Tinubu knows the price of eggs and bread, presidential aide says

A presidential aide has pushed back at the idea that the government is out of touch with the cost of living, saying President Bola Tinubu is told regularly what everyday food items cost.

Dr Abiodun Essiet, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement for the North-Central region, spoke to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.

“You think Mr President doesn’t know the price of egg or bread in the market? He does, because we brief him regularly, and so do members of the Federal Executive Council,” she said.

Essiet said she did not accept that only journalists understand what Nigerians are going through. The realities people face, she said, are what her office and other aides report back to the President.

Her remarks touch on a sore point for many households. Food prices have stayed high, and the cost of staples such as bread and eggs is a daily worry for families trying to feed themselves.

Roads, councils and the subsidy

Essiet pointed to infrastructure as the administration’s main answer to hardship. She cited the Mokwa-Bida road in Niger State, which she said residents have long asked the government to fix.

According to her, the road was last awarded on contract 46 years ago, and its poor state has contributed to fatal accidents involving motorists and heavy trucks.

She said Tinubu directed that the road be rebuilt with reinforced concrete rather than ordinary asphalt so it lasts longer.

On local government, Essiet defended the President’s push for council autonomy through the courts, saying stronger councils would bring development closer to communities.

She said her office set up a citizens’ assembly of more than 700 people across the North-Central region to report problems in their areas. About 70 per cent of the issues raised, she said, fall under local governments, and she raised concern that some council workers do not report to their offices.

She also defended the removal of the petrol subsidy, arguing it helped Nigeria cope with pressures in the global oil and energy markets, and pointed to government programmes meant to soften the effect on Nigerians.

Her comments follow Vice President Kashim Shettima’s promise on October 19 that food prices would fall in the coming weeks as the government tackles problems in farming. Shettima spoke at an event organised by groups backing Tinubu’s re-election bid.