The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyesom Wike, have called for patience, insisting that the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu are the only way to build a stronger prosperous economy.
The Senate President and the immediate past Rivers State Governor spoke at the weekend during a Thanksgiving Service held at Koroma Tai Council of the state by Senator Barry Mpigi representing Rivers Southeast Senatorial District.
Akpabio, alongside several senators, members of the House of Representatives, Minister of Works, David Umahi; Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, former ministers, a delegation from Akwa Ibom led by Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor, some Rivers State Cabinet members, members of Rivers House of Assembly, local government chairmen, leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were among dignitaries at the event.
Giving his goodwill speeches, Wike said that people complained about the tough decisions of President Tinubu, insisting that they remained the only way to take the country to its destination.
The Minister argued that decisions to turn around and address years of rot were not miracles expected to materialise within six months.
Wike insisted that President Tinubu required the support of all stakeholders in his efforts to address the inherited crisis in the country.
He said: “I believe that God in his infinite mercy will give us the strength to work and continue to support Mr. President. The decision of Mr. President is hard but if we are patient at the end of the day we will get to where we want to go.
“You want him to bring a policy to change something that had spoilt many years ago within six months. Even if it is a miracle, it is difficult. What is required is to give him support.
“I seriously believe in the Renewed Hope Agenda. We urge you to believe in the Renewed Hope agenda. We are going to do everything to continue to support Mr. President”.
He added that most people in the country were always quick to forget past incidents and recalled that governors and others, who won their re-election at the Supreme Court recently heaped praises on Tinubu for not interfering in their cases.
On his part, Akpabio in an analogy compared the poor economic condition President Tinubu inherited to a pail filled with foams while underneath it is a small quantity of water.
He said: “God has been able to merge us politically. What we need now is economic rejuvenation and I believe strongly that through President Ahmed Tinubu God will answer our prayer.
“Nigeria was like a foam inside a pail. As the foam has filled the pail you think that it was water. The economic situation was tricky. By the time you push your hands, you will only touch water towards the bottom. So the kind of economic mess we were in a lot of people do not understand.
“Like Obama would say you cannot know Washington until you get to Washington. So by the time we went in, the economic situation was terrible. We don’t even know what to charge the former Central Bank governor with whether to charge him for putting foam on top of the pail or to charge him for printing notes without income. I don’t know what we will charge him with.
What we know is that we are here today because of the actions and policies that they took and we recognise that but we are now battling to ensure that Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed and have three square meals on their tables”.
He insisted that Tinubu’s policies were designed to gradually give the country the desired economic footprints adding that such a feat would not happen overnight.
