance what happened to the money let's get Tunji's thought on this Tunji I know that you have been holding your breath I want to disagree specifically with Mr. Sohoomey on some issues the point being raised by Mr. Sohoomey that we are looking at it from the simplicity angle is just an indictment on the government is to say that government lack capacity to deal with people who are making the country who are making the country of their money of corruption and you will notice the current president has been talking about this he has also talked about corruption in fact against those who are causing this corruption he has never thought about it not for one day and then if you are saying we have about 10, 5 people who are making our subsidiary money and you are saying they are bigger than the country because they are powerful and you say they are more powerful than 200 million Nigerians so it's better for 200 million Nigerians to suffer than for you to I'm not going to talk about the past now the complaint is that subsidiary money is not being used for subsidy some people are stealing it now that you are there and you don't want people to steal it monitor it, supervise it give it to people who will not steal it and ensure that look, when you give them the money they account for it and I would also agree that the fact that the subsidiary has been removed there will be no oil tip or stealing or whatever in the Nigerian time again they are stealing a lot so the fact that you have removed subsidy they won't steal it so as far as I'm concerned the government did not there was no planning at all that was the problem and the fact that there was no planning is what is causing all these issues so government is not showing that they have the capacity to handle this situation they are just looking for short cuts and the short cut is let's push it to the masses we will just tell them to endure they will be enduring what I was in Pabai school I was told is endure, no pay, no gain do you mean by when we get to endure there will be no gain, no pay for the eight years we have been told to endure no gain, no pay how do I continue to endure and I won't say any gain I won't say any gain after pay I can't endure anything no gain I will not be part of the endurance I want to see work the policy was not put in place to come and ask us to endure we did not put government in place to come and give us hardship government has been given up the policy and for me statement you already know that this policy will cost us cheap why are you breaking it out many people misinterpret no pay, no gain no pay, no gain if you don't read you will not pass you cannot come and destroy my building tell me misinterpreted because we are almost running out of time I am going to give everybody three minutes back to Mr. Showamy let's talk about solutions because like I said initially the president has come up with what he thinks are solutions that will help us build back the economy and get back to where we are supposed to be but like I kept insisting in the interim many of you pointed out some of the mistakes and how we kicked off this whole subsidy removal program how we went about it what happens now if you were all to supposedly sat on the table with Mr. President and his advisers what would be the key areas that need to be dealt with right away that would one way or the other change the cause of things there are a few things that many people would applaud Mr. President for the fact that certain things have been done in terms of foreign exchange and us being able to use our cards outside of the country as they were shot down before and of course many would even say that the stock market has experienced some sort of boost that still is somewhat debatable but I want to start with you Mr. Showamy in all of the things that Mr. President had said in his speech very interesting things very applaudable but where is the sucker for the average Nigerian what's the takeaway for the average Nigerian and I'm thinking because you and I right now are the average Nigerian well unfortunately there is no easy way out of this problem what seems very clear to everybody is like all the top leading presidential aspirants agreed at the election during the campaign that they would all have to remove it so there is no way out if there is no way out what we don't do is we don't keep digging so we have actually tried to pull out of the hole which we are in now and that is what we are trying to do by cutting off the subsidy so that we don't keep digging unfortunately this is inflicting untold hardships on so many Nigerians but with the steps taken by the government so far particularly on transport, agriculture assistance for small to medium businesses if they all come to Frugian then we will be on the right path to healing it's going to get bad before getting better and we are at that bad stage now it will start getting better in one minute I like that every administration comes with its own slang its own I don't know that whole thing that we say to just make Nigerians feel like there is some sort of hope it has to get bad before it gets better how long is it going to be bad for we need to give us a timeline it's going to be bad for the whole ATS and then of course we will pass the baton to the next person who is going to come and inherit the problems this administration has caused because it seems to me that that is now the new modus operandi we saw it under the Bahá'í administration and it's looking like don't worry we are going to see what we will do about it and then of course they and then the elections come and then we hand over to the next administration so Nigerians obviously want to know how long they are going to be in this for and if there is really the willpower to change things so do you have any idea if this government really is willing to follow through with all their promises from all projections we should start putting out of this mess we are in in another nine months to one year we will begin to see improvement investment in agriculture will begin to yield fruit and we will see increased productivity not only in GDP but in real terms in terms of the improvement in the living standards of the people the country will be better off for it the forex will stabilize at a point which will help businesses and lead to more increasing employment but I don't think all this will be achieved in less than a year we are looking at a year and a half maximum okay let me come to you we have always struggled as a country with trust deficit when it comes to our leadership because of the past experiences and so Nigerians are finding it very difficult to believe anything that any politician says and it's not just about the APC administration nor the Singapore administration it's been a problem over the years now in dealing with the trust deficit here as we speak how can we trust that this government will deliver on its mandate again let's not forget about the fact that the oppositions party the PDP has spoken on this speech in fact I'd like to quote former vice president he said that the nationwide broadcast was a waste of time and it was deceptive is this also could we say that this is part of the fact that we have a trust deficit and could it also be add to the fact that there's so many question marks around how Mr. President came to be well how he came to be I mean it might be tangential but I don't think that is going to cost but we are not talking about the policies and I would have opted for reversion to the status granted there but that's too late in the day that's what I said we're backing on the sticky weekends I mean it's definitely not realizable not realizable so what's my advice right now painful you know will be for the president to ensure that all these policies and promises he made are brought to fruition and prone to too as quickly as possible because I can tell you that Nigerians have to see it you know we live in a society where we practice socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor those that are the bottom of the taking are those that are really feeling the pain but the archive it is ridiculous it's highly provocative first of all who is going to kill a national assembly member if your life is in danger then you're a number of us you have a questionable mark that's the truth national assembly member they are going to die but it is quite insensitive I believe that the president has also gone down on the number of appointees we're out of time we're out of time we're out of time we're out of time I need to quickly ask Tungi this question I'm sorry Tungi we're out of time Tungi in 60 seconds the NLC is saying they're not going to backpedal on going for this strike because they did not get what they wanted even if the president has promised to increase minimum wage they're still not buying it how do you think this administration is going to manage to get the trust of the people quickly firstly it's not a strike it's a protest so they're not going to strike protest I beg your pardon on the protest for me like I said to get the trust of the government is going to be difficult I don't even know how to go about it I have lost trust in the government whenever they promise I don't believe it I've had so many promises most of them have been forfeited so as far as I'm concerned the only solution to this problem and I don't see any difficulty in it is to go back to the status quo we withdraw before your decision we cannot go back we cannot there's nothing bad in it and the president has said that succinctly we can because it's crossing our ship when we are paying subsidies so it shows that subsidy without plan if you have been in a house and it has gone into the roof and you discover that the foundation was not properly done are you going to leave it are you going to destroy it as fresh so as far as I'm concerned that is the only way house when we do that we cannot that one year, two years it's a very long time even one month for people to survive let's talk about one year, two years to wait for what is not even sure what is going on I think this is an ongoing conversation unfortunately we have to go we have to go this is a conversation that is going to continue unfortunately all that we can do is just hope that things will get better in the short term I want to say thank you thank you thank you my colleague thank you for joining us tonight well that's the show tomorrow we'll be back talking for development it's been plus policies but don't forget you can go on our YouTube plus TV Africa to follow up on all our previous episodes I'm Mary Annicole and do have a pleasant evening