The vice presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, has lamented that the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy has triggered spiralling inflation that pushes more than 80,000 Nigerians below the poverty line every week.
Key Highlights
- Amaechi says abrupt subsidy removal pushes over 80,000 Nigerians into poverty weekly.
- He claims rising unemployment under Tinubu is fuelling criminal activities.
- He spoke at an ADC town hall meeting in Calabar, Cross River State.
- He says a planned $11bn Lagos–Calabar coastal rail had no funding.
- He alleges an APC chieftain failed to execute a $350m Calabar channel dredging contract.
According to him, Nigerians are poorer than when President Bola Tinubu came into office, while unemployment is on the increase, thereby fuelling criminal activities.
Amaechi spoke in Calabar, Cross River State, at a town hall meeting to mobilise voters for the 2027 general elections.
The former Minister of Transportation said Tinubu should have sat down with economists to fine-tune the removal of subsidy, and offered to debate members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the state of the nation’s economy.
He faulted the description of Tinubu’s policy as courageous, stating that the difference between courage and recklessness is very thin.
Coastal Rail, Niger Republic Line
On why he did not extend the railway line to Calabar, Amaechi explained that there was an agreement to construct a coastal rail from Lagos to Calabar, with a spur to Obudu Cattle Ranch, worth about $11 billion.
He added that there was no money to fund the project and wondered why the Tinubu administration decided to embark on a coastal road project.
Amaechi also explained why he constructed a railway line to Niger Republic while many Nigerian communities lack rail lines, saying the line was built in fulfilment of an ECOWAS Protocol Agreement to give landlocked member states access to Nigerian seaports.
Read also:
- Amaechi Accuses Akpabio Over Cross River Oil Wells as Wike Takes Charge of Tinubu’s FCT Campaign
- Amaechi Claims He Built Lekki Deep Seaport, Accuses Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu of Taking Credit
- Bwala Admits Tinubu’s Reforms Pushed More Nigerians Into Poverty, Rejects Amaechi’s Claim on Mother
Calabar Seaport
On a request for a specific commitment on the establishment of a deep seaport in Cross River State, Amaechi declared that the current channel to the Calabar seaport is too shallow, and therefore any new port should be constructed outside the current site.
He alleged that a prominent politician in the ruling APC was awarded a $350 million contract to desilt the Calabar seaport channel but failed to execute it, and was about to be paid when the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) informed him that the job had not been done.
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