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The Nigerian Labour Congress has described the World Bank’s advice to President Bola Tinubu to sustain his economic reforms for the next 15 years as ‘an invitation to chaos and an act of cruelty’.
The international financial institution recently urged the Tinubu-led government not to reverse the ongoing economic reforms, warning that doing so could have negative implications for the nation.
But NLC warned that blindly following advice from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund could spell disaster for Nigeria.
The Head of Public Relations of NLC, Benson Upah, gave the warning in an interview with Saturday PUNCH.
Upah argued that the World Bank did not have Nigeria’s best interests at heart, urging Tinubu to ignore the advice and develop a homegrown economic plan to address the country’s challenges.
“If their advice in the past has not helped us, is it their latest advice that will? It is an act of cruelty on the part of the World Bank to ask the Bola Tinubu presidency to continue with these painful policies,” Upah stated.
He added, “This advice will not fly, and there will be consequences if the Tinubu presidency takes it because the country is literally at a standstill. There is pain everywhere—even the business community is struggling.”
“The advice is a complete invitation to chaos and we will advise the government not to take this advice because it will be highly counterproductive.”
Also, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organisation, Afenifere, warned the Federal Government to be wary of the World Bank’s advice.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the organisation, Jare Ajayi, Afenifere called for home-grown policies that would boost local businesses, encourage innovation and reduce heavy reliance on importation.
“This call on the President to be wary of prescriptions by Bretton Woods’ institutions was predicated on what had happened to countries that followed various prescriptions made by either the World Bank or International Monetary Fund or both of them,” it explained.
Also, a Professor of Economics at Babcock University, Sheriffdeen Tella, said the World Bank should rather advise Nigeria on how it could move from a consumption economy to production economy, stating that floating of naira against the dollar destroyed Nigeria’s economy.
Tella blamed the current economic woes on Tinubu’s “thoughtless” adoption of the World Bank’s advice on the removal of fuel subsidy.
“The World Bank has the right to suggest whatever it wants to suggest, but it is now left for us to know what is good for us.
“We have to do what we know is right for our economy, not that we continue to borrow ideas from the World Bank and other international organisations as if we don’t have economists here who can give our government advice.”
Similarly, an economic expert, Paul Alaje, said the World Bank’s advice on Nigeria’s economy would not bring any prosperity.
According to Alaje, countries who had followed the bank’s advice have nothing good to show for it.
He said, “In the 1980s, the president of Russia was told not to oppose the reforms and that it will be beneficial. The government advised the citizens that the flotation and subsidy removal policies were good for them. Unfortunately, those benefits did not manifest 15 years after.
“Until a new president showed up in 1999 who pegged the currency, stopped the untamed floatation and badly devalued Russian currency. The President also reduced taxes, and at the same time, increased export and the price of oil by cutting supply as a means of increasing revenue.
“We have been told the same thing by the World Bank. I am seriously afraid, we are not the only nation told these things. Argentina and Venezuela had the same advisories from the same international organizations but peso still struggles. This is the same for Venezuela. They both adopted the policies but no, hyperinflation and poverty are still very evident in the American nations.
“Today, Naira was the worst performing currency with no thanks to the floatation policy. The truth is that prices will still further go up. Shockingly, the World Bank did not tell us what we must do to bring back the trend.”
