The speech made by President Bola Tinubu on Independence Day, according to Phrank Shaibu, the special assistant on public communication for former vice president Atiku Abubakar, was dull, boring, empty, and exuded fresh pessimism.
In a statement released on Sunday, Shaibu claimed that Tinubu had failed to raise the minimum wage after devaluing the naira and eliminating the gasoline subsidy, which ultimately caused inflation to reach over 25%.
Many workers had hoped that the minimum wage would be announced today, he said. However, Tinubu chose to provide the lowest-paid employees an additional N25,000 ($25) per month for only six months. It’s obvious that this man lacks imagination and is harsh.
He argued that he refrained from raising the minimum wage in order to prevent the inflation rate from getting worse. He could have planned better before eliminating the gasoline subsidy and forcing the central bank to implement a failed exchange rate unification strategy that hasn’t been supported by a comparable increase in exports if he cared so much about the inflation rate.
“In essence, Tinubu put the cart before the horse and is now blaming the horse for trampling on the cart while trying to cover up his own incompetence. This is unacceptable.
Shaibu continued by saying that the organized labor’s strike was proof that Tinubu had failed to include the typical Nigerian.
“He urged organized labor and all Nigerians to exercise patience. He made the decision to go to court in order to get a court injunction preventing them from going on strike while they gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited a little while. The APC now makes its living doing this.
“However, organized labor and even the majority of Nigerians are threatening to ignore the court decision now that Nigerians are drowning as a result of Tinubu’s misguided policies. This is the kind of catastrophe Tinubu’s fraudulent government is preparing to plunge Nigerians into.
“Instead of openly negotiating with labor, Tinubu has sponsored strikes in NLC affiliate unions like the NURTW where his goon MC Oluomo and others are continuously criticizing the NLC. Tinubu has to be reminded that nothing can be purchased with money.
He added that Tinubu’s pledge to give palliatives to the most needy people was just another scheme to deceive helpless and desperate Nigerians.
He asserted that the current scandal at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, where appointments were made to vacant World Bank projects and offices, was proof that the Tinubu administration was not prepared to lead and was just interested in enriching party members.
Shaibu claimed, “According to media sources, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Beta Edu, made new appointments into nonexistent companies and abandoned World Bank-supported programs.
“Edu made public the selection of 13 people to lead various departments and initiatives inside her ministry. The majority of these new hires were APC members with no background in humanitarian matters.
“She chose one Olubunmi Bello as the national coordinator of the Community and Social Development Programme (CSDP), an abandoned $415 million World Bank-funded intervention project that was formally completed in June 2021.
She named Richard Romanus as the national program manager of the Youth Empowerment and Social Support Operations (YESSO), a different World Bank-funded project that is no longer in existence. It is evident that individuals are being nominated to positions that do not exist only in order to divide the national pie. There is absolutely no strategy to distribute any type of palliative. The Bola Tinubu administration is well renowned for this kind of fraud.
Shaibu insisted that Tinubu understand that eliminating the gasoline subsidy is not a success. The success or failure of the system would instead depend on what is done with the money that is saved as a result of the subsidy’s withdrawal, he said.
He also criticized Tinubu for calling himself an achiever for getting rid of the subsidies and for claiming that it should have been done sooner.
When the Goodluck Jonathan administration chose to eliminate subsidies in 2012, Tinubu was one of the most vocal opponents, according to Atiku’s assistant.
“Tinubu should bury his face in shame,” Shaibu stated in reference to his criticism of prior Presidents for keeping subsidies. Here is a man who called the increase in gasoline prices in January 2012—the month the subsidy was eliminated—a “Jonathan tax.”
Jonathan was instructed by Tinubu to pursue oil thieves rather than Nigerians. Allow Tinubu to be bold enough to name and shame the alleged subsidy thieves he frequently alludes to in speeches. Let Tinubu also have the character to apologize for funding anti-subsidy demonstrations in Lagos in 2012.
The adviser to Atiku also criticized Tinubu for saying in his address that he had treated all sections of Nigeria fairly.
According to him, Tinubu was only somewhat brilliant because his appointments revealed that he was solely interested in giving his kinmen the highest-ranking positions.
As obvious a lie as Tinubu’s boast that he was the first African leader to ring the NASDAQ bell is his assertion that he has treated all facets of Nigeria equally. This is a man who only chose five statutory ministers from the Southeast because they didn’t support him, but chose ten from his own region instead.
“He has also given nearly all important revenue-generating organizations, like as customs, FIRS, and the CBN, to his clan. For the time being, only the NNPC is still operating outside of the Southwest, he claimed.
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