By Jennifer Amarachi
Kenneth Okonkwo, a Nollywood actor and politician has called President Bola Tinubu to return fuel subsidy.
He stated this while reacting to the president’s speech on protest, which he described as uninteresting and unpleasant.
Recall that President Tinubu removed fuel subsidy on his first day as the country’s helmsman, in his bid to regulate fuel pump price and make life easier for Nigerians.
Okonkwo, a former spokesman for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council in 2023, claimed that it would have been preferable if the President had not delivered such an address, which he regards as ‘poor’.
He also urged Tinubu to remove his media advisers for leaking his speech a day before it was televised nationwide.
“People are protesting hunger, hardship, deprivation, and degradation.” And the president felt obligated to speak,” Okonkwo told Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.
He continued, “I wish they had not compelled him. If I were a media assistant, I would have preferred that there be no speech at all because terrible speech is worse than no talking at all.
“The speech was not only empty and incredibly annoying, but it was also leaked ahead of time.”
He said President Tinubu has not complied with any of the demonstrators’ demands. He denounced the violent acts of a few while highlighting the importance of protest in a democratic society.
He suggested that the President ought to have reconsidered his decision to buy a new presidential jet and streamlined his cabinet.
Since Okonkwo believes that “subsidy itself is a palliative,” he suggested that the government reinstate subsidies on gasoline and electricity rates rather than doing away with them and substituting ineffectual palliatives.
He continued by saying that the current government should concentrate on raising productivity by fostering a positive business environment because it has decreased the standard of living for Nigerians.
Meanwhile, notable individuals such as Femi Falana (SAN), Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, and political parties like the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have condemned the President’s address.
