NIGERIA- Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka has called on President Bola Tinubu to take action regarding the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, following the last general elections.
Chidioka who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, charged the president to swiftly do to Prof Yakubu what was was done to the former governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele.
The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ally of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, said the president ought to remove Yakubu just as he suspended Emefiele and initiate a probe into the INEC and its Chairman’s operations, especially within the last polls.
“For the kind of uproar that the election caused, the way he went after the CBN governor is the way I think he should have set up a panel to look into INEC,” Chidoka asserted.
“It would have been totally unimportant if he faced what I considered the critical issues about Nigerians making their choices.”
Chidoka also urged Tinubu to remove charges on bank transfers and facilitate the reduction in the monthly contributions to pension schemes by workers as a measure to cushion the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidies on Nigerians.
“We need to think beyond politics. When he (Tinubu) took a decision to remove fuel subsidy and the fuel price rose from 100 and something naira to 500 and something naira in a day,” Chidoka said.
“What are the immediate measures that can be taken to make sure there is more cash in the pockets of people who go to work every day?
“If I was thinking with him, I would have said immediately: remove the charges for bank transfers in Nigeria, the N26 and the N56 cut it immediately.
“That money goes to the banks and they are just enriching themselves or making a flat rate of once a month, you can charge N100 for IT (Information Technology) support. So, that puts more money in the hands of people.
“Second one is that our pension scheme has accumulated a lot of money and that pension scheme now requires people to pay 12% of their salaries from the employers’ side.
“So, I think the Federal Government can reduce the amount the people are contributing for a one-year period or six months to allow more money.”
According to Chidoka, that way, immediately from the next month’s salary, another N10,000, N5,000 as the case may be, enters into the pocket of the people who go to work every day.
The PDP chieftain said workers will be able to pay their transport fare because they need to go to work tomorrow.
The ex-minister also said the minimum wage in the country needs to rise from the current rate of N30,000 to reflect the economic realities and inflationary shocks on the ground.
