Nigeria : President Tinubu Appeals For Patience

A few weeks after announcing the end of government subsidies for fuel, Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu has called on the population to show patience and accept sacrifices in exchange for future investment. The Nigerian leader made the statement, on Monday, June 12, 2023 during commemoration activities marking the country’s National Democracy Day. “I have painfully asked you, my compatriots, to sacrifice a little more for the survival of our country. For your trust and faith in us, I assure you that your sacrifice will not be in vain,” he said.
Since the announcement of the abolition of fuel subsidies on May 29, 2023, petrol, transport, electricity and food prices have skyrocketed. Though Nigeria has been witnessing an inflation of around 20%, sporadic petrol shortages and an unpredictable electricity supply that forces people to use generators or even go without power for several hours for lack of money, many experts believe that the abolition of subsidies was necessary to promote development. Since the end of subsidies, a liter of petrol has risen from 189 to 557 naira. Even though, Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers, it has little local oil refining capacity. For decades, it has swapped crude for gasoline that it then sub...