United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has commented on the inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeriaโs next president after Muhammadu Buhari.
Addressing newsmen at the UN headquarters in New York, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, congratulated Nigeria, the newly sworn-in president particularly, for the history made.
According to her, Guterres believes thatย โNigeria is an important partner of the United Nations, has an important role to play in the promotion of sustainable development, in the promotion of peace and security in the region and beyond.โ
Dujarric said the UN looks forward to deepening the ties with Nigeria under Tinubuโs administration.
In a related development, the Guterres also congratulated President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan on his re-election as President of the Republic of Tรผrkiye.
The UN chief said he looks forward to further strengthening the cooperation between Turkiye and the United Nations.
Meanwhile, former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has slammed a section of the media claiming that President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy.
He described the reports as mischievous.ย According to Keyamo, Tinubuโs administration simply inherited a regime with no subsidy provision in the 2023 Appropriation Act from June.
Speaking via Twitter, the former Minister asked subsidy advocates to convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should start on a note of illegality by promising to reintroduce something the law has taken away.
He urged those against its removal to convince Nigerians that the $10 billion initially allocated as the fuel subsidy would not jumpstart the economy when channelled into other sectors.
His words read: โA section of the Press is mischievously twisting the narrative to read that TINUBUโs GOVERNMENT HAS REMOVED SUBSIDY. That is NOT CORRECT. TINUBUโs govt has merely inherited a regime where there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act as of June 2023 and the Petroleum Industry Act which is now extant, has no provision for subsidy. President Tinubu merely acknowledged this state of affairs in his inaugural speech at Eagle Square.
โSo any advocate of subsidy should convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should start on a note of illegality by promising to reintroduce something which the law has taken away. They should also convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should embark on a present illegality that gulped $10 billion of our scarce or unavailable resources in 2022 alone.
โThose claiming to defend the right or welfare of workers should convince the Nigerian people that $10 billion injected into the economy yearly will not jumpstart the economy enough as to create massive jobs and even increase the same minimum wage they complain about.
โThat is the conversation the Nigerian people are prepared to have now.โ
