Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) under former President Muhammadu Buhari, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s government and policies.

According to him, Nigeria collapsed the day Tinubu assumed the office of President of Nigeria.

Lawal pointed out President Tinubu’s first official action on his inauguration day, May 29, where he announced the removal of fuel subsidies, as a major misstep.

He said,

“I have spoken on this before. First of all, I did say at one time that you come into government on the day you are inaugurated. After being sworn in, you embark on the first major policies that have a significant impact on the lives of the citizenry. Like a cowboy, a macho man, you say, ‘I have removed the subsidy on petroleum.’ That was his statement as president.

“Yes, you didn’t have a minister of planning who would have planned the outcome, the consequences, and the mitigating circumstances. You didn’t have a minister of finance who would calculate the impact of this on society, the economy, or the finances of the country. You didn’t even have a Federal Executive Council that would approve that. At that time, there was nothing; nobody to advise and nobody to work out the what-ifs of this significant policy. So, immediately after that inauguration, Nigeria collapsed.”

Sharing his experiences, Babachir narrated that the cost of transportation tripled across the country immediately after Tinubu removed the subsidies.

He noted, “Nigeria is like a balloon; it collapsed. It’s as if you deflated it completely; immediately transportation costs tripled. I used to buy animal feed for my cows from Zaria at N270,000 per truck, but that week, I couldn’t buy anymore because transportation alone was going to cost me N1 million. That is four times as much. Last week, I bought some equipment, tractors for my farm, and wanted to transport them to Yola from Kano, and they were asking me for N3 million to transport three tractors on a trailer. I just bought four bags of groundnut seeds from the Institute of Agricultural Research in Zaria, and they are demanding N500,000 for a small pickup.

“So, everything just collapsed based on the cost of fuel. For a long time in my place, we were unable to sell grains because the transporters who used to come with trailers to our local markets in Mubi to buy these grains are no longer coming due to the cost of fuel. So, that policy (subsidy removal) alone crashed everything.”

He applauded former President Muhammadu Buhari for his actions and for considering the plight of the masses before making any decision on removing subsidies.

He said, “You are forgetting that at one time, I was part of the government. We used to have a running battle with former President Buhari. He would give a very simple explanation as to why it would not be good to remove the subsidy because he would relate it to the masses. He was able to relate the consequence of that on the poor man. And by the time he explained it, you would have to sympathize with his position because the masses would suffer as prices would go up.

“No. In government and society generally speaking, you prioritize your purpose. It is to serve the citizens, to make their lives easier and more comfortable, peaceful, in harmony, and in prosperity. As a government, you should be careful about any decision that is going to endanger the peace, harmony, and prosperity of the citizenry and their ability to eat and live well. That is your whole aim. It is not about textbook economics. It is not about balancing the books; it is about ensuring that the citizen is comfortable in the end, living peacefully and healthily in a way that guarantees his safety so that he can do whatever he wants to do within a peaceful environment. All these things are very important. This is not the first government to remove the subsidy on petroleum. We have ample evidence of sensible governments.

“Yes, but they tried to ameliorate the suffering and negative consequences of the partial removal. I remember Abacha with his Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). Even today, you still see the signs of the PTF – the work they did with that money. What about Sure-P by either Goodluck Jonathan or Obasanjo? They tried to do the same thing with the money they saved from the increase in the petroleum price. But even Tinubu rolled out palliatives.

“I have just told you that they said part of the palliative was to provide transportation for the masses. In my state, I have seen one bus going up and down.”