Probe Tinubu's Subsidy Savings, CISLAC, CSOs Tell National Assembly

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and a coalition of civil society groups yesterday urged the National Assembly to probe proceeds from the subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu since his emergence in 2023.

Executive Director of CISLAC, Mr. Auwal Rafsanjani, led the groups that comprised the Tax Justice and Governance Platform (TJGP), ActionAid, Christian Aid, Centre for Democracy and Development, International Budget Partnership, the Nigeria Labour Congress and Oxfam, to address a news conference at the National Assembly.

The coalition said the National Assembly must take serious steps that would address the current hardship in the country through urgent legislative measures that could return the country to economic stability and prosperity,

The group said the management of rising public debts and the seeming absence of the details of how the government had spent the huge loans over the years was a serious concern to it.

The groups also called for a full investigation into all loans taken by successive governments, especially the $3.4 billon World Bank facility as reported by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in 2020.

Part of their prepared speech read, “The escalating debt burden has profound implications for the well-being of Nigerian citizens, and failure to act quickly could result in an additional 23 million Nigerians living in poverty and 80 million working-age citizens without a full-time job by 2030.

“These concerning trends underscore the need for the National Assembly to urgently commit to sound reforms and balanced resource allocation, thereby paving the way for significant investment in critical sectors that directly impact the lives of vulnerable Nigerians.”