The Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s approval of a 15 per cent import duty on refined petroleum products, describing the policy as exploitative and insensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerians.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Adebayo faulted the administration for what he called its growing obsession with taxation at the expense of citizens’ welfare.
He accused President Tinubu of prioritising revenue generation over national development.
“President Tinubu has turned governance into tax collection. Very soon, Nigerians may start paying for the air they breathe,” Adebayo remarked pointedly.
According to him, the 15 per cent import levy on fuel would further worsen inflation and deepen the economic hardship faced by millions of households.
He noted that the cost of imported fuel would ultimately be transferred to consumers, thereby increasing the price of petrol and transportation.
“Every extra naira added to fuel importation will be paid by the common man at the pump. This policy targets the people, not the problem,” he added.
Adebayo, who once shared political ideals with Tinubu under the SDP platform in the 1990s, said the president’s current policies contradict the pro-people values he once championed.
“The Tinubu of today is not the Tinubu of the Hope ‘93 era. He has crossed over from the side of the people to the side of the money class. Nigerians are now seen as customers, not citizens,” he stated.
The SDP chieftain further criticised the federal government’s continued reliance on fuel importation, saying it reflects a failure of leadership in the petroleum sector.
He questioned why the government has been unable to make Nigeria’s refineries functional despite years of budgetary allocations and promises.
“How can the President be the Minister of Petroleum, yet our refineries are dead? What kind of system are we running?” Adebayo queried.
He urged the government to channel its energy into revamping the country’s refineries instead of imposing new taxes on imported fuel.
“If the President truly wants change, he should instruct his petroleum team to make our refineries work within six months. Once production resumes locally, importation and these anti-people taxes will end,” Adebayo advised.
Although government officials have defended the import duty as a measure to encourage local refining and stabilise the downstream sector, Adebayo dismissed the explanation as hollow.
According to him, no economic justification can excuse a policy that directly increases the suffering of citizens already battling high living costs.
The former presidential candidate concluded by warning that Nigeria’s economic future would remain bleak if the administration continued to prioritise taxation over productivity and social welfare.
“Real leaders create wealth; they don’t squeeze it out of the people,” he said.
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