Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has criticized President Tinubu’s economic policies, contending that the late Mashood Abiola would have opposed the government’s reliance on World Bank and IMF, which has weakened Nigeria’s economic sovereignty.
Appearing on ChannelsTV Thursday, the senior lawyer Femi Falana asserted that late Mashood Abiola’s political manifestos rejected policies tied to the World Bank and IMF. Falana stressed that Abiola had promised a more independent approach to economic governance, contrasting this with President Tinubu’s current policy direction, which he claims has diminished Nigeria’s economic autonomy by ceding control to foreign institutions.
He stressed that the administration’s economic policies have been shaped by the interests of external organizations, disregarding the impact on the Nigerian masses, a far cry from the vision of late Mashood Abiola, who proposed an independent approach to economic governance.
He said, “One of the ministers did say that the programmes of this government look like the programmes of the winner of the June 12 election, Bashorun MKO Abiola. I think the programmes of Abiola were captured in his manifestos, ‘Farewell to Poverty.’”
The lawyer noted that “successive regimes, be it military or civilians, all the regimes particularly since 1986 have implemented one policy or the other of imperialism”.

He continued, “What is going on now in town (in Nigeria) is the religious implementation of neo-liberal policies dictated by IMF and World Bank.
“Whereas, Chief MKO Abiola had made the point that as President of Nigeria, he would not allow the IMF and the World Bank to control Nigeria. In fact, in his characteristic style, he did say, ‘Who are these young men running the IMF to tell us what to do with our country?’”
“I think for us to celebrate the June 12 mandate, the government in power holds it as a duty to promote the happiness of the Nigerian people in line with Section 16 of the Constitution and of course in accordance with the manifestos of the winner of the election,” he added.
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