The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammdu Buhari, Femi Adesina, stressed that he was also hit by the naira scarcity.
He made the assertion in his weekly article titled “Living on shoestring budget,” claiming he has been spending N20,000 for one week.
He recounted how he has been coping in the face of naira scarcity.
Adesina said he and some others had left for a journey that would take them to “Bauchi, Lagos, Senegal, Katsina, Kano, and Jigawa” from January 23 to January 31.
He said, “I didn’t want to be like the unwise cripple, who had been told that war was approaching, but who stayed put in the same spot. So I parked everything I had, every dime, and sent it to the bank. I didn’t want my modest funds to become something fit only for the museum.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria later secured a ten days extension of the deadline from President Muhammadu Buhari, which has now been further extended by a Supreme Court ruling. But it has not changed the fact that I’ve been spending the sum of N20,000 for one week, and I’m still spending it. Shoestring budget? Yes, you are right. That’s what it is.
“I spent N6,000 for three days and by Friday, it had shrunk to N2, 500.00.
“Nigerians don’t know is that government officials are also itchy and scratch hard.”
He expressed his feeling in proverb, “The hen sweats, but its feathers make the sweat indiscernible.”
Adesina lamented that he explained his ordeal to his account officer but the banker mocked him.
“After seeing that I was serious, he said the best he could do was get N20,000.00 for me, through the Automated Teller Machine, which was his own entitlement for the day. Well, beggars can’t be choosers, and half bread, as they say, is better than none.
“I sent my driver to collect the money, and promptly cancelled all the engagements I had lined up for the weekend. When you stay in your house, watching football and making yourself happy, you need not spend much money, if at all.
“I had confront the first challenge of filling fuel car tank which was almost empty and would take about N15,000 to fill it up.”
He decided to buy N8,000 fuel.
“From Friday till the following Wednesday, I became very gentle, (by force) stretching N12,000.00 as far as I could. Fortunately, there was enough food at home. If there wasn’t, I would drink garri and groundnuts. And why not? That was what the times called for. Pragmatism. No pain, no gain. It was my own contribution to the success of a policy that was bound to do our country good,”
