- Disagrees with Atiku, insists on fuel subsidy removal
BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi says it is extreme hypocrisy for the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to ask Nigerians to fast and make sacrifices while top government officials shamelessly continue in their elite feasting at the public expense.
This is as the former Anambra State governor also weighed in on the fresh debate over the fuel subsidy removal, insisting that mismanagement of its gains by the current administration should not be a reason to reverse and abandon the policy.
Addressing issues around the subsidy removal at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Obi categorically said that Nigerians should not be asked to make sacrifices at a time when government officials continue to misuse public funds, especially savings accruing from the subsidy gains.
The Presidential hopeful, who expressed concerns that millions of struggling Nigerians are told to tighten their belts, while government officials are loosening theirs and basking in elite feast, said leaders should shun luxurious displays and show genuine empathy for the country’s harsh economic pain
“What I’ve said is that people in government have asked Nigerians to fast. Okay. They cannot be feasting when Nigerians are fasting.” Obi said, noting that it is unfortunate and double standard for public officers to live in luxury opulence while hunger is biting hard on Nigerians everywhere across the country.
He disagreed with those, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who recently promised to restore fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027, maintaining that the government should have provided Nigerians with alternative benefits from the resources saved through the policy.
According to him: “I subscribe and maintain that you need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds shouldn’t be the reason for not removing it. What we should have done is that when we removed the subsidy, we would have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy.
“So, don’t say because people use the money they are supposed to utilise very well for party, and you say no, we should bring back. What we have today is that, that removal and the attendant resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen. For example, we have received, according to them, N16 trillion.”
Insisting that it cannot be luxury for those holding public offices and hunger for ordinary citizens, Obi described as unfortunate a situation where majority of Nigerians are not feeling the positive impact of subsidy removal as earlier promised by the Tinubu administration.
The NDC Standard bearer, who said his leadership blueprint for Nigeria provides for the subsidy removal in an organised manner, with the proceeds recovered properly invested for the benefit of all Nigerians, accused the government of failing to effectively utilise the subsidy savings to re-engineer key sectors of the economy such as healthcare, which is in very poor condition.
He said, “The number one thing a nation needs to develop is health. But today, our health is very poor, our primary care is very poor, where we are now, we have more maternal and child issues than countries like India. Assuming, let me use five percent, you said that they saved N15.8 trillion. So, according to them, N16 trillion. So, five percent of that is just about N800 billion”.
Pointedly, the former Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections said: “And if today, our biggest problem is the issue of primary care and you decide to put primary healthcare in each ward, today it will cost you, from our own studies, an average of N100 million for one.
“If you decide today, we have an issue now with kidney dialysis. We have over 25 million Nigerians with kidney issues. To build a kidney centre, you need N200 million. And we need about a thousand centres when we have less than 200. We need about 5,000 machines when we have less than 800. It costs you N200 million to do a centre, and it costs you exactly N10 million to buy one machine”.
The NDC touch bearer further said Nigeria could have accumulated about $10 billion in its sovereign wealth fund if the proceeds from the removal of petrol subsidy had been saved, noting also that: “If they had saved the money and decided to do like any other country, we would have had $10 billion added to our sovereign wealth fund, which, if you add it today, we will get about $10 billion every month, which we can use for a purpose”.
Since the fuel subsidy removal policy was announced by President Tinubu on May 29, 2023 with that momentous declaration that “Subsidy is gone”, prices of commodities, transportation fares and other essential goods and services have risen sharply countrywide amid mixed reactions from Nigerians supporting the policy and others opposing it on the grounds of worsening hardship on the people.
The latest strong voice against the policy is former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who has backtracked on his earlier position and recently promised to restore subsidy if elected president in 2027.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential candidate in the 2027 general elections while speaking during an interview streamed live on Facebook with some Hausa-language news platforms, Atiku maintained that since the subsidy removal has failed to improve the lives of Nigerians, there was no reason to continue with the policy and his administration if elected would explore options to ease the current hardship on Nigerians.
