The apex Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has decried as insensitive, the policies of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, especially the “sudden” removal of petrol subsidy and the “total” disregard for the impact of the action on the people and the economy.
In a statement on Friday by its Secretary General, Sola Ebiseni, the group said in six weeks, “an already choking economy reeling under the crushing impact of hyperinflation, unemployment, mass hunger and poverty foisted by the gross ineptitude and incompetence that characterized Buhari’s eight years has become worse.
The group, which endorsed President Tinubu during the February 25, 2023 poll, said it could no longer “fold its arms or be seen to maintain silence, neutrality or ambivalence in the face of this latest body blow on an already traumatized citizenry”.
In its statement, Afenifere said there is a wide consensus that the petrol subsidy regime as it had been managed, especially in the last eight years, was becoming ruinous to the economy and could no longer be sustained.
Afenifere further said the planned disposal of palliatives in cash by the government “suggest a total ignorance of the current realities and the remedial needs of the populace”.
It suggested that rather than pay cash that will evaporate and provide only momentary relief to a minuscule few, effective plans ought to be put in place to provide facilities that will ameliorate the suffering of the masses across the country in a sustainable manner
