You Claimed Nigeria Is Broke Yet Spend Lavishly – Afenifere Chieftain Knocks Tinubu Gov’t

A Nigerian economist and chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Segun Sanni, has lampooned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s government over its ‘reckless’ spending despite the country’s present economic status.

Sanni articulated the Nigerian government’s need to implement cost-cutting measures, asserting that the nation has reached a state of insolvency.

While appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, Sanni criticized the excessive spending practices of the Federal Government, emphasizing that the citizens of Nigeria would have a clearer understanding if the government were to be transparent about the financial situation.

“Nigeria is indeed in a dire financial state. We must reduce expenditures,” Sanni remarked.

Highlighting the substantial salaries of government officials, he noted that such lavish spending does not align with the economic difficulties currently faced by the country.

“We are spending lavishly, a government that is spending lavishly and living large cannot tell Nigerians that Nigeria is broke. We are indeed broke but our government is not using our resources on itself as if we are indeed broke.

“Spending 90 billion on hajj, 21 billion on a new vice president’s lodge, 40.6 billion in this year’s budget to renovate Aso Rock and the rest of it, we hear. We hear all these scandalous figures being mentioned, but how much of it is being spent on the people,” the Afenifere chieftain queried.

Speaking on the case of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Sanni described the organization as the most corrupt in the world.

He berated the NNPC for spending the country’s funds without proper accountability, adding that the audit released in 2023 cannot be trusted.

“We have an NNPC, the most corrupt, opaque and inefficient organisation in the world. NNPC is more or less a salesman. We have an arrangement in place where NNPC collects our money after selling the oil and spends out of it the way it likes without any monitoring, oversight or supervision. Those expenses of NNPC that nobody has monitored are what Nigerians are being called on to bear,” Sanni added.

Preferring a solution to Nigeria’s economic problem, he called for a more judicious spending of the government’s resources where every government’s funds are properly accounted for.

“The country’s government should be in an austerity mode whereby every dollar or naira we make is judiciously spent. There has to be a more judicious spending of our money across all levels of government”, he said