Afenifere to Tinubu: Your economic policies are impoverishing Nigerians.

LAGOS—The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu to reassess his economic policies, stating that they have impoverished Nigerians.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Justice Faloye, Afenifere called on President Tinubu to address the hardships faced by Nigerians. Reviewing Tinubu’s first year in office, the organization said: “The economy has faced severe challenges during President Bola Tinubu’s one-year administration, exacerbating the economic issues left by the previous administration.

“Afenifere urges a better understanding of the economy to halt the alarming rates of inflation, currency devaluation, rising unemployment, homelessness, and poverty.

“Firstly, the belief that removing subsidies and increasing taxes—which withdraw money from the economy—will stimulate growth is illogical.

“Therefore, adopting flawed neo-liberal theories of subsidy removal and uncontrolled tax increases must be stopped as they always contract the economy. Our economy is no exception, with companies shutting down and leaving due to skyrocketing fuel and electricity costs, leading to rampant inflation and decreasing real incomes.

“These policies are depriving the productive sectors of the economy of much-needed loans. The rise in interest rates is ineffective in curbing inflation because any loans withheld from the private sector by restrictive policies are redirected to the government, which is spending recklessly and injecting the same funds back into the market.

“The policy of floating the Naira without moderating the excesses of free-market speculators and hoarders, in a nation addicted to capital flight, is questionable economic logic. With 90 percent of our foreign exchange derived from oil and gas, stopping government funding of the forex market was bound to lead to massive devaluation as witnessed. Our collective wealth is not only meant to fund the political class but to stimulate the economy and improve the lives of the greatest number of citizens. This is the Afenifere standard of governance.

“The problems inherited from the Buhari administration have been compounded by the inept economic management of the Tinubu administration, which, like its predecessor, spends recklessly while seeking loans and imposing additional taxes to fund its profligacy.

“Tinubu’s administration in Lagos State is credited with an increased Internally Generated Revenue that never translated into the development of infrastructure like that built by the Jakande administration.

“Unfortunately, it appears that President Tinubu is still driven by a mindset of taxing the poor to benefit the privileged, especially cronies. We are being inundated with impractical tax schemes like communication and cyber security taxes, and even considering mandating grossly underfunded universities to remit a percentage of their earnings to the government.

“At the end of Tinubu’s first year in office, the question remains whether our continued economic stagnation is due to corruption or incompetence.

“From the failure to mine and refine crude oil to unjustified loans and excessive cost of governance, it is the people who suffer the tragic consequences.”

“This economic dispensation, where the hardworking suffer while others reap the benefits, must be halted before Nigeria’s sociopolitical fabric is irreparably damaged.”