Prince Adewole Adebayo, Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 Presidential election, says President Bola Tinubu is going the way of Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor, as far the economy is concerned.
Speaking on the ongoing space of Daily Trust themed: “Three Months In Power: How Has The Economy Fared Under Tinubu”, Adewole described fuel subsidy removal as bad policy.
He said in advance economies, whatever makes the economy thrives is being subsidised.
“In America, they subsidise pharmaceuticals, they subsidise health; in the UK, they subsidise transportation.”
Hardship: Tinubu is grinding Nigeria to a halt – PDP
“It’s like carelessly using a knife to cut someone’s skin and you are supplying the person with Panadol, plaster, iodine; why did you cut the person in the first place.
“I hope they will correct the error, otherwise they may lose time. If between now and 2027, President Tinubu does not feel the leadership gap, we will step in. They can’t deny Nigerians good leadership on the basis that there is no good leadership in Nigeria because there is… We have to make an example that black people can govern themselves; we have the intelligence.”
Adebayo also faulted the Tinubu administration for not being committed to macroeconomic measurement.
He said Tinubu’s three-month government had not spelt out the economic direction in which the country will go to achieve many of his promises to the citizens.
“They are not committed to macroeconomic measurement. They have to be committed to that so we know how much they contribute to every individual, and how they plan to distribute it,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo also said the government is planning to increase the minimum wage to N75,000, but quickly added that increasing the minimum wage without fixing the economy with the right policies will not improve the purchasing power.
Adebayo, a business magnate and lawyer, claimed that the N6000 he was paid by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as an allowance in 1998 had more purchasing power than the proposed N75,000 minimum wage.
He further said until the government reduces the inflation to a single digit, “the minimum wage is meaningless.”
