The Senator representing Edo South in the National Assembly, Neda Imasuen, has urged President Bola Tinubu to consider the plight and sufferings of Nigerians.
The lawmaker who was elected on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), stated that the government is not playing its role in alleviating the suffering of the people.
Speaking on Sunday as a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, Senator Imasuen told President Tinubu that the suffering Nigerians are passing through due to the policies of his government, might be too much a price to pay for the reforms the government is pushing.
According to him, the twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows by the Tinubu government are ill-timed and wrongly implemented.
He lamented that several Nigerians are unable to afford a bag of rice, and the people should be given a breathing space.
The lawmaker said the legislature “Can only support them (the executive) and hope that their plan takes us to the destination”.
Imasuen added, “This is not the time to trade blame; it’s time to sit down and say, look, our people are suffering, how do we sort out the situation we have found ourselves?
“The steps that are being taken, I’m afraid that the suffering that Nigerians are going through right now is too much a price to pay for it.
“Now, this is a country that we don’t produce, we import, and we are devaluing our naira. I don’t see how that is going to help us. Everything is tied to the dollar, and the dollar keeps going up.
“Let’s develop our industries. These SMEs work a lot if we can strengthen small and medium enterprises and give the middle class breathing space to do what he has to do.
“On this question of subsidy, there is no country that does not subsidise, especially in the area of agriculture. Our farmers need access to funding and they need government intervention to produce the food that we need. Today, many cannot buy a bag of rice; it’s about N100,000.”
OsunDailyNG reports that following the removal of the fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira by President Tinubu, many Nigerians have been battling for survival due to the soaring inflation and increasing prices of food and other commodities in the market.
