Kalu Aja, a financial analyst and educator, has said Nigeria would have been completely bankrupt if President Bola Tinubu had decided against floating the naira and removing fuel subsidies.
Aja explained that floating the Naira and removing Premium
Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidies were not optional decisions, as the country had no
choice.
However, in a post on his X handle on Friday, the financial
expert stated that Tinubu mishandled the implementation of palliatives.
He pointed out that it took the Nigerian government a year
to understand that food needed to be imported and even to draft a plan, adding
that the CNG buses have remained elusive.
According to him, if Tinubu had announced a total
cancellation of all duties and taxes on food and introduced new public
transportation options, the pain caused by these policies would have been more
bearable.
Aja wrote: “Floating the naira was not a decision; Nigeria
had no choice. Removing PMS subsidies was not a decision; Nigeria had no
choice.
“A decision means Nigeria could have decided NOT to float
the Naira and NOT to remove subsidies; both decisions would have bankrupted the
nation completely—like we would be lining up to buy bread with vouchers.
“Where Tinubu got it wrong was in the implementation of
palliatives. Recall that, at a point, the palliative being proposed was N8,000.
“It took the FGN a year to understand that food had to be
imported and even to draft a plan! As we speak, the CNG buses are still a
mirage.
“If the president had announced a total cancellation of all
duties and taxes on food and introduced new public transportation options, the
pain would have been bearable. This is important.
“All these calls to ‘reverse the policy’ ignore the fact
that we spent more on PMS subsidies than on health, education, and
infrastructure over the years; it’s not sustainable.”
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