Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, stating that the policy has worsened hardship and was a grave economic blunder.

Falana, who was a key voice during the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests against subsidy removal, believes that the policy has deepened hardship instead of providing relief.

According to Falana, the subsidy debate is not new but is tied to decades of IMF and World Bank prescriptions that have often left developing countries poorer.

“I have always been against fuel subsidy removal since 2012. No country in the world has abolished or removed subsidies completely. Even leading Western countries, like the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, and others, subsidise electricity, agriculture, and many aspects of the lives of their people,” he said.

Falana accused the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank of dictating Nigeria’s economic direction, including subsidy removal and naira devaluation. He urged Tinubu to chart a more independent path, stating that the unpopular decision has created social tension across Nigeria.

“We asked the government to muster the courage to tell these Western imperialist institutions that there is no country that has succeeded on the basis of the prescriptions of the Bretton Woods institutions,” he cautioned.

The activist also condemned the growing dollarization of Nigeria’s economy, faulting President Tinubu’s recent practice of gifting footballers cash in foreign currency.

Falana encouraged the government to consider joining BRICS as a full member, saying the bloc provides better opportunities to reduce dependence on the dollar and Western financial institutions.

Falana emphasized the need to promote and strengthen the Naira against the dollar, stating that it is a criminal offense to reject the Naira as a legal tender.

“So, we must promote the Naira, strengthen the Naira, against the dollar, because the Naira is the legal tender, and not the dollar. It’s a criminal offence, to reject the Naira. It’s a criminal offence, under the Central Bank Act Section 20,” he said.