Solomon Dalung, the former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, has described the economic policies of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as inhuman, saying it has devastating impacts on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Dalung, a former minister under President Muhammadu Buhari, said the government policies had led to rising inflation and increasing living costs.
“When you demand sacrifice, sacrifice should begin with you as a leader, then people will follow; that’s why people are referred to as followers, but the reverse can not be the case.
“The policies on the ground we are dealing with economic policies are inhuman policies that have affected the lives of the citizens terribly; in recent history, Nigerians have not faced terrible situations like the one we are dealing with.
“The sudden withdrawal of fuel subsidy without cushioning mechanism on the ground, the floating of the naira and the attempt by the government to introduce this the same method of sharing money have indeed compounded the whole situation.
“You have inflation rising, you have costs of living increasing, I mean Nigerians can not afford to eat, the policies of this government from May 29 have not been too favourable to the common people,” he said in an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday.
“The argument by people in government that they inherited this, it is the same APC government. Most of the people defending this were also in Buhari’s government.
“Are they now saying the exit of Buhari on May 29 changed things? No, it is not a new government; it is the same APC, the same manifesto; they have no difference,” he said.
Dalung also said Buhari’s administration did not succeed in combating corruption during its eight years in power, noting that the government’s anti-corruption was a failure and that corruption increased during Buhari’s presidency, citing the examples of high-profile corruption cases that occurred during Buhari’s tenure, including the alleged misappropriation of N1.9 billion by the Accountant General of the Federation and the suspected embezzlement of N81 billion by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, “In terms of the performance of Buhari’s government in eight years, you have to measure the government with democratic commitments, the promises the government made.
“The war against corruption was one of the significant promises we made to Nigerians in 2015, and the government didn’t succeed in fighting corruption; somewhat monumental corruption surfaced worse than pre-2015.
“I take an instance, in one transaction, the Accountant General of the Federation was accused of misappropriating 1.9 billion naira under our watch, under Buhari’s government, and that is the government that promised to fight corruption.
“Under the same Buhari’s government during the COVID in NDDC, 81 billion was spent during the COVID by that agency. It became an issue that the National Assembly investigated. It turned into a comedy where the GMD was invited, and he suddenly fainted, and the issue died as he collapsed.
“There are so many instances of some of these corrupt practices. The government promised to fight corruption, but corruption appears to have overwhelmed the government and defeated it.”