It Is In Tinubu’s Character To Always Take Care Of The Poor – Dapo Thomas

A former Senior Special Assistant on Policy Formulation and Programmes to President Bola Tinubu, Dr Dapo Thomas has come out to speak about what to expect from the Tinubu presidency

He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, based on the credibility Tinubu already gathered after his time as Lagos State governor, Nigerians have to trust his policies to bear good fruits in the long run now that he is president.

He added that it is in BAT’s character to always take care of the poor and needy in the country.

His words, “If you go through the history of subsidy under the military and civilian administrations, it has never gone well with the people. They were always against it. There was never a time an attempt was made to remove subsidy that did not result in rioting. Surprisingly, people have given him the necessary support, hoping that things will get better and based on his credibility when he was in Lagos. It is in his character to always take care of the poor. There is no way we can start seeing the results now. He has suspended the five per cent excise tax on telecoms and others. This means we are approaching a level where we will begin to see the effect of this policy.”

“This is like a case of the chicken and the egg, and the narrative about which comes first. It is a matter of style and approach. On what basis or framework will the Nigeria Labour Congress use to arrive at compensatory or commensurate palliatives if he had introduced the palliatives before the removal of subsidy. If palliatives had been introduced when fuel was selling for about N200, what happens if the marketers raise fuel price to N500, the current price? Will you come back to do another palliative? Now that we know the average cost per litre, that can be used as a framework for palliatives. Government and the NLC can start working on whether to increase salaries or reduce taxes. However, various committees are working on the palliatives as of now.”

“It is important to note that it is not within his power to fix salaries for politicians; it is the work of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. The President cannot even fix his salary. I listened to the interview of a former governor where he said when he was in office his salary was N500,000, although he was not sure if it had increased. The salaries of political office holders are not that irrational; they are fixed based on certain parameters and indices. The commission is established by the constitution, and you cannot just dictate to them.”