The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has said that there is no political leader among those currently aspiring for the presidency, who has the capacity to fix Nigeria’s problems better than President Bola Tinubu.

Wike said that Tinubu is the only courageous presidential contender who has demonstrated the capacity to confront the country’s long-standing economic challenges.

Speaking on Tuesday during his monthly media briefing in Abuja, he stated that the removal of petrol subsidy was a strong economic reform and decision that only a courageous person could have taken.

According to him, while the reforms have imposed temporary hardship on Nigerians, they have strengthened the finances of state governments, improved infrastructure funding and ended the era when states depended on bank loans to pay workers’ salaries.

“Asiwaju is the only person we have now. He has not done everything, and nobody says he has, but he has shown the courage to take decisions others refused to take. Give him credit for that,” Wike said.

The minister argued that Nigerians should not expect an economy weakened over many years to recover within a short period.

“When problems have accumulated for over 15 years, people expect them to be solved in one year. It doesn’t work that way. Healing takes time, but it will happen,” he said.

Wike also described the fuel subsidy regime as “a cancer,” recalling that as governor, he had to rely on bank borrowing to meet salary obligations because of declining allocations to states.

“The fuel subsidy consumed over ₦3 trillion at a time. Today, states receive more money. Pensioners are being paid, governors no longer queue before bank managers to borrow money just to pay salaries, and there are more resources for infrastructure,” he said.

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