NIGERIA HAS COLLAPSED UNDER TINUBU – BABACHIR LAWAL

download 27

NIGERIA HAS COLLAPSED UNDER TINUBU – BABACHIR LAWAL

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr Babachir Lawal, has said Nigeria collapsed after the swearing of President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.

Lawal said the shocking announcement of fuel subsidy removal by Tinubu on the day of inauguration plunged the country into economic malady, stating that the policy was launched before the cabinet was assembled.

According to Lawal, the announcement of fuel subsidy removal led to increase in the transportation which is basically the engine of business for both the rich and common man in Nigeria.

Describing the action taken on May 29, Lawal said the non-existence of the cabinet and the Federal Executive Council to address the consequences of such a harsh policy was the undoing of Tinubu, leading to a total collapse of the country.

“I can only repeat what I said before. I’ve spoken on this before. First of all, I did say one time you came into government on the day you were inaugurated,” he said.

“After swearing in you embark on the first major policies that are very impactful on the lives of the society. It is like a cowboy, or macho man removing subsidy. At that time, he didn’t have a minister of planning, that should plan the outcome, the consequences to take care.

“You don’t have a minister of finance who will calculate the impact of this society. You did not even have the federal executive council that will approve that, you have nothing. As at that time, nobody to advise, nobody to break out ‘what ifs’”.

Speaking further, he said, “So immediately after that inauguration, Nigeria collapsed. It is like a balloon. Nigeria fell down. It deflated completely. Immediately transportation (fare) tripled,” he noted.

“That week! I used to buy animal feed for my cows from Zaria, I used to pay N270,000 per truck. Immediately that week, I couldn’t buy anymore, because transportation alone was going to cost me N1 million,” he explained from his personal experience as a farmer.“I couldn’t afford it because the cost of fuel just jumped up. Everything. Last week I bought some equipment for my farm. I wanted to transport it from Kano, they were asking me to pay N3 million to transport three tractors and only to be put in a trailer. One trailer carrying three tractors!. Everything has gone up. So that policy alone crashed everything.”

  • Dons Eze

    DONS EZE, PhD, Political Philosopher and Journalist of over four decades standing, worked in several newspaper houses across the country, and rose to the positions of Editor and General Manager. A UNESCO Fellow in Journalism, Dr. Dons Eze, a prolific writer and author of many books, attended several courses on Journalism and Communication in both Nigeria and overseas, including a Postgraduate Course on Journalism at Warsaw, Poland; Strategic Communication and Practical Communication Approach at RIPA International, London, the United Kingdom, among others.

    Related Posts

    EDICT ESTABLISHING NIGERIA EXPIRED TEN YEARS AGO – NORTHERN ELDERS

    EDICT ESTABLISHING NIGERIA EXPIRED TEN YEARS AGO – NORTHERN ELDERS The Northern Elders Forum has declared that the Edict that birthed Nigeria expired 10 years ago.The chairman of the Forum, Ango Abdullahi, stated this, in an interview, on the sidelines of a “national dialogue on home grown parliamentary system” organised by a group of members of the House of Representativesunder the aegis of the Parliamentary System Support Group (PSSG).The event was to galvanize support for a bill sponsored by 83 members of the PSSG for the country to return to parliamentary system of government. The bill is awaiting second reading in the House of Representatives.The elder statesman noted:“Nigeria was born in 1914. It was a product of an Edict by the colonial officials that were largely military, in consultation with a few of our elders, about five or six of them. The Sultan of that period. The Shehu of Borno of that period. The Alaafin of Oyo of that period. Obong of Calabar of that period and other names that I have forgotten.“They sat down and looked at development that was taking place in colonized areas of Lagos, Southern Nigeria and the North. So by 1914, the colonial masters in Britain wanted to solidify their gains so that they could more easily exploit the colony. That was how they sat down and agreed that they would amalgamate the territories of Lagos, South and North. And the wife of the governor general at that time, was the one that gave us our name, Nigeria.“In the Edict, if you read it, it was clear that we were being encouraged from various backgrounds to come together and build a country called Nigeria. And our leaders at that time agreed that we will try. But we were advised in the details of the Edict that we should be monitoring progress over the years.. but the life of the edict was 100 years. Which meant that the Edict expired 2014, which is 100 years from its formation..“The question now is that we are now in 2024, this kind of dialogue reminds us that we have a history that started In 1914, and in the conclusion of that Edict, it says if we failed to be a country that we will call our own, and are proud of our country, by the expiration of that period, the various components that were in that amalgamation discussion could go their separate ways.”Abdullahi said the dialogue was one of the ways to chart a path forward for the country.Earlier, the elder statesman stated that the adoption of the presidential system of government was a mistake. “This dialogue should really be as objective as passionate if possible to look at some of the things that we did wrongly. One of the things we did wrongly was to bring in a system that did not fit us. If we can, we should work on something. It must not necessarily be a typical parliamentary system from our former colonial masters, it could be something else.”However, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, while speaking at the event, said the challenge with the Nigerian version of the presidential system of government is that it stifles accountability.“The major problem with the presidential system is not because we borrowed the system, but those who copied the system did not do a wonderful job. I got to know this in my undergraduate days. The problem is that those who copied and created the 1979 constitution, it is not the American system that we copied. In the US, impeachment of the executive is real, it can happen. Even judges can be impeached.“The provision is that it is the House that carries out impeachment, both for the executive…

    EVERY NIGERIAN NOW OWES N620,000 – DEBT PER CAPITA REPORT

    EVERY NIGERIAN NOW OWES N620,000 – DEBT PER CAPITA REPORT A dats review for the second quarter debt portfolio of the country released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the debt owed by every Nigerian on the average stood at N619,501. According to the data published by the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s public debt stood at N134.297 trillion as of the second quarter of 2024 (June, 2024). With the National Bureau of Statistics putting the country’s population at 216.7 million persons, it would mean that debt per capita stands at N619,501 based on the latest debt figure released by the DMO. Put into further context, each Nigerian owes nine times the newly approved minimum wage of N70,000, if debt per capita is put into context. Nigeria’s Debt Profile Grows By Record N46.9trillion Under Tinubu-Led Government The debt data further shows that domestic debt stands at N71.2trillion, whole external debt stands at N63 trillion. Of the amount owed, States owe N7.1 trillion externally while the federal government owes N55.8 trillion externally. States owe N4.2 trillion domestically while federal government owes N66.9 trillion. The new debt figure of the country put at N134 trillion is a N13 trillion increase from the N121 trillion recorded as of March 2024. The development is amid clamour for less reliance on loans by the Nigerian government.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    You Missed

    WHITE HOUSE REJECTS ICC ARREST WARRANTS FOR NETANYAHU, GALLANT

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 28 views

    FOR ME, NO MORE BEAUTY CONTEST – CHIDIMMA ADETSHINA

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 19 views

    OBASANJO’S KNOCK ON INEC REOPENS PUSH FOR ELECTORAL REFORM

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 21 views

    JAPA: ONE OUT OF EVERY FOUR NIGERIANS WANTS TO LEAVE – NBS

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 15 views

    NIGERIANS MORE POLARIZED THAN EVER AFTER 2023 ELECTION, TINUBU’S UNPOPULAR REFORMS – REPORT

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 26 views

    IT’S TIME TO END YOUR 31-YEAR-LONG PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION – BODE GEORGE TELLS ATIKU

    • By Dons Eze
    • November 22, 2024
    • 34 views