…Says Tinubu stopped fuel subsidy without plans to cushion its impacts
A former member of the House of Representatives, Usman Bugaje, has said that the Federal Government does not have any food strategic reserves containing 42,000 metric tonnes of grains.
The Federal Government had on Thursday, February 15, announced that it would release 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from its food strategic reserves.
But speaking on the Channels Television Programme, Politics Today on Monday, Bugaje said the Federal Government has rented out all the food strategic reserve silos in the country.
The elder statesman berated the Federal Government over their effort to fix the prices of food items in the country.
Bugaje said: “The government is looking at price control but how can you control the price of things you don’t have? President Muhammadu Buhari in his military era tried doing that but that didn’t solve the problem and you are talking about palliatives.
“This government has demonstrated very clearly that they are the worst in terms of palliatives because they have never done it very well. From the COVID-19 time to date, we have seen how much scandal around palliatives.
“The most important thing for the government to address today is hunger and insecurity because in the hierarchy of human needs, human life comes first and I have not seen anything other than the National Assembly insulting the country by passing a vote of confidence on the service chiefs.
“When you hear government officials speak, you will know that they do not have any idea on what to do and the danger is that we have a huge problem in our hands. When you talk about strategic reserves, from what I know, I don’t think they are telling the truth because there is no strategic reserve anywhere.
“Almost all the silos that you see have been rented out and there is no food anywhere. What they are likely going to do is to quickly go to the market to mope what is available. And this move will make the price of food worse for the ordinary people.”
Bugaje blamed President Bola Tinubu for pronouncing the end of the fuel subsidies without plans to cushion the impact of the move. “We had expected that when the new government took over, we were expecting that he would surround himself with expertise.
“We were expecting that for him to have announced the removal of the fuel subsidy, he must have had a plan – something that would address the consequences of that.
“You don’t make a policy without looking at the consequences and preparing to cushion the effect of that. But apparently, he did that without preparation.
“So, what is happening at the moment is something that has been anticipated but the extent to which it has come is something that is baffling.
“Today is everybody’s knowledge that Bola Tinubu has no solutions to the problems of this country and his government has failed to address the most essential issues.
“I am extremely disappointed because I can see a lot of sycophancy around him and he seems to be very comfortable with the kind of people around him that don’t seem to have any idea in their heads.”
