Fuel hike: Buhari’s govt is military in structure — Bode George
Former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Bode George, has stated that the present administration of President Buhari has a military structure.
Bode George was reacting to the recent hike in fuel price and electricity tariff during a courtesy visit by the PDP aspirants in the Lagos East Senatorial district and Kosofe 2 State constituency.
Daily Times reports that President Buhari is a retired general of the Nigerian Army and served as military head of state from 1983 to 1985, after taking power in a military coup d’état.
The PDP chieftain compared the recent happenings to when Buhari was the Head of State.
“There is hunger in the land; Nigeria is on the verge of collapse. The President has only one opportunity to rewrite his name in the golden pages of history.
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“All is not well in the country. They should revisit the decision, it is inhuman, unacceptable and going to add too much pain both to the rich and poor.
“Who will not be at pain now with an increase in petrol and electricity? The immediate thing is that all industries will hike their products despite the fact that so many people have lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19.
“The President should look at faces and tell those people behind this increment to stop.” He also criticised the current system of government, saying it is military in structure.
George said: “The system of government in this country is not working. It is so military in structure. We need to restructure or adopt devolution of power at the centre back to state.”
“For instance, Lagos State with about 24 million people contribute about 55 percent of VAT, which is taken to Abuja where it is been redistributed and at the end Lagos will get about two percent.
“The ideal that all cooperate tax should be paid to Abuja does not make sense. What should happen is that each state should have their own company registry and take their own company tax.
“The only tax that supposed to go to federal should be the companies listed on the stock exchange. That is how a federal system should be operating. “These and many more I will be pushing for on the floor of Senate.”
He urged Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, reverse the increment of petroleum price and that of electricity as the country is yet to come to terms with the effect of COVID-19.
