Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy, describing it as a sound reform undermined by poor execution. Speaking on Monday during a panel session at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Enugu, she argued that while the policy itself was necessary, the hasty and unprepared manner of its implementation has worsened inflation and deepened poverty across the country. According to her, “you can have the right policies, but if you implement them the wrong way, there will be problems. The subsidy removal was a good reform done the wrong way, and inflation is punishing the populace, especially the poor who have nowhere to run.”
Ezekwesili criticised the president’s abrupt declaration that “subsidy is gone,” saying it plunged millions of Nigerians into economic hardship without a safety net. She stressed that the inflationary pressure triggered by the policy has disproportionately affected vulnerable citizens and insisted that the government’s approach reflected a lack of adequate preparation. Beyond subsidy, she also warned against the dangers of prebendal politics, urging the legal profession to resist normalising practices that enrich the political elite at the expense of the masses. “The idea that politics is the pathway to wealth is an anomaly. We have 133 million Nigerians living in poverty, yet the political class continues to fail them,” she said.
Also addressing the gathering, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, emphasised the urgent need for Nigeria to invest in research and development (R&D) as a pathway to economic transformation. He noted that four of the world’s five largest economies are also the biggest spenders on R&D, stressing that Nigeria must redirect resources from debt servicing and excessive consumption towards infrastructure, production, and innovation. “In 2022, we spent 96.3 per cent of our revenue on debt servicing, leaving little for capital projects. That is unsustainable,” he warned, while also calling for an overhaul of outdated laws governing the fire service and correctional institutions.
In another contribution, legal practitioner George Etomi raised concerns about the state of judicial independence in Nigeria. He lamented that the judiciary appeared more independent under military regimes than in the current democratic dispensation, warning that the credibility of the justice system was being undermined. “Democracy is being abused today. We must protect the judiciary,” he said.
The session concluded with an interactive survey of participants, many of whom expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s economic direction. Asked if the country was on the right track under the “Renewed Hope Agenda,” the majority responded “no.” The same response was given when they were asked if their hope had been renewed under Tinubu’s government, reflecting growing discontent over rising living costs and the burden of economic reforms.
