By Onyinye Nwachukwu
Vice President Kashim Shettima said on Tuesday 20 February 2024 that government is now certain about what he called “forces” undermining the system and working to pull the country down. And he passionately pleaded with Nigerian citizens to exercise patience as government pulled through painful reforms that had brought untold economic hardship across the country.
The Vice President was speaking at the Public Wealth Management Conference organized by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) in Abuja, where he represented President Tinubu. According to him, some unscrupulous people including smugglers and politicians were determined to pull the nation backward and have partly contributed to the present difficult situations. “Forces are hell-bent on plunging this country into a state of anarchy. Those who could not get to power through the ballot box, instead for them to wait till 2027, are so desperate,” he stated.
The Vice President confirmed that 45 trucks loaded with maize were intercepted while they were making their way to neighbouring countries at midnight the previous Sunday. He said: “Just three nights ago, 45 trucks of maize were caught being transported to neighbouring countries. Just in that Ilela axis, there are 32 illegal smuggling routes. And the moment those foodstuffs were intercepted, the price of maize came down by N10, 000. It came down from N60, 000 to N50, 000.
“So, there are forces that are hell-bent on undermining our nation, but this is the time for us to coalesce into a singular entity,” he said. “We have to make this country work. We have to move beyond politics. We are now in the face of governance. Sadly, some of our countrymen are still in the political mode. They are the practitioners of violence, advocating that our one and only Nigeria should go the Venezuelan way. But Nigeria is greater than any one of us here.
“Just one month after coming on board, our revenue for sharing at FAAC was N1 .9 trillion, but in order not to hit up the polity, we warehoused N1trillion and only shared N900 billion. We are not all together in a very bad shape. Yes, there the FX challenges which all hands are deck to see that we weather the storm. Nigeria will win.”
Shettima acknowledged the economic hardship that Nigerians were going through and asked that government should be trusted and given some time to turn things around. Recall that just recently, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it intercepted 15 trucks loaded with food items in Sokoto and had launched investigations into the matter.
