Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has said Nigeria collapsed after the swearing of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, last year.
According to him, the announcement of fuel subsidy removal by Tinubu on the day of inauguration caused an economic downturn because the policy was launched before the cabinet was assembled.
Discussing state of the nation on Trust TV’s Daily Politics, he noted that the announcement of fuel subsidy removal led to increase in the transportation which is basically the engine of business for both the rich and common man in Nigeria.
He said: “I can only repeat what I said before. I’ve spoken on this before. First of all, I did say one time you came into government on the day you were inaugurated.
“After swearing in you embark on the first major policies that are very impactful on the lives of the society. It is like a cowboy, or macho man removing subsidy. At that time, he didn’t have a minister of planning, that should plan the outcome, the consequences to take care.
READ ALSO: FG Must Put Infrastructure On Ground For CNG Vehicles To Work In Nigeria – Babachir Lawal
“You don’t have a minister of finance who will calculate the impact of this society. You did not even have the federal executive council that will approve that, you have nothing. As at that time, nobody to advise, nobody to break out ‘what ifs.’”
Speaking further, he said, “So immediately after that inauguration, Nigeria collapsed. It is like a balloon. Nigeria fell down. It deflated completely. Immediately transportation (fare) tripled.
“That week! I used to buy animal feed for my cows from Zaria, I used to pay N270,000 per truck. Immediately that week, I couldn’t buy anymore, because transportation alone was going to cost me N1 million.
“I couldn’t afford it because the cost of fuel just jumped up. Everything. Last week I bought some equipment for my farm. I wanted to transport it from Kano, they were asking me to pay N3 million to transport three tractors and only to be put in a trailer. One trailer carrying three tractors!. Everything has gone up. So that policy alone crashed everything.”
