Tinubu’s Listening Ear Offers Hope — VP Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has shown uncommon political will in implementing bold reforms to address Nigeria’s economic challenges.

Speaking at the opening session of the 66th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) in Abuja, Shettima described Tinubu as a leader with a “listening ear” and whose leadership style offers Nigerians hope amid economic hardship.

“Nigeria is, of course, not exempt from Africa’s economic tragedies. But our silver lining is the listening ear of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Under his leadership, this administration has embarked on bold and inevitable reforms to address structural weaknesses that others before us only paid lip service to.

“These reforms testify to the power of political will in economic policy. Their painful but necessary consequences remind us that a malignant disease can only be cured by painful surgery. The wounds are temporary, but the recovery is permanent,” he stated.

Shettima acknowledged the hardship that has accompanied the reforms and the pressures from global crises, but said the government has rolled out investment-friendly measures and social protection programmes to cushion the vulnerable.

He said this includes policies in transportation, healthcare and education as deliberate efforts to reduce inequality.

“We live in a world where a random citizen in Daura can outsource his services to a corporation in Dallas without seeing the inside of a plane or leaving his bedroom. But to catch up with this changing world, Africa must embrace structural transformation that reinvents its human capital and reverses unemployment,” he said.

“Poverty must be confronted head-on for the promise of this continent to be realised in the lives of our people. There is no justification for the low per capita income that afflicts our nations amidst the resources at our disposal.”

The VP further urged African nations to embrace structural transformation and the knowledge economy.

According to him, poverty must be confronted head-on if the continent is to achieve meaningful development.

He noted that geopolitical conflicts, supply chain disruptions, trade protectionism, energy transition and artificial intelligence, though seen as threats, can serve as opportunities for Africa’s economic renewal.

Earlier, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, praised Shettima’s contributions to the reforms and assured that the NES would be integrated into the ministry’s programmes, including the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme.

Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, noted opportunities in Nigeria’s livestock sector, describing it as “the next crude oil,” while pledging collaboration with the NES on diversification strategies.

The NES President, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, reaffirmed the group’s commitment to supporting government reforms and repositioning the body as a bridge between research and policy.

The Director of the African Development Institute at the African Development Bank, Dr. Eric Kehinde Ogunleye, also commended Tinubu’s reforms but called for increased investment in people.

Dignitaries at the event included senior government officials, academics, and representatives of the National Assembly and Central Bank of Nigeria.

Tinubu’s Listening Ear Offers Hope — VP Shettima is first published on The Whistler Newspaper