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From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has admitted that the policies of President Bola Tinubu have placed real pressure on many Nigerian households since he assumed office in 2023.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, who spoke in Abuja at the unveiling of President Tinubu’s re-election blueprint, said the mission of government was to make the decisions and politics less frightening for the millions of young people and families across the country.
According to him: “In 2023, President Bola Tinubu took responsibility for a country facing problems that could no longer be deferred. He confronted the subsidy burden and a distorted foreign exchange system. He chose to begin difficult repairs whose benefits would take time to reach everyone.”
“Those decisions have now placed real pressure on households. We must speak honestly about that experience because the people living through it deserve to be heard. Nobody should have to pretend that life is easy at the moment.
“Our mission in government is to make these decisions less frightening for the millions of young people and families across the country,” he said.
Speaking further, Gbajabiamila said: “For the work we have done so far and our commitments for the years ahead, at the heart of this manifesto is my firm conviction that every Nigerian should be able to share in the country’s prosperity. Your country should give your best efforts a fair chance.
“A manifesto, in its strictest sense, is simply a contract between the people and their leaders. It is an inviolable contract, and we take the strict interpretation of what a manifesto represents as gospel under this administration.
“Our people already work hard. They rise early, travel long distances and make sacrifices so that their children can go further than they did. A nation worthy of such efforts must make it possible for honest work to produce a decent life.
“That is what we mean by a Nigeria that works for everyone.
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“It means parents can meet their families’ needs and still put something aside for tomorrow. It means a young person can look ahead with a reasonable expectation that ability and effort will open doors.
“It also means that belonging to Nigeria carries real value in your daily life.
“You should be able to access public services without begging for favours. A public hospital, for instance, should never need to know which political party you voted for before treating you. These are the expectations by which this manifesto asks to be judged,” he said.
The Chief of Staff, however, noted: “But we believe Nigeria can improve, and the President was right to act. Leaving those problems untouched would have continued to weaken our ability to invest in the future.
“Now, our responsibility is to ensure that the opportunities created by reforms translate into improvements that people can recognise in their own lives.
“You see, the President had a choice. There are two types of people. He had a choice to govern as a politician or as a leader. There is an inherent difference between the two.
“If he had come in as a politician and decided to govern as one, he would have continued along the path we were taking. But instead, knowing full well the immediate consequences, he decided to govern as a leader.
“The difference between a politician and a leader is that while a politician thinks about the next election, a leader thinks about the next generation. And that is exactly what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated. We have already shown that government can widen the possibilities in a person’s life,” he said.
