STATE OF THE NATION: Tinubu secures vote of confidence by ex-presidents, govs at Council of State meeting

..Catholic bishops chide President, urge reversal of petrol subsidy removal

BY GRACE IHESIULO & GABRIEL IDIBIA

For the former presidents and governors who attended the Council of State meeting on Tuesday, the first since President Tinubu became President, he has done ample enough to win their ‘vote of confidence’, but this is contrary to what the Catholic bishops who were equally meeting in Kaduna felt, prompting them to urge him to immediately reverse his policy on fuel subsidy removal.

Confirming the nod of approval by ex-presidents and governors, Hon. Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council of State meeting in Abuja said: “A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting, and the governors were all in attendance as well as some ministers who were invited to make presentations.

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“We made presentations on our road map, on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries. At the end, we all passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu,” he said.

He said the ministers of Solid Minerals, Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Trade and Investment, Budget and National Budget, Agriculture, Works and Attorney General were invited to make presentations to the Council.

He said the individual presentations by the ministers were well received based on the feedbacks received.

Alake said the Council also discussed the recent nationwide protest, which he said was an attempt to effect a change of regime by force.

“And so the Council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting an unconstitutional move to change the government. If anybody is not satisfied with any government, there’s an election coming. So, wait for the election,” he said.

He said Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, also briefed the Council on the security situation in the country.

“We were assured that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard-earned democracy.

“Any change of government has to be through the ballot, and not through the barrel of the gun, or through insurrection, or through any other unconstitutional means.

“We were reassured on the readiness of all security agencies in the country to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s democracy,” said Alake.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said one of the outcomes of the Council of State meeting was the unanimous passage of a confidence of confidence in President Tinubu.

“Members, especially those of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council.

“Members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence in Mr President,” said the governor.

Mr Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said he gave an update on the progress of macroeconomic policies being implemented by the Tinubu administration.

“These policies are anchored on eight priority areas; and the results to date have been very encouraging.

“We looked at the data, we reported on the evidence of this half year, which we compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023.

“And in broad terms, the economy is growing. The balance of payments in particular, the trade balance and the currency balance are in surplus.

“The exchange rate is stabilising, and inflation is not uncomfortably high. It is slowing and it is set to fall,” said Edun.

According to him, there has been support for the economy from foreign and domestic investors who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly in the infrastructure sector.

However, Catholic Bishops of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province (KEP) have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider reversing his fuel Subsidy removal which plunged Nigerians into economy crises, stressing that the removal policy was too hasty.

According to the bishops, reversal of the policy is not a sign of weakness but depicts responsible leadership.

Rising from the Second Plenary of the Kaduna Ecclesiastical Provincial Bishops’ session on Tuesday in Kaduna, KEP Chairman Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso said

”We have been with subsidy for the past twenty five years and we all knew it was eating deep into the finances of the nation and definitely had to go but the hasty manner in which the president announced the removal had a lot of implications on the psychology and economic wellbeing of the people.

“People would have been given notice, for instance subsidy will be removed by 25% in the next 6 months, so Tinubu could remove the subsidy in phases alongside provision of palliatives and others. It’s about the people even if the president spends 10 years removing subsidy in phases without inflicting severe hardship on the people that will be better”, he said.

While calling on the President not to listen to those hawks who see the protests as an affront to his government, the Catholic Bishops pointed out that “the President should, by appointments, find a way of bringing in competent Nigerians across party lines to help further national cohesion.

“We propose that he decongest the Presidential fleet, suspend or rethink the idea of purchasing a new plane for himself, and continue to tighten the belt on public expenditure. Looking inward, we encourage the president to liaise with local industrialists to widen the net for employment and self-sufficiency. In the medium and long term, the President should ban the use of foreign cars by all public officers.

“These policies can inspire confidence in our people. Rather than hiring non- state actors to pacify people, politicians must engage their people directly.

“We encourage the President to focus on the ideals of Democracy by building consensus rather than the temptation to search for enemies.

“Having come from a tradition of protest, the President should appreciate that these protests do not undermine a country. However, leaders of faith communities and civil society must also sharpen their tools and capacity for advocacy.

“The value of protests is in direct proportion to the quality of the social fabric of a given society. When we have a social fabric weakened by illiteracy, poverty and corruption, these protests can provide a cure that is worse than the disease. So, we must seek other options for engaging the government as the need arises.” he stressed.

On the pattern of protest, Ndagoso revealed that “the protests exposed the fault lines in the life of our nation. They exposed our politics, our ethnic or regional challenges, our religious differences and indeed, the depth of our appreciation of the meaning of Democracy and its ideals.

“The protests exposed the levels of our maturity, our willingness to make sacrifices and our decision to put national interests above other personal; religious or regional interests.

“In all, we note that a majority of Nigerians across the states decided not to participate in the protests. Yet, the minority had their way, suggesting that there were no winners and losers as such.

“Everyone and every side asserted their rights. Without the deaths and the destruction, this could have counted as a sign of the slow maturity of our democracy. Yet, we can still learn.”

On hoisting of Russian flags in Nigeria, he maintained that” I felt insulted because Nigeria at Independence had the potentials to become greater than most of these countries tagged as developed nations but because of bad leadership we are where we are”.