The immediate past Nigeria’s minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylvia has said that going by the steps being taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria is set to witness economic turnaround
“I believe that we are on the verge of an economic turnaround in this country, and going by the American parlance: “Is the economy, stupid?”
Sylvia, who spoke to newsmen shortly after a private audience with President Bola Tinubu today, August 8, at the presidential villa, Abuja, said that Nigeria has gotten the kind of President it had always been wanting.
“We need a president who understands the economy and I believe that we have one now.”
He commended the President for the great things he has been doing, saying that for the first time in Nigeria, states and federal government are to share N1.9 trillion.
“I know that for a long time, every administration; every government in Nigeria had been trying to remove the fuel subsidy.
“We (ex President Muhammadu Buhari government) attempted it. And it was actually part of the campaign of every presidential election in the previous election in the past election.
“But for Mr. President to have achieved this feat on the first day of his presidency, it’s quite commendable. We’ve seen a lot happening in the monetary policy sector.”
On his campaign for the November 11 governorship election, as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Bayelsa State, Sylvia said: “we are set to take over Bayelsa and I had to inform Mr. President what we’re doing and also take advice from him.”
He listened a six-point agenda for the state if he wins the election.
“First point of the agenda is human capital development, including education, which is very important. We need to really develop the capacity of our people.
“The second point of the agenda is infrastructure. We really need it in Bayelsa state.
“Third point of the agenda is to develop an economy for Bayelsa. “And for Bayelsa, we believe that the economy that can easily be developed is a gas economy, because we are sitting on the highest deposit of gas in Nigeria.
“Fourth point in the agenda is agriculture and in agriculture, we are not going to also be trying everything. We are going to concentrate on rice production. As you know, rice grows well in the swamps and Bayelsa has a lot of swamps as you know. We have Peremadi rice project which was actually designed to produce rice for the whole of Nigeria and West Africa. But it’s been abandoned.
“So, Bayelsa is actually within the rice belt. We are definitely going to become the biggest rice producer in Nigeria because we have comparative advantage. “And then of course, in agriculture we’re looking at also fishery.
“The fifth point of the agenda will be to stabilize power because you know that if you want to grow an economy you need to stabilize power.
“In my previous incarnation in Bayelsa, I was already on cause to stabilize power in Bayelsa before I left. “Unfortunately, they took it back 360 degrees.
“We must stabilize power in Bayelsa, working with the federal government and we have the gas to fire the power sector.
“Then the six point of the agenda is to ensure that there is security. So with this six point agenda, we will hit the ground running. I can assure you, linking up with the great things that are going to be achieved from the federal side and with what you can see, I believe that the glory days of Bayelsa is just around the corner, just like the glory days of Nigeria, also around the corner.”
