Squandermania: 100-car convoy puts Tinubu on the spot
A large amount of petrol was squandered while welcoming President Bola Tinubu from an investment summit in France, weeks after ending subsidies in a way many saw as insensitive.
Some have complained that a president who charged Nigerians to bear the pain of economic reforms was flaunting in their face the sort of opulence that would be unusual for even the government of countries Nigeria is begging for investments.
Some government supporters defended the long convoy with over a hundred vehicles as not just that of Tinubu. However, some analysts described it as bad optics in a season of hardship his policies have created.
As Tinubu readies to announce his ministerial appointments, Nigerians are calling on the president to demonstrate his seriousness by cutting the cost of governance following his slew of economic policies, including ending subsidies, that are bringing untold hardships to them.
Tinubu’s slate of economic policies has triggered a dramatic rise in fuel prices which has doubled transport costs and food prices across Nigeria. In addition, he has inflicted new taxes on diesel and car ownership certificates but is yet to demonstrate action that indicates this pain will be shared.
Many believe this is now the perfect opportunity to curb government excesses like the outrageous allowances given to lawmakers, selling off several planes in the presidential fleet, and pruning down wasteful government expenditures and inflated budgets that are not grounded in reality.
“The government is too big; we need a limited government,” said Olisa Agbakoba, a senior advocate of Nigeria, in an interview monitored on Arise TV recently.
Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, in a speech during an inauguration lecture for Tinubu last month, decried the high cost of governance. He charged the Tinubu government to look critically at the cost of governance in Nigeria.
