Some regional groups, parties and politicians were divided, yesterday, over President Bola Tinubu?s new year message, in which he unveiled his goals for 2025 and promised measures that will lower the price of food and drugs, and reduce inflation to 15 per cent from the current 36.4 per cent. The Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE; Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF; Ijaw National Congress, INC; New Nigeria People?s Party, NNPP; and Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere were among those who dissected the President?s message and disagreed.

The YCE said it aligned with President Tinubu and described his speech as a message of renewed hope. YCE Secretary, Chief Oladipo Oyewole, in a chat with Vanguard, said the steps taken by the President were aimed at building a future for Nigerians. He said: ?The New Year 2025 message by the President is indeed a message of renewed hope. Nigerians are yearning for succour. From the speech, measures are in place to guarantee all factors to meet our needs.? If properly pursued, the YCE believes that the growth of a new Nigeria would be birthed without much delay and upon that foundation a solid future can be built.

?Meanwhile, we believe and agree that proper management of the gains of the economic indicators ascribed as tools will lead to great achievements for our nation?s revival.?

Speaking through its national spokesman, Dr. Christopher Ominimini, PANDEF urged the Federal Government to address the problem of devastation of the Niger-Delta ecosystem by international oil companies as well as the sacking of farmers and destruction of their crops by Fulani herdsmen in parts of the region. His words: ?Lowering food prices when Niger Deltans cannot produce their food does not solve our problem. Our major problem is the destruction of our ecosystem. Nigeria claimed to be cleaning Ogoniland and till date not an inch of Ogoniland has been cleaned. ?Other ethnic nationalities in the region are suffering the same fate. The Ijaw cannot fish, the Itsekiri cannot fish, the Urhobo cannot fish and farm, Benin cannot also farm for obvious reasons just to mention a few.

?Our soil cannot produce food and our waters are polluted and not good for drinking. That is the major problem we want the Nigerian government to solve for us. Our sources of income have been destroyed by the Nigerian state through the operations of international oil companies.

?The Federal Government should create an enabling environment for us in the Niger Delta to access our farmlands. People can no longer go to their farms in so many parts of the region as a result of the incessant attacks by Fulani herdsmen. The essence of having a government is for the protection of lives and property, a lot of people in the Niger Delta have been killed. As we speak, a lot are in the hospitals as a result of injuries sustained from attacks while working on their farms.

?It is terrible that we have a high presence of the Nigerian Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigerian Army in the Niger-Delta, yet insecurity is high. ?So, lowering the prices of food and drugs is not a direct solution to the problem of the people of Niger Delta because everyday we inhale gas substance from flaring. The penalty from the gas flaring should be used to solve the problem of ill health suffered by the people of Niger-Delta.

On this note, we are calling on the Federal Government, if they cannot stop the illegal gold mining in the Northern part of Nigeria, they should stop the destruction of artisanal refineries (kpofire) in the Niger Delta. How can you be destroying artisanal refining in the Niger Delta and you cannot stop the illegal gold mining in the North? Are we not in the same country or are we second-class citizens? In fact, PANDEF is calling on the Federal Government not to treat Niger Deltans as second-class citizens.?

National secretary of NNPP, Sunday Oginni, described Tinubu?s message as ?very encouraging,? adding: ?As a leader of an opposition political party, we hope the President will work the talk by making sure that inflation is reduced to 15 percent as he promised. ?On the rising cost of foods and drugs, the President needs to work harder in making sure the prices of petroleum products come down to affordable prices. The President should know that the high cost of transportation is having a ripple effect on the prices of foods and drugs.?

President of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, said: ?We do appreciate the aspect of the message where he acknowledged the fact that Nigerians truly suffered in the year 2024. His evaluation of his administration?s success in terms of lowering food and fuel prices, the naira getting stronger, trade surpluses, foreign reserves, national unity need to be reevaluated against the background of where we were coming from at the inception of his administration and where we are today. ?The promise to lower food and drug price and the reduction to 15 per cent of inflation, etc, appears to be a huge dream that can only be achieved if more critical issues of corruption, high cost of governance and instituting a formidable and credible electoral system are addressed.?

