Comrade Ambali Olatunji, National President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, claiming that they are hurting the general populace.
He also accused Tinubu of running an overly large cabinet that included ministers and a retinue of aides.
News About Nigeria reports that Olatunji accused the President of being insensitive to people’s suffering during the opening session of a two-day National Youth Conference that the Union hosted in Benin, Edo State.
He questioned why Tinubu, who professes to understand the plight of the populace, would pursue anti-populist policies without taking into account the cost of governance, noting that 45 ministers and a plethora of aides are a significant strain on an already fragile economy.
The NULGE President also said that the Tinubu administration’s dubious and ill-defined economic policy is particularly hurting the poor and vulnerable. He also criticised the removal of fuel subsidies without a mitigation plan.
As a result, he advised the President to turn around before throwing the entire nation’s economy into disarray.
“We should be talking of cutting down on the cost of governance at a time like this rather than doing things that exacerbate the already bad situation. About 26 ministers and a few aides would have sufficed considering what the country is currently undergoing. The president also hurriedly removed the fuel subsidy without putting in place measures to cushion the effect and that is why we are at this abysmal level. Hopefully, he will retrace his steps and the country can move in the right direction,” the NULGE president said.
His comment comes as Nigeria continues to battle the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy and the move by President Tinubu to eradicate multiple exchange rate regimes in the forex market.
