In a recent national address, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu faced sharp criticism from Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communications to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election.
Shaibu accused Tinubu of lacking imagination in effectively addressing the fuel subsidy issue and described the speech as uninspiring and deceptive.
During his address, Tinubu attempted to dissuade organized labor from proceeding with their planned nationwide protest against the removal of the petrol subsidy. However, Shaibu dismissed the speech as an inadequate response to the concerns raised by the subsidy removal, asserting that it failed to provide a clear plan to alleviate the hardships faced by the people since the All Progressives Congress (APC) took power in 2015.
“Tinubu’s speech was hurriedly put together in order to dissuade the suffering masses and the organised labour from embarking on protests. Rather than apologize for removing subsidy without providing a cushion for the poor, he went about accusing subsidy thieves of being behind the current suffering. If he is sure of this, why hasn’t he arrested them?”
Moreover, Shaibu questioned Tinubu’s claim that he had long been an advocate of fuel subsidy removal, citing previous statements where Tinubu had opposed such a move. This contradiction raised doubts about the sincerity of Tinubu’s position on the matter.
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He said, “Tinubu also lied when he claimed that he had for years been an advocate of subsidy removal. This was a man who in 2012, described petrol subsidy removal as ‘the Goodluck Jonathan tax’ and sponsored protests in Lagos State.
“After he dubiously got to power, he lacked imagination on how to address the issue and then removed the subsidy, but without a plan.”
The proposed plans to provide N50,000 grants to small businesses also came under scrutiny. Shaibu pointed out that these initiatives would be vulnerable to inflation, exchange rate problems, and corruption, potentially undermining their intended benefits.
“Tinubu says he will provide N50, 000 (roughly $60) to 1, 300 nano businesses. This is reminiscent of the dubious trader moni and the monthly N20,000 spent on the public works programme of the last APC government, which not only failed to stimulate the economy but also worsened poverty, as funds went into private pockets.
“What mechanism is in place to ensure that poor Nigerians access this? The answer is, none. This is nothing but deception as we shall all see in the coming weeks.”
Furthermore, Tinubu’s promise to allocate 500,000 hectares of land to farmers to boost agriculture faced criticism from Shaibu. He argued that such a plan would be ineffective in addressing the issue if the ongoing insecurity in the nation’s food basket regions remains unaddressed.
Lastly, Shaibu questioned the timing of Tinubu’s announcement regarding an upward review of the minimum wage. He suggested that discussions on minimum wage should have been held before the fuel subsidy removal, highlighting what he perceived as a lack of proper planning.
“Shouldn’t the discussion on the increase of minimum wage have been done prior to subsidy removal? This is the height of cluelessness, putting the cart before the horse,” Shaibu stated.