Falana urges Abuja to reject policies advocating no subsidy of any kind
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN has counselled Abuja to reject the “deleterious policies” of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) such as asking it to raise power tariff and remove whatever remains of fuel subsidy, which the political climate does not favour.
“There is no society in the world where government does not subsidise one product or the other even in the most advanced capitalist societies.
“And that is why Nigerians must begin to ask the government to discard and jettison the deleterious programmes and policies of the IMF and the World Bank,” Falana argued on Channels Television.
“The only economic body recognised by the constitution to advise the President is the National Economic Council headed by the Vice President and peopled by the state Governors, Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance.”
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Nigerians already protesting against hunger caused by inflation stoked by fuel subsidy removal
Police said they used “minimum force” to disperse people protesting over hunger in Minna on January 12 but that did not stop the agitation from spreading up North to Kano and down South to Osogbo.
Hunger has arisen mainly from the jumping prices of goods and services stoked by high transportation costs as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy; coupled with insecurity, particularly in the North where terrorists prevent farmers from harvesting crops.
The protesters in Kano lamented the closure of the border with Niger Republic, a major farm produce trade route with Nigeria’s neighbour, as well as hunger and their inability to pay their children’s school fees, among other grouses.
Female bakers in Kano had earlier protested over the high prices of flour and other baking ingredients which have impacted negatively on their means of livelihood.
Amid the protests, news broke on Monday a number of travellers from Umuahia in two luxury buses heading to Abuja were kidnapped in Inyele Eteke in Kogi last weekend.
Social media influencer Chude Nnamdi announced on his X (Twitter) handle the two buses belong to God Is Good (GIG) and ABC transport companies.
Nnamdi disclosed his wife was on one of the buses but he could not ascertain the total number of passengers on the two buses who were kidnapped along with his wife.
He said the criminals demanded a N15 million ransom to release his wife.
Kogi Police Public Relations Officer William Aya, a Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident but said he could not ascertain the total number of passengers affected.
Kogi terror comes after Ekiti relief
The Kogi terror incident happened a day after five pupils of Apostolic Faith Secondary School (AFSS), Emure, Ekiti and four staff members of the school were released by terrorists who abducted them on January 29.
Isaac Adigun, the District Superintendent of Apostolic Faith Church, West and Central Africa (WECA), announced the release at the Anthony, Lagos WECA headquarters during Church service on Sunday February 4.
He said N15 million was paid as ransom by the relatives of the victims who beat down the amount from N100 million initially demanded by the kidnappers.
But the driver of the bus from which the criminals snatched the victims – later identified as Taye Rasaki – was killed in captivity, Adigun lamented.