A group, Frontiers for Accountability and Democracy Development (FADD) has thrown their weight behind the federal governments policies on tax reform and fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria.
The convener of the group, Abdusalam Kazeem while speaking in Abuja on Friday at a press briefing on the sideline of the performances of some ministers in the first year of the President Tinubu-led administration stated that citizens in developed countries enjoy benefits of government due to various tax reforms and policies to enforce them, hence Nigeria should not be different.
The group however attributed the current hardship and underdevelopment to past government who neglected the policies plunging the country into her current woes.
“We tell you America, United Kingdom are better than Nigeria, all these nations have been built based on tax and such reform policies that this government are introducing. But we don’t want to get used to these reform policies, but we want to enjoy a better government.”
“In the past, successive governments have neglected most of all these reforms you are
seeing today, but that is why we have not moved from point A to point B. But we have a
government that said, no, we have a mandate, and this mandate is genuine, and we work on this mandate to deliver the dividend of democracy to our people. How can we achieve most of this dividend of democracy? It’s to come up with policies, and what are these policies? These are policies in line with global best practices.”
Meanwhile, the group ranked Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, Minister of the federal capital territory, Nyesom Wike, Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Ojo and five others high in their performance as minister in the first year in office of the President Tinubu-led-administration.
The group noted that having followed the trajectory of service delivery of the President Tinubu administration since inception, no other government stirred up the hopes of Nigerians like the Tinubu administration having run on the Renewed Hope Agenda.
They described President Tinubu’s choice of the septet as placing square pegs in square holes fittingly adding that they had literally hit the ground running with Mr. President, working tirelessly night and day to deliver on the mandate of the administration in their respective ministries and attaining proven incontrovertible positive results.
The group explained that Minister of Defence, Matawalle on assumption in office took the bull by the horn by giving a marching order backed by full logistics support to the Nigerian military for an all our onslaught targeted against terrorists especially in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna states in order to neutralize bandits and for the citizens to to once again begin to enjoy uninterrupted peace.
“Matawalle’s firm leadership has reverberated across the entire length and breadth of the nation resulting in the restoration of peace in the troubled Niger Delta which has helped strengthen Nigeria’s economy with an increase in crude oil production. The Boko Haram terrorist in the Northeastern States of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa are rapidly falling to the superior fighting power of Nigerian Military and businesses are rapidly springing back to life again.”
The group noted that Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike on assumption embarked on a binge of infrastructural projects across the city center and even satellite towns adding that residents of Abuja can now attest to the fact that the magnitude, quality and swiftness im execution of these projects has never been witnessed in the history of the FCT.
“As a seasoned administrator and expert in project execution, Wike diligently studied his handover notes, identified all hitherto abandoned major FCT projects and in just one year he has completed what took bunch of oyhers over a decade to even begin”.
Continuing, they alluded that Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo also swiftly initiated a strategic overhaul of the ministry of interior and its affiliated agencies setting a new standard for optimal service delivery in all agencies of the ministry adding that his reforms in few months brought relief to all citizens that desire to obtain Nigerian passport at home and abroad.
“He promptly ordered and ensured the swift clearance of staggering 204,332 passports backlog by the Nigeria Immigration Service in just three weeks, this feat was nonetheless a record breaking performance by the Nigeria Immigration Service in its 60 years of existence.”
The group highlighted other ministers who performed exceptionally which include
Minister of Works, David Umahi, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, Minister of interior, Hon. Olubunmi Ojo and Minister for Arts, Culture, Minister of State for Housing and urban development Abdullahi Gwarzo and Minister of creative economy Hannatu Musawa.
They added that indeed, President Bola Tinubu has demonstrated that his government places premium priority on the felt needs of the citizenry judging from the performance of these trio who stood out among their equals.
