President Bola Tinubu on Friday vowed to ease the economic pain afflicting Nigerians, blaming it on fallout from the Middle East war.
The President stated this during his commissioning of key infrastructure in oil-rich Bayelsa State.
Speaking at a civic reception after unveiling projects including a 60-megawatt gas-fired power plant, President Tinubu acknowledged soaring fuel prices and broader pressures.
“Yes, I hear you from various angles of the economy. The fuel prices are biting hard,” he said.
The President continued “Let’s just thank God together that we are better off listening to what is happening in Kenya and other African countries.”
His administration, he said, would collaborate with the ministries of finance and economic planning to review options.
“We will continue to find ways to ameliorate the suffering of the vulnerable. This is a government that cares,” President Tinubu added.
He described the challenges as global: “These are the challenges of the war we didn’t call for. But the effects of an interrelated world that we share. And both the joy and the pain of it is universal.”
The Elebele Independent Power Plant, built under Governor Douye Diri, aims to boost energy security in the Niger Delta by curbing reliance on Nigeria’s faltering national grid.
Powered by gas turbines, it will serve Yenagoa and nearby areas, spurring investment and small businesses in the state, which sits atop vast oil reserves but grapples with chronic blackouts.
President Tinubu so hailed the facility as vital for growth.
“There can be no industrialization and skill development and empowerment without power,” he said during a tour of its turbines and transformers.
The President also praised Governor Diri’s roads and bridges, including the Yenagoa-Oporoma-Ukubie highway, which ends years of water-only access for Southern Ijaw communities.
On security, after recent soldier killings, he pledged: “We will continue to equip and train our men and women of the armed forces. We will defeat terrorism and banditry.”
The President nodded to the Governor’s request for federal reimbursement on state-built roads now deemed national assets.
“I hear you, Douye. Federal Road. Okay, I will take it with me,” he quipped, promising partnership.
Governor Diri touted his “Assured Prosperity” agenda, highlighting projects like an outer ring road and a 30,000-seat stadium to drive urban development.
The event drew former President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and governors from Imo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, and Ogun states.
