Adoji Faults Strategy of Fuel Subsidy Removal

*Says Nigeria nowhere to be found seven years to SDGs target Juliet Akoje in Abuja

A Development Economist and Policy Analyst, Dr. Victor Alewo Adoji, has said President Bola Tinubu put the cart before the horse in the manner he removed petrol subsidy as well as the manner in which it was going about mitigating its impact.

Adoji, while briefing journalists over the weekend, argued that, “A clear case of my claim is the suggestion of the payment of N8,000 per household for 12 million households over six months. Question therefore is how did they arrive at N8,000 and 12 million households at a time when we have over 133 million people living in extreme poverty, 41 per cent unemployment and galloping inflation which has been conservatively put at between 21 and 30 per cent?”

Adoji, said although he was an advocate of expunging subsidy from the equation of Nigeria’s oil value chain considering the uncommon level of corruption in it, Tinubu would have first put in-place shock absorbers that would cushion the devastating effects of its removal on majority of the citizens, “to avoid or at least mitigate the ‘cobra effect’ we are now confronted with as a people and a country looking forward to becoming a nation.”

He was emphatic that the failure of the president to establish the promissory or real cushion before announcing the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech was the reason for the lingering cries across the country today.

In his words: “I think the president put the cart before the horse. He clearly jumped the gun by removing the subsidy without adequate preparation made for those living on the edge of society or lower of society’s ladder who are in the majority and hence the very loud hue and deafening cries all-over.

“Well, for someone who says he spent the past three decades wanting to be president of Nigeria, I will assume he is prepared. And, while it may be too early to assess him i think the first few steps he has taken are steps that i consider ill-informed and not well thought-through. I hope he will steady the ship as we journey and regard the big delineation between intentions and real impact of the numerous decisions he will take.

“So, what I am trying to bring out here is that 90 per cent and up to 95 per cent of Nigerians are actually rural Nigerians. So, when you talk about rural communities and rural Nigerians, you are talking about the entire economy in terms of the impact of such policy.“

Most of them live on that, now those who actually live in the urban areas who are working cannot even meet their fixed expenditure.”

He added: “Now, someone who is relying on you can’t get from you who is also relying on government who is not getting a good handshake from the government. It goes without saying that the situation is actually going to be more devastating for those in the rural areas those who live on transfer payments and whose means of livelihood has been taken away by clashes here and there.”

Adoji, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Kogi East Senatorial District in 2023 general election also noted that Nigeria was lagging behind in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

He said: “We are just about seven years this 2023 to the SDG target (2030) and of the 17 SDG goals, there is this metric with which we use to measure successes, they actually use them with colours; the green, amber and the red.”

Adoji, however expressed optimism that the election petitions tribunal would do justice to the case he filed before it, saying, “we have made our case before the tribunal, they have heard our cases.

“The respondents in this case have presented their cases which to us is a no case and we are waiting for the justices to do justice to the case before then”