Afenifere said President Tinubu?s administration thrives on misconceptions and urged him to make pro-people economic policies and not mere promises. Afenifere?s National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye said the Tinubu government should admit that its policies of subsidies removal and devaluation were the cause of inflation. Faloye, in a chat with Vanguard, said: ?Afenifere appreciates the President?s optimism but at half term, and hopes that it would come true. However, we expect this to be a year of fulfillment, or at least its dawn, not a year of further promises and renewed hope that has brought nothing but more poverty.

?The reality on ground is that Nigerians are dying due to increased poverty caused by devaluation that devalued real wages, coupled with increased energy prices, increased cost of raw materials and exorbitantly high interest rates, which all fuel our current hyperinflation. ?With regards to the renewed promises of reduced food and drug prices, specifically, we refer to the administration?s early promises when it created the Presidential Economic Coordination Council, and allocated N500 billion to agriculture with a promise to stabilize prices within six months. Unfortunately, food prices have soared ever since then. The questions we raised at the time was did the Federal Government own any land that it was promising to turn into agriculture? ?Afenifere believes that ideological misconceptions are the greatest hindrance to this administration. Rather than admit that its policies of subsidies removal and devaluation are the cause of inflation, it went ahead to increase bank interest rates, a cure for demand-pull inflation and not cost-push inflation that we suffer from, thereby causing manufacturing closures and more unemployment.?

Peretei, Otaloro, Folarin, Ogunsuyi, Ambakederimo, others speak

Others who spoke on the speech include Publicity Secretary of Ondo PDP, Kennedy Peretei, who said Tinubu was ?still campaigning, almost halfway through his four-year tenure. He cannot be taken seriously. He does not have the solutions to Nigeria?s problems.? Director of Publicity, Ondo APC, Steve Otaloro, said the President?s ambitious goals for 2025 and vision for a better Nigeria deserve the support of all.

?The President?s commitment to lowering food and drug prices, as well as reducing inflation to 15 per cent, is music to our ears. These are critical issues that affect the lives of millions of Nigerians, and we?re confident that with President Tinubu?s leadership, we can achieve these goals and more,? he said. Former Senate leader and the APC governorship candidate in Oyo State, Teslim Folarin, said: ?I support President Tinubu?s recent message and his ambitious goals for 2025. Addressing the rising costs of food and essential medications is crucial for the well-being of our citizens. The burden of high food and drug prices is a pressing issue that needs urgent attention. To achieve the goal of reducing inflation to 15 percent, we need actionable plans and robust policies.? Mr Lanre Ogunsuyi, public analyst and former Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation in Ekiti State, said: ?The Presidential speech fell short of the expectation of Nigerians.

Even though the president acknowledged the hardship the people are going through, asking them to continue to endure is like riding a willing horse to death.? Also speaking, the Convener, South-South Reawakening Group, Elder Joseph Ambakederimo said: ?It is good to be optimistic in whatever we do as humans when we make projections but it is also another thing to work towards how these things are going to be achieved.

?The President did not tell us how he is going to bring down the prices of food and drugs. How many pharmaceutical manufacturers do we have in the country? 95 per cent of raw materials used for drug manufacturing are imported and foreign exchange is required to import these raw materials. The exchange rate is not stable for manufacturers to plan, farmers are basing the price of their farm produce on dollars terms, many critical drugs are imported, these are the inflation drivers in the country. So, I am a little confused how the government intends to reverse the price of drugs and food.?

In his reaction, renowned environmentalist, Alagoa Morris said: ?Is it by subsidising the cost of these items, government should encourage production to flood the market or by price control? These are some of the possible economic actions, since one is not expecting importation as an option to bridge the lacuna. ?It is not clear to me at present how the government is going to practically make that happen. However, I think a drastic reduction in the price of petroleum products, repairs and upgrade of dilapidated federal roads, effectively tackling insecurity and extortion on the road by some uniformed men are some of the ways I think would positively impact prices.? (Vanguard)

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