Tinubu steering Nigeria on right path, says Wike
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is steering Nigeria on the right path.
The minister said Nigeria needs a leader like President Tinubu to build the “Nigeria of our dreams”.
Wike spoke at this year’s edition of Distinguished Personality Lecture, titled: The Nigeria of our Dreams, he presented at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The minister noted that the greatest challenge confronting Nigeria and militating against its development was bad leadership.
He agreed with Chinua Achebe, whose seminar, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, graphically captured the challenge, when he stated that “the trouble with Nigeria is fairly and squarely the absence of proper leadership”.
Wike added: “This statement, damaging as it may appear, is extremely difficult to controvert.
“Our leaders have, in the main, emerged through self-serving conspiracies that have little or nothing to do with national interests and development.
“This has been the case in both military and civilian contexts.”
The FCT minister stressed that President Tinubu had stood out as the leader the people need to drive Nigeria to progress and prosperity.
According to him, Nigeria needs a leader who is prepared to lead with sound character and resilience in the face of challenges.
He added that the leader must also be a person who believes in the endless possibilities that the Nigerian nation exemplifies while making solid, proactive, logical, and well-informed decisions that would maximally actualise her potential.
This leader, Wike said, must have the courage and audacity to act, build, innovate, and generally expand the frontiers of development with a hands-on approach that would emphasise excellence over mediocrity.
The minister added that more importantly, the leader of Nigerians’ dream must create a society of free and responsible citizens whose potentials flow freely and free enterprise thrive.
He said: “Let me make bold at this juncture to state that today, in our country, we have such a leader in the person of President Tinubu.
“He has shown in several ways and at different times, a stout commitment to the enthronement of democracy in our country, to the extent of even putting his own life on the line in the process.
“He has shown great capacity for engendering development as captured in the unprecedented rapid and exponential development of Lagos state under his watch and even beyond.”
Wike noted that President Tinubu has demonstrated a rare courage by removing fuel subsidies on his first day in office.
He said: “President Tinubu did and is fittingly grappling with the inevitable, unintended, and sometimes orchestrated consequences of this removal.
“Today, our states have far more resources to develop, the debts are no longer piling and the price of petrol is gradually but steadily adjusting downwards in tandem with the forces of demand and supply and the strict implementation of regulatory conditionalities.
“Also, the overwhelming cry of over-centralization of power and resources at the national level and the attendant abuse of the doctrine of federalism is being systematically addressed.”
Also, the minister said no tax evader would escape to ensure that the right thing is done.
He said: “Leadership is not about you liking someone. It is about you being courageous to make decisions that will help us (Nigerians) to move forward.
“I am not the first Minister of the FCT. No poor man lives in Maitama, Wuse II, Asokoro. All of them have rich men. No poor man does business in the Central Business Area. They say they are untouchable, but I say no!
“I will touch you, if the right thing is not done. That is leadership. They didn’t appoint me as a minister for a beauty contest. Mention one poor man who has a house in Maitama. All of them are rich men. They don’t want to pay taxes. You will pay for it. If you don’t pay, I will touch you and heaven will not fall, but rather there will be peace.”
