… Says criminal enterprise now control Nigeria’s political system
Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy, has said the approach adopted by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria was wrong because it does not focus on subsidising production and would ultimately compound the suffering of Nigerians.
Utomi stated that he was in support of removal of fuel subsidy, because the scheme benefited few Nigerians, but stressed that President Tinubu got it wrong by not putting in place a mechanism to subsidize fuel to aid production.
Utomi stated this in an interview recently, noting that the current subsidy policy would not yield the desired impact.
“If you are going to remove subsidies as we have all over the world, focus on subsidizing production. How can you use access to that price of fuel to stimulate people producing?
“But subsidy policy does not support production and so if you just say we are removing subsidy without putting thought to its impact then you are going to compound the matter”, Utomi said
Answering questions on the state of the nation, Utomi noted there was nothing cheering about the current administration, while policies are not well thought- through before implementation.
Speaking further, he said the country’s political system is now a complete criminal enterprise, with most Nigerians losing faith in the country’s electoral system, while major institutions, such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are captured.
According to him, “The Nigerian political system is now a complete criminal enterprise. People don’t have any faith in the electoral process. The judiciary is captured. Institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), police and military are captured.
“So it feels like Nigerians are in slavery and the only option is either violent revolt or somehow do what they did in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. Unless the political class can wake up, look at their country and trace back their steps, we are in a finished state”.
Read also: Research Insight: Who and what will rescue Nigeria from Tinubu’s administration and NNPC?
He further accused President Tinubu of showing less concern about the dire situation Nigerians are facing.
Utomi revealed that he went to President Tinubu in 2019, at the time Muhammadu Buhari was the President of Nigeria and complained to him about the dangerous path the leadership was taking at that time and its implications for the country and its citizens.
He disclosed that rather than speak up for the people, Tinubu chose to remain silent through Buhari’s eight years in power.
He made the submission while responding to a question during the interview bordering on how supporters of President Tinubu have said he is less than two years in office and that he did not cause all the problems Nigerians are ascribing to him.
Reacting, Utomi who spoke to Vanguard, said he couldn’t absolve anybody of blame because they all saw it coming but took no action, adding that the policies introduced by the current government have compounded the problems created by the previous leaders.
“I’m not into who caused or did not cause. I can say publicly that part of my departure from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was that I went to him in 2019 and told him that President Buhari was leading us to a dangerous place and that we should speak up, we should act as his so-called party members, but he was more strategic than concerned about Nigerians.
“He kept quiet through Buhari’s starving eight years. So, I cannot absolve anybody, they all saw it coming and compounded it, and the policies that they were taking so abrasively, and unthinkingly have compounded the problem,” the Professor said.
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