The African Democratic Congress (ADC), has accused President Bola Tinubu of running a “trial and error” government for the initial proposal to impose a 15 percent import duty on imported petrol and diesel.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Friday, the ADC said the suspension confirmed its warning that the levy would worsen the country’s economic pains.
The ADC equally blasted the administration of President Bola Tinubu as “confused,” accusing it of running a government of trial and error after what it described as the seventh policy flip-flop in two years.
Abdullahi recalled that the party had, on October 31, cautioned the government that imposing a fresh tariff on imported fuel would deepen the hardship caused by subsidy removal, currency depreciation and surging living costs.
The opposition, while hailing the administration for backing down, insisted that the reversal again exposed a pattern of hasty decisions followed by embarrassing U-turns.
“As we noted in our statement reacting to the planned tariff, the ‘new levy is likely to push the pump price of petrol beyond N1,000 per litre.
“If this happens, life would become even more unbearable for families, commuters, transporters, farmers, and small businesses already struggling under the weight of fuel subsidy removal without social protection and currency devaluation without safeguards,” the ADC said.
According to the party, it had also queried why the government would contemplate taxing imported fuel without first ensuring local capacity for production, adding that it was quite interesting that these were the same reasons the administration later cited for backing down.
