The federal government of Nigeria led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally listened to the advice of Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele regarding the reduction of hardship in the country.
Primate Ayodele who warned Nigerians that the All Progressive Congress (APC) would cause Nigeria to sink made it known months ago that the only way Nigeria can end hardship is by subsidizing the price of food items in the country.
The prophet, to show the government how to do it right, launched a palliative market initiative where prices of food materials were ridiculously crashed. So far, Primate Ayodele has held five different editions in Lagos, Ogun and Ekiti states to support the government and to let them know that what he advised them to do is possible.
At different editions of the Palliative Markets, Primate Ayodele sold bags of rice for as low as N10,000, beans for the same price, cartons of noodles for N1,000, litres of groundnut oil for N2,000, bags of garri, crates of eggs, tubers of yam, and many more for ridiculous prices.
During the time of his advice and demonstrations to the government, President Tinubu-led administration took some decisions, which Primate Ayodele frowned at.
One of them was sending N8,000 to vulnerable Nigerians which the government announced in 2023 but was quickly dropped when prominent Nigerians like Primate Ayodele spoke against it. According to Primate Ayodele, the cash transfer would lead to more corruption and will not affect the economy positively.
“The N8,000 palliative is corruption, I see nothing in the palliative and it will not reach out to the poor masses. Even though Mr President has signed it, it will not make any impact. The governors will use it for their selfish needs. The poor will not enjoy it at all.’’
While he spoke against the N8,000 palliative, he advised the government to increase the minimum wage which will have a greater positive effect than the palliative which he described as a total waste. It is of course worthy to note that the government has increased the minimum age, as advised by Primate Ayodele.
“If truly the government is concerned about the masses, the minimum wage should be increased to N100,000. It will go a long way in cushioning the effects of subsidy removal and inflation. The minimum wage increase will have a direct impact on the people than N8,000 palliatives.”
Again, Primate Ayodele in a video told the government that if the prices of food commodities are not reduced, there will be no breakthrough for the present government.
“The food they want to sell will not help the society, crash the price of food items, it will lead to your total breakthrough and by the time price of food comes down, the dollar will crash…..’’
Just recently when the government announced that it had sent 20 trucks of rice to each state government, Primate Ayodele stated that the government has made yet another mistake that will still lead to corruption. He explained that the government isn’t ready to listen to advice and it is why the government keeps on failing.
“The Tinubu government isn’t ready to listen to advice. They are not doing what is feasible, Nigerians are hungry and angry, everyone is affected, the president must be careful.’’
“Sending trucks of rice to governors that don’t care about the needs of the people, that don’t share in people’s pains, is tantamount to arbitrary corruption. They will give it to their party members, and loyalists and even hoard it.”
As a prophet who doesn’t just criticize without offering solutions, Primate Ayodele advised the government again to create designated centres where bags of rice would be sold for a lesser price instead of putting it in the hands of governors.
“This is simple mathematics like God revealed to Pharaoh about famine, God has revealed to prophets the situation of Nigeria, we have said this in 2022 about what Nigeria will experience, it is better the government listens before it kills the economy.”
“The government should have taken the trucks to markets across the country and sold them at a very subsidized rate to the needy. The impact will be felt more than giving it to state governors,” he added.
As advised by Primate Ayodele, The Federal Government on Monday said it had created centres across the country where Nigerians can purchase a 50kg bag of rice for N40,000.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, revealed this on Monday while briefing correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
Idris said this was one of several initiatives by the Tinubu administration to ease living conditions for citizens.
This is exactly the format Primate Ayodele has been telling the government to adopt and in his way, has been doing the same for more than one year.
