The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said resolving Nigeria’s economic challenges requires time and cannot be achieved as quickly as treating a sick person.
Drivetvnews gathered that Wike made the remarks on Thursday in Abuja during his induction into the Idoma Hall of Fame, where he also highlighted what he described as the positive effects of removing the fuel subsidy.
The minister argued that public discussions about the economy often focus on areas where the government has yet to deliver improvements, while overlooking the benefits he believes have resulted from subsidy removal.
“We are only talking about the area that the government has not covered, but nobody has talked about the removal of that subsidy and what it has done for the people,” he said.
Wike also pointed to what he described as a decline in labour strikes over the past three years, citing industrial actions previously involving local government workers, teachers and university staff.
“Before now in this country, NULGE is on strike every day, teachers are on strike, there is no session that you won’t find a university on strike,” he said.
He added that strikes by the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) had become less frequent and that pensioners were no longer regularly threatening industrial action.
Acknowledging the rising cost of living, Wike said the government recognised the hardship facing Nigerians but maintained that economic challenges could not all be resolved simultaneously.
“We are only concentrated on the high cost of living, which we agree, but all can’t be solved at the same time. There are some that will take a long time,” he said.
The minister concluded that addressing the country’s economic problems was a gradual process rather than an instant solution.
“Solving the problem of the economy is not like healing somebody that is sick,” Wike added.
