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By Alphonsus Nweze, Onitsha
A human rights activist and chairman of International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi, has flayed President Bola Tinubu for removing subsidy from petrolatum which has inflicted enormous hardship on the citizens of Nigeria.
Speaking in an exclusive interview in Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial hub, the activist said there is nothing like subsidy since the very meaning of Government is to provide the welfare of the people, which in effect implies subsidy.
He posited: “Subsidy removal is a kind of abdication of Government from its statutory duties. What is Government without subsidy? The very essence of government is for good governance and to take care of the welfare and wellbeing of the citizens especially the poor and the deprived”.
He argued that taking care of the welfare of the masses include subsidising the essential commodities or services that would alleviate their lives.
Therefore, when a Government said that they removed subsidy from petrolatum or education or anything, it implied that Government is running from its constitutional duties of providing for its citizens.
“That government has run away from collectivism, replacing it with individualism and that is turning the country to Hobbesian state, where might is right. The essence of Government is to accommodate i everybody and provide equality,” Umeagbalasi said.
He said although the current food crisis in the country could be linked with subsidy removal and floating of naira by President Tinubu, fundamentally it exposed our insufficient food production.
He said the major reason Nigeria failed to produce enough food, apart from poor government policies was the activities of Fulani herdsmen.
The activist said the importation of these Fulani terrorists by the All Progressive Congress (APC) who were killing, maiming the farmers and destroyed their crops across the country was the major cause of food crisis in the country.
“They are the ones who imported these Jihadists. Let them remove them or better still let them recover those arms they gave them and replace them with hoes and cutlasses,” he said.
Umeagbalasi said rice, yams and other food items are costly because they are in short supply, saying that about five or six years ago especially under Goodluck Jonathan presidency, people were selective in the type of rice they were eating because of the availability of local and foreign rice, yam, tomato, beans among other food items.
The Intersociety boss said: ” The problem is that they chased farmers away from their land. That is what we are saying. The Federal Government should go back and remove all those people they imported. They are the ones who imported them. Buhari announced it now. He gave them waiver to come into Nigeria and boldly announced it”.
But the activist said by creating Livestock Ministry which he called “Fulani Nomadic Islamic Ministry” it is very obvious that this Government has no intention to address the problem of food crisis in the country.
“They are worsening the problem. They are swimming in a dangerous water. You can see they are not even ready to address the food crisis in the country,” the activist said.
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