Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana and President Bola Tinubu. [Intel Region]
Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has disclosed that he knows a team of lawyers that can help the President Bola Tinubu government recover nothing less than $200 billion from fuel subsidy thieves.
The respected lawyer made this known while speaking on the state of the nation's economy under Tinubu on Channels Television's Politics Tonight on Friday, October 27, 2023.
Falana criticised a number of decisions made by the Federal Government, including the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira.
Recall that Tinubu announced the end of the subsidy regime during his inaugural speech on May 29, and his government has also decided to float the naira as part of wider monetary reforms being carried out by the Central Bank.
These decisions, among others, have plummeted the value of the nation's currency to an all-time low while inflation continued to surge at an alarming rate.
Asked what he thinks should be done to arrest any further downward slide of the naira, Falana said the situation will remain the same if the Federal Government continues to adhere to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank directives on how to run the economy.
"I'm saying that there is no way the value of the naira will pick up if we continue to take instructions from the IMF and World Bank to run our economy, the activist noted.
He also condemned the government for floating the naira when it had no control over forex exchange.
Falana also said the government should have prioritised the investigation of the alleged scam that characterised fuel importation in the country rather than the hasty removal of subsidy.
He then offered to help the government recover the subsidy loot, saying he knows lawyers who are ready to help achieve that between three to six months.
"Today, it's only those two institutions, two brettonwood institutions that are commending the government for removing fuel subsidy without investigating the fraud that characterised the importation of fuel.
"Those are the two institutions commending the government for floating the naira. You don't float the currency, apart from a banana republic, how can you float your currency when you didn't control the dollar?
"So, these are issues that government would have to address and I'm saying publicly, if the government is prepared I know a team of lawyers that can the government to recover not less than $200bn between three and six months.
"So the government would have to really go back to the drawing table. How can we organise this country in the interest of our people and also in the interest of the government because the government needs political stability," the SAN added.
PULSE.
