Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on Monday announced N500 billion to cushion the effects of the economic hardship being experienced by citizens as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy, and other government policies since coming into power on May 29.

Tinubu, in a national broadcast on Monday night, assured Nigerians that he understood their hardships, and his administration would do everything possible to assuage their pains as he did not come to hurt them, but to help them.

“Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Households and businesses struggle. Things seem anxious and uncertain.

‘’I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is none. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love,” Tinubu said.

President Tinubu had, on his inauguration on May 29, announced full removal of fuel subsidy, leading to hike in fuel price from N200 to between N518 and N630 per litre across the country.

Another step he took was to, through the central bank, abolish multiple exchange rates, forcing the dollar to exchange for over N850 at the black market. With these came an unprecedented rise in the cost of living with hike in the prices of food items and transportation.

Inflation rate in the West African country also jumped from 22.41 percent in May to an all time high of 22.79 percent in June, without fully accounting for the increments, leading to more pains for the people.

But in the Monday broadcast entitled “After Darkness Comes the Glorious Dawn,” Tinubu said the pains of today were necessary for a better tomorrow.

As part of the palliative measures Tinubu rolled out, he promised to spend N75 billion between July 2023 and March 2024 to fund 75 enterprises with great potential to kick-start sustainable economic growth.

‘’Each of the 75 manufacturing enterprises will be able to access N1billion credit at 9% per annum, with a maximum of 60 months repayment for long-term loans and 12 months for working capital,” he said.

He also promised that the government would spend N50 billion on conditional grants to one million nano businesses between now and March 2024, with the target of N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 local governments across the country.

Other measures include the immediate release of 200,000 metric tonnes of grains from strategic reserves to households across the 36 states and FCT to moderate prices, as well as providing 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to farmers who are committed to our food security agenda.

The government, according to Tinubu, will also invest N100 billion between now and March 2024 to acquire 3000 units of 20-seater CNG-fuelled buses which will be shared with major transportation companies in the states.

He also promised that salary increase which has been a major none of contention will be addressed.

“I want to tell our workers this: your salary review is coming.

Once we agree on the new minimum wage and general upward review, we will make budget provision for it for immediate implementation,” he assured.