‘Cost of rice, tomato could have been worse if not for Buhari’ – Keyamo

Minister of States for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) has tried to ensure the prices of food items do not go beyond what it is now.

The legal practitioner said Buhari and the APC must not be judged by the sharp increase in prices of food and other commodities.

Keyamo insisted that it would be a lazy way to campaign if the opposition parties tried to judge the APC government by comparing the prices of food items in 2022 and what they used to be seven years ago when the APC took over.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, Keyamo maintained that those in opposition were deceiving the younger ones by laying emphasis on the hike in food prices.

According to him, Nigerians have to take into consideration what is happening to the economy globally, saying the Federal Government has tried to keep the prices of food at what they are today.

While clarifying that he did not mean the prices of food items do not matter, Keyamo maintained that the cost of items could have been worse if not for the efforts of the APC government.

“It is a lazy way to campaign by saying what is the price of tomato then, what is the price of tomato today. Prices have never been stable. So they (the opposition) should not deceive the younger ones. We are going to expose them soon.

“It is a lazy way to campaign using the price of tomato and rice. We are going to have a debate, we will put the global macroeconomics on a scale and put Nigeria on that scale as where Nigeria is. It is a lazy way to campaign.

“I am not saying the prices of tomato and rice do not matter. But I am saying it is a lazy way to campaign. It could have been worse. You cannot take Nigeria out of the global context. Nigeria is not in isolation,” he said.