The president of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has urged Nigerians to support the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu as it was designed to make Nigeria the “toast” of Africa.

Mr Akpabio made the call at the seventh convocation of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), University of Benin in Abuja on Monday.

Represented by the chairman, Senate committee on finance, Sani Musa, Mr Akpabio said the “Renewed Hope Agenda” would restore the glory of Nigeria.

He recalled that decades ago, Nigeria was the world’s largest producer of cocoa, palm produce, groundnuts, among others.

According to him, we had groundnut pyramids in the north, the cocoa houses in the west, and palm plantations in the east.

Mr Akpabio said that going back to agricultural production in addition to oil earnings would boost revenue generation in the country.

The lawmaker said that government currently spent more than its revenue, saying that it was bad for the country; hence one reason why the petroleum subsidy had to go.

“Spending more than its revenue leads the government to three choices; raising taxes, printing more money or borrowing from loan sources. None of these options is good for any country. So, we should not put ourselves in that tight corner.

“Thankfully, the Bola Tinubu government has shown a commitment to increasing our revenue generation and effectively managing our expenditure.

“We in the National Assembly, in our oversight function, will also act to ensure that parastatals and agencies of government are in step with the expectation of the Tinubu Administration and Nigerians in expenditure management.

“Nigeria is a great country. We have everything needed to make our country the toast of the African nation and the black world.

“This is what the Renewed Hope Agenda is all about, and I urge all Nigerians to hitch onto the bandwagon.

“Let us drill out of the rock of popular doubt, the stone of collective hope, let us break the chain of ethnicity with the hammer of love, let us turn our fists into handshakes.

“When we do these things, together we will one day see and live in the Nigeria we sing about everyday in the National Anthem,” he said.

Addressing the graduands, Mr Akpabio said that Nigeria was looking for men and women who have faith in the Nigerian project, who could run with that faith and could proclaim that faith everywhere.

He urged them to be agents of the “Renewed Hope Agenda” and be willing to respond to Nigeria’s call at any time of day.

(NAN)