Ismail Abdulazeez Mantu, Reporting
Abuja, Nigeria
Vice President Kashim Shettima says President Bola Tinubu inherited a dire situation when it took over from his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2023.
Shettima said this during a meeting with a delegation from the United Nations System in Nigeria at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
Shettima noted that fuel subsidy had been an albatross around the neck of successive governments in Nigeria.
He said: “We had two options – either we get rid of subsidy or subsidy will get rid of the Nigerian nation.
“We have to be our brother’s keeper, but we were literally subsidising the fuel of the entire West African region.”
The Vice President said Tinubu’s decision to abolish the subsidy and unify the exchange rates to allow the naira to float freely “created a lot of challenges from the humanitarian end”.
Shettima added that removing fuel subsidy and unifying exchange rates were tough but necessary decisions to rescue Nigeria from economic disaster.
He, however, assured Nigerians that the country would work closely with the United Nations to address the nation’s challenges.
The Vice President also promised the UN delegation that Nigeria would close ranks with the global body.
On his part, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, said the global body would collaborate with President Tinubu’s administration to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria.
He stated that the UN was of the conviction that the success or failure of Africa depends on Nigeria.
According to him, the progress of Nigeria translates to the development of Africa.
Fall added: “If Nigeria doesn’t make it, there is no chance for any country to make it.
“If Nigeria lifts it here, not only our sub-region but the entire continent and the world at large will be on track for the SDGs.
“If we succeed in Nigeria today, the whole of the continent succeeds, but if we have challenges or difficulties to succeed in Nigeria, I am sure it is all of our continent that will be pulled down.”