Kalu Aja, a financial analyst and educator, has said Nigeria would have been completely bankrupt if President Bola Tinubu had decided against floating the naira and removing fuel subsidies.
Aja explained that floating the Naira and removing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidies were not optional decisions, as the country had no choice.
However, in a post on his X handle on Friday, the financial expert stated that Tinubu mishandled the implementation of palliatives.
He pointed out that it took the Nigerian government a year to understand that food needed to be imported and even to draft a plan, adding that the CNG buses have remained elusive.
According to him, if Tinubu had announced a total cancellation of all duties and taxes on food and introduced new public transportation options, the pain caused by these policies would have been more bearable.
Aja wrote: “Floating the naira was not a decision; Nigeria had no choice. Removing PMS subsidies was not a decision; Nigeria had no choice.
“A decision means Nigeria could have decided NOT to float the Naira and NOT to remove subsidies; both decisions would have bankrupted the nation completely—like we would be lining up to buy bread with vouchers.
“Where Tinubu got it wrong was in the implementation of palliatives. Recall that, at a point, the palliative being proposed was N8,000.
“It took the FGN a year to understand that food had to be imported and even to draft a plan! As we speak, the CNG buses are still a mirage.
“If the president had announced a total cancellation of all duties and taxes on food and introduced new public transportation options, the pain would have been bearable. This is important.
“All these calls to ‘reverse the policy’ ignore the fact that we spent more on PMS subsidies than on health, education, and infrastructure over the years; it’s not sustainable.”
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