The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Barr Adewole Adebayo has made critical remarks about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government over what he termed poverty-induced policies of his administration.
He also took a swipe at the critics of the fuel subsidy removal who backed out because of the backlash from various quarters, describing them as hypocrites.
He advised the president and his handlers to develop a backup plan to address the economic hardship Nigerians are currently facing.
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Speaking on the way out of the fuel subsidy quagmire and its adverse effect on the populace, he said refining petroleum products locally would guarantee employment and reliability in case of distortion in the market.
He added, “Although refining petroleum products locally will not guarantee lower prices in Nigeria, it will guarantee employment and reliability in the case of distortion in the market.
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We have a duty to refine locally because it is an industrial policy decision, except when the production is toxic and problematic. It is always better to produce locally. However, it doesn’t automatically guarantee lower prices.
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It guarantees employment, and reliability in case of distortion in the market and you have a marginal decrease in cost. Look at other things being produced in Nigeria.
Their prices are not down. Most of the cassava we consume comes from Nigeria. Why is the price of cassava not falling? We have been producing cement in Nigeria for one decade.
But cement price has never been cheaper at all. Rather, it is even worse than before. When the government wants to commit your resources to their favourites, they will tell you that let us put our money in the hands of rich private people and you will get good prices along the way.
You will see that Nigerian banks don’t charge you more than foreign banks even though the banks are in Nigeria. The law of economics doesn’t have a brother or sister.
Once the person is in the capitalist world and he is trying to maximize his profit, he will sell anything to his own mother at any price. So, the price mechanism is just a small part of developmental economics.”
Adebayo also took a swipe at those who criticize the fuel subsidy removal, saying, “Those who supported anyone or any platform that said they would remove subsidies from day one and are now condemning the removal are hypocritical.
“There is no way you will implement the policy the government is implementing now, and you will not have the same consequences. Economics does not admit cheating. You can cheat in politics.
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“You can inflate your numbers in politics, but when it comes to economics, you can’t. You have to take the right policies. If you don’t take the right policies, the consequences of wrong policies will follow.”
[TRIBUNE]
