President Bola Tinubu
A former governor of Kano State says the Bola Tinubu-led government should review its policies and admit to its mistakes.
Nigeria’s economic fortunes have plummeted in the wake of the subsidy removal policy and the floating of the naira – all implemented by the Tinubu government.
The value of the naira which is the nation’s currency has sharply fallen in the wake of these policies, prompting protests by Nigerians.
To address the issues, Shekarau said Tinubu and his team should have a review of its economic policies and admit to mistakes where necessary.
“As we say in the teaching job, the best learning is when you learn through your mistakes,” the former governor said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Let the government sit back and identify: ‘What areas have you made some errors? What mistakes have you made? What pronouncements have been made in error? What policies were put in place that are really breeding this kind of crisis of hunger and high cost of living and inflation [food] of 40 percent’?”
Since the famous “subsidy is gone” statement by President Tinubu at his inauguration in May 2023, the price of petrol is now about thrice higher, pushing inflation figures up.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation figure was at 34 percent in June 2024, making the cost of essential items beyond the reach of millions of people.
Although Tinubu signed a new minimum wage bill into law and introduced a raft of measures to cushion the impacts of the economic policies of his government, thousands of Nigerians in early August poured into the streets across cities in the country to protest over harsh living conditions.
Some of the demands by the demonstrators include a return of subsidy on petrol among others. But in his address following the rallies, Tinubu insisted there was no going back on the policy.
However, Shekarau argued that the Tinubu government should admit to its mistakes.
“Admit there are some wrongs that have been committed; some errors and probably certain things have been taken for granted,” he said. “This is the time to sit back and address them.”
