Mohammed Idris: Give Tinubu more time to fix Nigeria — he inherited a dead economy

Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, has asked Nigerians to give President Bola Tinubu more time to fix the country.

Idris spoke on Thursday during the 50th anniversary lecture of PUNCH newspaper in Lagos.

The information minister said the country’s economy was like a “dead horse standing” when Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023.

Idris said the administration understands that Nigerians are facing challenging times owing to the state of the economy.

The information minister said the federal government believes that the situation of the country will be “quite different” in another year.

“By the time we got into office, the economy was literally a dead horse standing. There was really nothing in it,” he said.

“Let me say this — that the government believes all these things happening now are for good and that Nigeria is going to turn the corner and the economy will boom again.

“Let me go back to what Professor Wole Soyinka said when he visited President Bola Tinubu and journalists asked him to assess the administration.

“He said, ‘It is not in my character, I won’t talk until after one year in office’. So I urge you to see wisdom in what Professor Wole Soyinka said and allow more time.”

He said the president is making efforts to rescue the economy and that the focus should be on the positives rather than the negatives.

He added that the security situation has “improved significantly” since Tinubu took over.

Over the past few weeks, there have been protests across the country over the economic hardship plaguing the citizenry.