• Says Fresh Round of Misery Inflicted On Nigerians
• Condemns ‘Bull in China Shop Approach To Governance
As Nigerians face the grim reality of the soaring prices of goods and services following the removal of subsidy by the Federal Government, the Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED) has condemned what it described the new round of pains, suffering and hardship visited on Nigerians by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The group said the President’s announcement of subsidy removal without consultations with key stakeholders amounted to putting the cart before the horse. In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Comrade Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, the frontline civic group lamented that the President’s unilateral announcement at the start of his tenure has resulted in chaos, with fuel queues surfacing across the country.
He said: “Also, given the disruptions caused by the pronouncement, Nigerians will in the incoming weeks be at the mercy of shylock oil marketers and cut-throat profiteers in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. These elements who have already started cashing out at the expense of long suffering Nigerians, would stop at nothing to exploit the ordinary people. The fundamental question is; what plans does the new administration have in place to stop these economic saboteurs? Apparently, there is no plan, and as such, citizens have been left at the mercy of exploiters who would surely prey on them.”
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The group continued: “For an administration, which is coming on board and is struggling to gain legitimacy, especially in the light of the legal challenge of its electoral mandate, it amounts to a disturbing sign of things to come that the announcement was made without prior efforts to engage critical stakeholders in the sector. CHRICED is of the considered position that this “bull in the China shop” approach to implementing public policy would leave Nigerians more impoverished and traumatised than the immediate past Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari left them.
“For avoidance of doubt, Nigerians went through hell in the last eight years as a result of the inhumane and draconian policies and programmes of the previous administration. Therefore, the least Nigerians expect of the new government is strategic thinking, backed up with calm and calculative problem solving capacity, which would consider the welfare and well-being of citizens. For citizens grappling with the after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, extremely high rate of inflation, and the recent serious disruptions caused by the demonetization policy of the government also known as the Naira redesign, it is one too many to impose more suffering on the people.
CHRICED warned that it is unacceptable that Nigerians who were tasked to every limit imaginable during the Buhari years would be again made to make more sacrifices when the administration itself is yet to provide the road map on how it intends to address the hemorrhage in the economy and Nigeria’s public finances. According to the CHRICED helmsman, it is telling that President Tinubu in all his outings, since assuming office has not mentioned the extremely high cost of governance and what his government would do to drastically cut it down.
His words: “In the end, while it is clear that subsidy has become a conduit for draining scarce national resources, addressing the issue is not just about the simplistic motion of declaring its removal. There are other issues such Nigeria’s crude refining capacity and the need to revamp the country’s comatose refineries. It is abundantly clear therefore that removing subsidy, without addressing other fundamentals would only give the initiative to greedy marketers to mindlessly exploit Nigerians.
“In the face of these realities, CHRICED calls on the Labour movement and all well-meaning civil society organisations to brace up for the struggles ahead. As things stand, the pronouncement on subsidy without any attempt to engage critical stakeholders before proceeding is an indication that the Tinubu regime would likely continue the inhumane policies of Buhari. The earlier all pressure groups realise that and wake up, the better for the resistance against draconian governance, which does not put into consideration the effects of such actions on ordinary citizens.”
