Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has said that Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited what he described as a “foamy economy” when he assumed office in 2023.
Akpabio spoke in Abuja on Friday, March 13, during the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress convention sub-committee on programmes and events, according to a statement issued by Jackson Udom.
The Senate president said the National Assembly of Nigeria would continue to back the administration’s reform agenda. “The National Assembly will continue to support the agenda of the President Tinubu-led government in his efforts towards taking the country out of the woods,” he said.
Akpabio, who served as a minister under former president Muhammadu Buhari, said Tinubu met a struggling economy on assumption of office. “President Tinubu met what can be described as a foamy economy,” he said.
He added that the president had to take difficult but necessary decisions to stabilise the economy, including exchange rate reforms and the removal of fuel subsidy. “He had to put on his thinking cap by harmonising the exchange rate and the removal of the fuel subsidy, which was a drainpipe on the economy,” Akpabio said.
The Senate president also said the administration had introduced tax reforms to improve government earnings, especially outside the oil sector. “He has also put in place the tax reforms, which has increased national revenue from the non-oil sector through the National Revenue Service,” he said.
According to Akpabio, the reforms have also led to higher allocations to sub-national governments. He further linked the recent wave of defections by opposition politicians into the APC to growing confidence in Tinubu’s policies.
“The recent defection into the ruling APC is simply a show of gratitude based on what the administration has achieved since 2023,” he added. Akpabio’s latest remarks stand in contrast to comments he made in May 2022, when he praised Buhari by saying, “Buhari is the best president Nigeria could ever have at a time of difficult circumstances.”