*Dr. Oladele Alake urges Nigerians to exercise patience, affirming the Federal Government policies are undergoing ‘gestation period’, and the future of the country ‘is extremely very bright’

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

Amid the current challenging economic situation besetting the country, Dr. Oladele Alake, Honourable Minister for Solid Minerals Development, has assured Nigerian consumers, that the seeming hardship in the country would soon be a thing of the past.

Alake, who spoke Tuesday, February 27, 2024, at the commissioning of the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) Seismic Monitoring Station-5, assured Nigerians of the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to revamping the economy and putting it on a pedestal for sustainable growth.

Going down memory lane to relate the experience in Lagos State, the Minister stressed the then Gov. Bola Tinubu, in 1999, met a state that was almost insolvent with a N600 million monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and a wage bill of over N1.1billion monthly, with little or no resources to cater to infrastructure and other sectors of the economy.

Segun Tomori, Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, stated Dr. Alake said: “President Tinubu took similar measures he is taking in Nigeria, in Lagos, to turn the tide and financially re-engineer the state and today, the state is the 5th largest economy in Africa, bigger than most African countries.

“What we are going through is the gestation period of reforms and policies for economic restructuring and like the President is wont to say, it is like throes of pregnancy, that a pregnant woman goes through.

“After delivery, she heaves a sigh of relief. I appeal to Nigerians to exercise patience as we are close to that period where things will stabilise and the results of reforms will evidently manifest and translate to prosperity for a greater number of our citizens.”

Emphasising that for the first time, Nigeria has a President versed in public finance, the Minister expressed confidence in the administration’s capacity to diversify the economy, plug leakages, and redirect the economy to a path of sustainable growth.

“The future of this country is extremely very bright. What we need to do is to exude confidence in our ability and capacity to weather the storm of restructuring, economic, and societal restructuring.

“As we restructure our economy, putting in physical infrastructure, we must also restructure our minds and mental capacity to be at par with physical development, so that we can efficiently and judiciously enjoy the benefits of physical development.

“With the cooperation of Nigerians, the tide will turn very soon, and we all will be proud,” said Alake.