The renown human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has warned the administration of President Bola Ahmad Tinubu against implementing the programs and policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Nigeria, describing the institution as an imperialist institution established to exploit the economies of developing countries.
Falana who spoke recently in a popular interview program that is viral on social media, Politics Today, said that the withdrawal of petroleum subsidy and increase in electricity tarrif are all instructed by the IMF to inflict hardship on the people of the country.
He explained that for an economy to grow and flourish, government must subsidize one thing or the other as the case is in Europe and America.
He called on Nigerians to rise and tell the government to discard such programs and policies.
“There is no country in the world where government does not subsidize one product or the other, even in the most advanced capitalists societies.
“That is why Nigerians must now begin to ask the government to discard and jettison the deleterious programs policies of the IMF and the World Bank”.
He revealed the hypocritical way the IMF operates giving financial advises that better the economies of the developed countries while they give contrary advises to developing countries and inflict hardships on their people.
He explained that of recent the IMF was accusing the UK government of not investing enough in education and health, while at the same time it asked Nigeria to remove subsidy in it’s entirety and increase rates of goods and services. This he says will only increase hardship to the people of the country and not better economy.
Falana explained further that the only economic body to properly advise the president in Nigeria on the economy of the country should be the National Economic Council that is made up of elected representatives of the people and not the IMF, “Why has that body abdicated it’s responsibility to the IMF and the World Bank?” Falana asks.
“This is an ideological battle. These institutions were set up by imperialism principally to destroy the economies of developing countries, while they turn the other eye when western countries are giving subsidy to their people” he stated.
He called on the IMF to be more interested in seeking to know the whereabout of $3 billion said to be missing as presented to the National Assembly by the Auditor General of the Federation last November and not to be mounting pressure on the Nigerian government to increase the hardship of the citizens.