The General Assembly of ActionAid Nigeria has admonished the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to concentrate on policies that would help the informal sector where millions of poor Nigerians operate.
The ActionAid Nigeria General Assembly gave this advice during its 16th Annual General Meeting to review the state of the nation at the weekend in Abuja.
The assembly expressed concern that President Tinubu’s administration has been impaired by several economic and monetary policies which have negatively impacted the economy, inflation, food and transportation costs, although there was a slight increase in the country’s GDP to 2.74% (according to NBS, 2024).
They called on the federal government to prioritise rehabilitation of refineries as well reinstate subsidies on fuel to ease economic burdens on Nigerians.
They further called on the federal and state governments to urgently implement targeted social safety programmes and subsidies to protect the most vulnerable populations as well as provide low income households with small businesses grants and low-interest loans for the SME to enable their expansion and survival.
The assembly stated the need to overhaul tax policies such that multinationals contribute their fair share, ending the exploitation and inequality perpetuated by current tax holidays saying a fair and progressive tax system is essential.
The Board of Directors and the General Assembly of ActionAid also called on the federal government to urgently strengthen monetary policies to stabilise the naira and control inflation without disproportionately impacting the poor, saying measures such as increase foreign exchange reserves, promote exports, encourage foreign investments, and support local production to reduce dependence on imports can be taken.
On the issue of minimum wage adjustment the General Assembly urged the three tiers of government and the private sector to ensure strict compliance with the new minimum wage as well as ensure the adjustments are sustainable, accompanied by productivity improvements and economic growth measures
