‘There is no part of the world where you start a reform like that, there will not be discomfort, right? More people went down to poverty; acknowledged. I’m not doubting’
This was the admission of presidential spokesman, Daniel Bwala, on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
Bwala acknowledged that more Nigerians slipped into poverty as a result of the economic reforms introduced by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
But Bwala, who is Special Adviser on Media and Policy Communications to the President, justified the reforms in a matter-of-fact manner, saying they were necessary to move the country forward despite the hardship and discomfort caused.
To him, there was no way reforms of such magnitude could be executed without causing temporary hardship to the people.
Further acknowledging the critical role of the reforms in widespread poverty among Nigerians, the spokesman said: “Do you know why? It’s simply because we took a reform. There is no part of the world where reform comes with convenience.”
He contended that Nigeria’s large population was already experiencing poverty before the Tinubu administration embarked on reforms.
“The population is 230 million already at some stage of poverty, but we can’t make any progress until reform is carried out,” he said.
Bwala accused past administrations of lacking the political will to undertake such reforms because of concerns about public reaction.
His words: “None of the Presidents that came before President Tinubu had the courage to do it because of the fear of what you are saying today. But the President said ‘we can’t make progress’, so he took that reform.
“Please let it be clear, even to the opposition, the reason why you have this number of poor people and some of these doomsday analyses that people are giving, is because we undertook a reform.”
Bwala admitted that more Nigerians had fallen into poverty since the reforms began, but insisted that the government had also made noticeable progress.
“There is no part of the world where you start a reform like that, there will not be discomfort, right? More people went down to poverty; acknowledged. I’m not doubting.
“Since the reform started till today, we have made marked progress, which is what we have spent the last three years talking to Nigerians about.
“So you cannot discount the fact that even though there are quite a number of our population that are poor, which we admit, but that we have made progress so far,” he said.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Bwala (l) and Tinubu.
