Subsidy, Palliatives: Tinubu On right Track, says World Bank Country Director

The Country Director of World Bank, Dr. Shubham Chaudhuri, has applauded President Bola Tinubu’s policies on subsidy removal and the subsequent palliative measures announced to cushion the effects.

Chaudhury said this while fielding questions from journalists during a symposium jointly organized by the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER).

The symposium which had Chaudhury as its lead discussant was , titled, ‘Economic opportunity pathways to navigating post-reform challenges in Nigeria,’ was held at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State on Friday.

The World Bank Country Director noted that the whole measures taken by the presidency on his first day was the right thing to do, although “a lot more that needs to be done”.

While noting that there is a need to be more transparent on the mechanism of the palliative distribution, Shubham mentioned that the key role is the quick delivery of the relief packages.

He said: “It is really about making the best possible use of the revenues that will now flow to the federation but in a way that the ordinary people can get some relief because it has been hard with the prices increasing. We think that a package of things; cash transfers, help with mass transport vehicles, school fees, help for farmers and a whole package of things rolled out as quickly as possible in a way that the Nigerian people can actually see and feel that there is accountability is what is needed.

“We stand ready at the world Bank to help on this and we look forward to working closely with all stakeholders” He disclosed.

He charged the Nigerian people and especially the civil societies and elites to follow through in order to ensure that what has been announced is actually distributed to the right people who needs it.

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, stated that the discussion was timely especially now that Nigeria is going through challenges.

According to the Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, UI, Prof. T. T. Awoyemi, also contributed to the discussion saying that this is not a time to carry out policies in the usual ways but to be sincere and infuse a lot of discipline in the process.

He also mentioned the need for all to make sacrifices to ensure that the implementation of the transformation agenda becomes fruitful.

Anthonia Simbine; the Director-General of NISER noted that the many problems of the country could be overwhelming, however a proper management of the problems would guarantee some positive changes which would improve the lives of the people.

She also said that the Nigerian problems have a historical background which makes it difficult to overcome overnight.

“The government of today are taking some steps that really should have been taken well before now. Nevertheless, now that the steps have been taken, the people need to be a bit more patient and we need to also support the same people with many mechanisms for managing the situations that they find themselves in.”