Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms, saying the president deserves commendation rather than criticism for taking difficult decisions such as the removal of fuel subsidy.
Alake spoke on Wednesday during an interactive session with journalists in his office, shortly after being announced as the lead spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.
He argued that Tinubu demonstrated unusual political courage by implementing reforms that previous administrations had avoided for fear of losing electoral support.
According to him, the Nigerian economy was already deeply distorted before Tinubu assumed office in 2023, while the necessary solutions were known but had been repeatedly delayed.
He said: “It does not need me to tell you or elaborate on the fact that we knew what the Nigerian economy was before 2023. And it does not need me to inform you that all the reforms and the policies that were and are necessary to correct these distortions and contradictions in the Nigerian society were there and identifiable by those previous governments. The only thing lacking was the courage to take those decisions.
“And there is no shortcut. They say, our elders say, when you are in a hole, what do you do? You stop digging. Because the more you dig, the deeper you sink.
“But because those previous governments lacked that courage to stop digging, for short-term political expedience, they were afraid of elections; they were afraid of bringing them back to office and all that. So they shifted those decisions- the hard decisions they ought to have taken.
“I recall, and most of you will be aware, many years ago there was this issue of removal of subsidies that dominated the space in Nigeria, and there were protests: subsidies should not be removed; they should be removed. The government at that time knew they were removing them; they should be removed. But the fact of the matter was, it went back on the process of removing them.
“When there were protests, it backtracked because there was an election coming. And so people swallowed the bitter pill. But somebody came and decided to swallow the bitter pill, to take the bullets on behalf of Nigerians.
“I think it shows in all senses of fairness and objectivity. If a man, who is a politician himself, who should be very sensitive to elections, his government back to office, decided to take the bullets, regardless of the consequences on his own political career, on behalf of the nation, because the nation had to be reset.
“I think it’s just very, very important for us to appreciate that. And that is the kind of person that Nigeria needs, for consistency. Now, yes, those hard decisions have been taken.”
Tinubu removed the petrol subsidy at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, while his administration also unified the country’s multiple foreign exchange windows as part of its economic reform programme.
Alake said the reforms, which he described as “economic restructuring,” had disrupted the interests of groups that previously benefited from the subsidy system.
He alleged that some beneficiaries of the former regime had resorted to efforts aimed at reversing the gains of the subsidy removal.
“The beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy were the cartels, the oil cartels. And they took to smuggling. They would buy the fuel at a lower price, cross the border, and immediately make humongous profits.
“And they come back to Nigeria to oppress the rest of us. Those people who are benefiting from it, when the fuel subsidy was removed, did you think that they would fold their arms and be looking? No! They will fight back. They will push back.
“And they are fighting back, and they are pushing back. And the media, unwittingly, has been helping them to amplify their own selfish pushbacks against the long-term progress of the society. Now, at that time when there was a fuel subsidy, you recall how many states couldn’t pay salaries.
“In fact, the federal government itself was borrowing to pay salaries. And at some point, I recall, more than 18 states, if not more, I’m sure more, could not meet up with wages. Some who were trying were paying half of the salary, or the quota, or spreading the salaries, and stuff like that.“
Alake maintained that the political cost of implementing such reforms was significant, arguing that Tinubu deliberately chose to confront long-standing economic problems despite the potential impact on his administration’s political fortunes.
With the 2027 general election approaching, the minister’s comments amount to a strong defence of Tinubu’s economic record and an appeal for Nigerians to judge the administration’s reforms against the long-term challenges they were intended to address.
