Tinubu begs Nigerians to keep faith in him, says he’ll make inflation go down like exchange rate

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked Nigerians not to lose faith in his administration over the skyrocketing inflation assailing the nation’s economy, assuring citizens that he and his team are working to “bring it down” like he did when the naira dipped drastically against the dollar.

Tinubu gave the assurance at the State House in Abuja while hosting members of his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), particularly those in the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and Independent Campaign Council (ICC) to Iftar Wednesday evening.

He said it was evident that the economy was already “looking much better” than it was “a year ago” when “borrowing was higher,” implicitly taking a jab at his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, whose eight-year rule was characterised by taking heavy loans from other nations.

“The economy is looking much better,” Mr Tinubu said Wednesday evening. “Yes, we have challenges of inflation, but we will bring it down. When the exchange rate was going haywire, it looked like we were asleep, but we worked on it diligently, and it is going down; it is getting better.”

The president stressed that he was committed to restoring the lost dignity of Nigeria among its international counterparts.

“Borrowing was higher a year ago, but today, we are reengineering the financial landscape, and our revenue is expanding. And we are taking up our sovereignty and earning our respect back in the comity of nations,” Mr Tinubu added in the statement released by his media aide, Ajuri Ngelale.

The naira, which in February traded as high as N1825 to one dollar, has appreciated in value, trading at N1250 against the dollar as of Thursday afternoon, according to Aboki Forex, a website that publishes the official and parallel rates of the naira against dollar and other currencies.

But despite the naira’s gain in the international market, prices of goods and services have yet to come down, adversely affecting the purchasing power of citizens.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the inflation rate reached a record high of 31 per cent in March, up from 29.9 per cent in February.

At his inauguration in May 2023, Mr Tinubu scrapped the fuel subsidy, a move that caused inflation and distress to the economy, as the price of fuel rose sharply from N145 to N617.

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