President Bola Tinubu articulated on Thursday the rationale behind his administration’s economic reforms, saying the primary motive was protecting the interests of future generations.

“For 50 years, Nigeria was spending money of generations yet unborn and servicing the West coast of our subregion with fuel. It was getting difficult to plan for our children’s future,” he said.

He made these remarks at the State House in Abuja while receiving a delegation of former National Assembly colleagues from the aborted Third Republic, during which he served as a Senator representing Lagos West.

The president highlighted the challenges faced at the beginning of his administration, especially economic and social issues, and expressed his gratitude for the delegation’s support in addressing these difficulties:

“We faced serious headwinds when I took over, very challenging times. Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken the actions that we took, and we had to prevent the economy’s collapse.

President Tinubu declared that the administration had been able to stem the tide and expressed appreciation to Nigerians for their collective support in turning things around.

“Today, we are sitting pretty on a good foundation. We have reversed the problem; the Exchange rate is stabilising. Food prices are coming down, especially during Ramadan. We will have light at the end of the tunnel.”

He said firm adherence to democratic tenets is the best route to economic, social, and political development.

“I am happy that you are holding to your belief in democracy. I thank you for keeping faith and remembering how we started. Some people missed the ball.

“Some leadership failed, but we kept the faith with our democratic beliefs and freedom and the right to aspire to the highest office in the land. I am benefitting from it.”

Emmanuel Nwaka, who spoke on behalf of the group, expressed his delight at some of the programmes that the Tinubu administration had implemented, especially the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation (CREDICORP) and at what the two organisations were offering Nigerians.

“I appreciate you for what you are giving to students because the student population is the largest demographic in the country. I’ve spoken with many of them, and many have benefited from it.

“And the next one is the CREDICORP. That’s a major way of fighting corruption. You see a young man, you come out of school, you want to buy a car, you have to put down cash, you want to buy a house, and you are not married, but with the CREDICORP, you can get things done. I’m following their activities; we are delighted,” Mr Nwaka, a former senator, said.

Other delegation members were Bako Musa, Terwase Orbunde, Wasiu Logun, Amina Aliyu, Obi Anoliefo and Eze Nwauwa.

ASharia Court in Kano State on Wednesday ordered a 29-year-old man, Abduljabar Nura, to be remanded in a corrections centre for stabbing his neighbour over an electricity bill.

The police charged Mr Nura, who lives in Fagge Quarters in Kano, with causing grievous hurt.

When the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded guilty to the offence.

The judge, Umar Lawal-Abubakar, ordered that the defendant should be remanded in the Goron Dutse Correctional Centre in Kano until April 15 for sentencing.

The prosecution counsel, Zahradeen Abubakar, told the court that Haruna Kasim, the complainant, reported the matter at the Fagge police station on February 28.

He alleged that the defendant and Mr Kasim had an altercation over an electricity bill.

The police said that the defendant stabbed the complainant with a pair of scissors on his back.