Adams Oshiomhole, the former governor of Edo State, said on Tuesday that President Bola Tinubu‘s administration inherited an economy in “terrible shape.”
In an interview with State House media following a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, Oshiomhole encouraged Nigerians to give the president time to fix the economy.
He emphasized that there was no easy cure for the country’s economic problems.
Since May 29, the president has implemented a series of steps, including the unification of the currency rate and the withdrawal of gasoline subsidies, in an effort to stabilize the Naira and combat corruption in the petrol supply chain, respectively.
Oshiomhole said: “The issues of the economy are a work in progress. There is no quick fix. The government inherited a terrible economic situation. Everybody knows it.
“The government inherited an economy in which our total national revenue was barely enough to service our debt burden.
“Nothing can be worse. But they came determined that they will have to do business unusual, to arrest the drift, stabilise the economy and then begin to move forward.
“Some painful decisions are necessary. It is like any of us that has been unfortunate to have an ailment that requires surgery.
“If you want to pretend, you can be applying Vaseline, perfumes, creams and wear babariga to cover all the manifestations of that disease.
“But a trained doctor that believes in the ethics of medicine will tell you that you need surgery.”
The Edo North senator expressed hope that the present administration will turn the country’s economy around for the benefit of Nigerians.