"He (President Bola Tinubu) also asked me to tell this gathering that we are going through a difficult phase in the history of this country but these pains are pains of birth, the birth of a new nation....," Mr Akume said.
The federal government has released 100 trucks of grains and 100 trucks of fertilisers to state governments to mitigate the hardship of removal of petroleum subsidy on Nigerians.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while delivering the presidential address at the presentation of a book authored by an elder statesman and a former federal commissioner for information, Edwin Clark.
The book is titled "Brutally Frank."
Mr Akume, who represented President Bola Tinubu at the book presentation, noted that the farm inputs released to state governments were part of the government's plans to cushion the effect of removal of petroleum subsidy.
"Solution to problems can never be as instant as coffee but we must certainly be there. I know the removal of fuel subsidy has created some pains and that is why palliatives are being put in place.
"One hundred trucks of fertiliser have been sent to the states, one hundred trucks of grains have been sent and more are coming and more are also coming," he said.
Mr Akume did not mention the states that have received the farm inputs and how they were distributed.
He urged Nigerians to endure the hardship that comes with the removal of petroleum subsidy.
"He (President Bola Tinubu) also asked me to tell this gathering that we are going through a difficult phase in the history of this country but these pains are pains of birth, the birth of a new nation and that if you want to celebrate a child, a baby then the mother must go through some pains. At the end of the day, there is joy in merriment when the baby arrives and we will certainly be there.
"We can endure this for a moment but what we are going through today is for a better tomorrow. Citizens have hoped that tomorrow will be better than today," Mr Akume said.
The SGF also urged Nigerians to shun differences in ethnicity and embrace unity among themselves.
"We are greater when we are introduced as Nigerians than when we are introduced on the basis of ethnic(ity).
Brutally frank
Oserheimen Osunbor, a former governor of Edo State, who reviewed the book, said it is an excellent literary work that is rich in Nigeria's political history.
Mr Osunbor, a professor of law, also said the beginning and end of the book is good and pictures used to illustrate text in the book are also memorable.
He stressed that the book deserves to be in every library as an invaluable reservoir of knowledge.
In his welcome address, the Chairman of the occasion and former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, under whom Mr Clark served as federal commissioner for information, commended the author of the book for the role he played in uniting Nigeria during his (Gowon) administration.
He recounted that Mr Clark used his first daughter to settle an ethnic crisis in the Mid-west.
He also said Mr Clark mobilised hundreds of teachers to the northern states from the Mid-west and encouraged the young northerners to acquire western education.
"As a matter of fact, he went to the extent of using his first daughter, now Mrs. Rebecca Okorodudu, who was a teenager in one of the best schools in Mid-West at the time as a kind of guinea pig, moving her to Queen's School, Enugu, which had great impact from the unfortunate years of conflict.
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"As if that was not enough, he also extended a hand of solidarity to the northern states by sending hundreds of science teachers to various parts of the northern states from the Mid-West and also attracted some of their young persons and gave them places in the best schools in his home state.
"There was no better Nigerian for the job of information minister at that time when we needed to show our warmness and empathy for one another as a people. He did the same for the East-Central States, sending help to the University and other institutions in the war affected areas," Mr Gowon, a retired general, said.
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and his Bauchi counterpart, Bala Mohammed, were present at the book presentation.
Serving and former senators as well as traditional rulers were also present at the event.
