A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, says President Bola Tinubu did not go about the removal of subsidy the right way.
He said the removal of fuel subsidy could have been done in a way that the citizens won’t be subjected to hardship.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, the NNPP chieftain said Tinubu took a hard decision to remove the fuel subsidy.
Galadima, however, said the President could have put palliative measures in place to mitigate the hardship it could cause for the ordinary people.
He said, “If I were him (Tinubu), I could have done it differently. I could have inquired on why and how this fuel subsidy keeps accumulating and got us to this level where we are. That is the difference.
“And part of it would have been that if I were an adviser to the President, I could have advised him to take some measures such that the removal will not be painful with far-reaching effect on the social life of the country especially the ordinary man.
“Subsidy as we know, nobody is subsidizing the poor, because the poor doesn’t have a car. The poor doesn’t have a motorbike. We are subsidizing the elites.
“But, I still believe that there are lot of things we can do to really inquire into this subsidy and a lot of money could be recovered.”
Recall that Galadima had earlier said decisions taken so far by Tinubu would make the country better.
Galadima stated this at the inauguration of the Nuite De-Paris Restaurant owned by Maria Namvar, an Iranian investor, in Abuja.
He said Tinubu is starting well as president, adding that he hopes the tempo will be maintained.
“For those of us who have been in trenches in politics for the last 45 years, you will know that this time around the difference is clear,” he said.