Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser, Information and Strategy, to President Bola Tinubu, has declared that Nigerians are suffering from short memory.
He spoke amid complaints by Nigerians on the state of affairs in the country, which has worsened since Tinubu assumed power.
It has been very difficult for the citizens to earn a living, with several families unable to feed.
Removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira are the major policies behind the citizens’ suffering.
However, Onanuga in an interview on Arise Television on Saturday morning, said things were worse off before Tinubu came to power.
According to the presidential spokesman, "Many Nigerians sometimes exhibit the problem of lack of memory.
“We have very short memories; we forget where we started from and we just start blaming President Tinubu for all the problems that Nigeria is going through. In 2023, when Tinubu took over the government, there were fuel shortages in this country," he said.
"I remember, for instance, in May 2023, when Tinubu took over the government, there was fuel shortage in this country. If we forgot that all through the election that year, there was a fuel shortage.
"So when the President announced on day one that he was removing fuel subsidy, the immediate reaction by NNPC, which has been the major supplier of fuel, was to increase the pump price, because, as at that time, NNPC was more willing to import fuel.
"NNPC was saying the federal government was owing it over 4 trillion Naira, and it was also owing its suppliers abroad. So what the federal government did, what President Tinubu did, was to bring some life into NNPC, to resume importing fuel, so that fuel can be available. People forget that easily.
"There was no way Nigeria could have sustained the regime of fuel subsidy. No way, because the resources are just not there, and we are just spending the money they ought to belong to the future generation. So the government just had to do the right thing.
"Yeah, problems followed. What the President did... This government has been honest in admitting some of the problems, some of the fallouts of the consequence of removing fuel subsidy, and has been doing a lot of measures to ameliorate the pains of Nigerians.”