Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, insisting that the policy has worsened hardship and was a grave economic blunder.
The outspoken Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who was a key voice during the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests against subsidy removal under former President Goodluck Jonathan, insisted that Tinubu’s policy has only deepened hardship instead of providing relief.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Sunday, Falana reminded Nigerians that the subsidy debate was not new but one tied to decades of IMF and World Bank prescriptions that have often left developing countries poorer.
“I have always been against fuel subsidy removal since 2012. No country in the world has abolished or removed subsidies completely.
“Even leading Western countries, like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, and others, subsidise electricity, agriculture, and many aspects of the lives of their people,” he said.
Falana accused the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank of dictating Nigeria’s economic direction, including subsidy removal and naira devaluation, urging Tinubu to chart a more independent path.
According to him, the unpopular decision has created social tension across Nigeria.
“We asked the government to muster the courage to tell these Western imperialist institutions that there is no country that has succeeded on the basis of the prescriptions of the Bretton Woods institutions.
‘That is why we have to review the economic programme of the government. It’s not by taking one at a time. It needs to be holistic. You cannot devalue the currency. You cannot dollarize the economy while you are also removing subsidies,” he cautioned.
The activist also condemned the growing dollarisation of Nigeria’s economy, faulting President Tinubu’s recent practice of gifting footballers cash in foreign currency.
As a way out, Falana encouraged the government to consider joining BRICS as a full member, saying the bloc provides better opportunities to reduce dependence on the dollar and Western financial institutions.
BRICS is a bloc of major emerging economies formed to increase the influence of the Global South in international affairs, challenge Western dominance in global institutions, and promote economic and political coordination among its members.
The original five members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but the group has expanded significantly.
“So, we must promote the Naira, strengthen the Naira, against the dollar, because the Naira is the legal tender, and not the dollar. It’s a criminal offence, to reject the Naira. It’s a criminal offence, under the Central Bank Act Section 20.
“So, unless you stop people paying dollars, school fees in dollars, properties are being sold in dollars, bills in dollars, then I can say, bribes, bribes are now paid in dollars.
“You cannot run an economy that will be stable, an economy that will be in the interest of the people. Once you devalue your currency, particularly for an import-oriented economy, you are damaging the economy.”. Falana said.
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