CNPP To Tinubu: Rethink Romance With IMF, Others, Demands Sack Of Unproductive Appointees
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As the Federal Government of Nigeria battle with containing rising cost of living and its resultant hardship across the country, political parties and political associations under the aegis of the Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) have counselled President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take a fresh look at the country’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other Bretton Woods Institutions, demanding that President Tinubu should identify and fire all unproductive appointees as well as those sabotaging the government in the area of revenue generation.
In their words, the CNPP told the President to “struggle through the hard path by rethinking Nigeria’s relationship with the Bretton Woods Institutions, realistically assessing the performance of his appointees and sacking those constituting a cog in the wheel of the progress of his administration through their clear unproductivity and sabotage.”
The political parties’ position was contained in a press release on Tuesday signed by the CNPP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema.
The political parties were reacting to the call by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the federal government to completely phase out petrol and electricity subsidies in Nigeria in its ‘Post Financing Assessment (PFA)’ report.
The CNPP noted in the statement that “restoring macroeconomic stability in Nigeria should come from homegrown policies and programmes as IMF solutions have never aided Nigeria’s economic recovery, rather our economic woes worsened every time Bretton Woods Institutions’ advisories were implemented in Africa.”
According to the parties, “While removal of subsidy, due to the attendant corruption that bedevilled its payment was desirable, it was akin to shooting down Nigeria’s economy by implementing subsidy removal policy without functional refineries for local production of petroleum products.“
They maintained that the call by IMF for the complete phase out of petrol and electricity subsidies in the country “is a suggestion to the Bola Tinubu administration to inflict more hardship on already suffering masses of Nigeria.”
Querying why the Bretton Woods Institutions are not advising European countries, the CNPP asked, “Has the IMF ever advised the USA and European countries on removal of subsidies on cotton, which has been detrimental to one of Africa’s leading cotton exporters, Burkina Faso?
“It’s on record that in Europe in 2019, €38.2 billion was spent on direct payments to farmers and €13.8 billion on rural development, with a further €2.4 billion supported the market for agricultural products. Has the IMF ever spoken about energy and agricultural subsidies in the USA and the European countries?”, the political parties asked.
Rooting for homegrown solutions to Nigeria’s economic woes, the CNPP then urged President Bola Tinubu to “focus on homegrown solutions to Nigeria’s economic crisis and jettison policy advisories from the IMF and other Bretton Woods Institutions.
“We equally call on Mr. President to sack all unproductive appointees and identify those who are engaging in economic sabotage, especially as regards revenue generation in the oil and gas sector, and relieve them of their duties to increase foreign exchange earnings”, the CNPP counselled.
