Fuel subsidy removal without cutting down on cost of governance is counterproductive – LEAD Network
The Leadership Entrepreneurship and Advocacy ( LEAD) Network Africa says removal of fuel Subsidy without cutting down on the cost of governance is counterproductive.
The Executive Director of LEAD Network Africa, Mr Chuikwuma Okenwa, said on Tuesday while reacting to President Bola Tinubu palliative provision speech captioned : “After Darkness Comes the Glorious Dawn”.
According to Okenwa, President Tinubu in his speech mentioned how the subsidy regime favoured only a few elites; I, however, think that fuel subsidy was the only allowance that the poor masses enjoyed in Nigeria.
“How can any government that is people-driven prioritize fuel subsidy removal over cutting down on the cost of government in a nation where the allowances paid to the legislators and executives can well compete with their counterparts who earn in hard currencies?
“Rather than reviewing the cost of governance, we see a situation where a whooping N70 Billion was earmarked for the same set of people who obviously can fair well despite the removal of fuel subsidy.
“The same legislators receive hardship allowances, whilst the masses are allowed to suffer the hardship,” he said.
The executive director noted that the alternative way of subsidy removal that would not hurt the poor would have been to fix the refineries to function optimally.
“With that the refineries running, the government does not need to pay subsidies to any country, group or individual because we have got the capacity to refine our own resources.
“How can Nigeria as a nation be content with sending out our crude to be refined elsewhere, does it make economic sense for a nation that owns the crude oil?
“As a matter of fact, the subsidy has been a placeholder for the benefit we should legitimately enjoy supposing our refineries were working well, at least as a nation that owns oil,” he said.
Okenwa noted that emulating the economic template of nations without oil in terms of subsidy removal is simply misplaced.
“Otherwise what advantage is it to own crude oil in the first place,” he added.
Contributing, the Daniel Ukwu Leadership Foundation (DULF) expressed fear that the actual implementation of the various palliative measures announced by President Tinubu might end up benefiting corrupt politicians and their cronies.
The Executive Director of DULF, Mr Daniel Ukwu, said that “our fear is the implementation of the excellent idea without building massive corruption to the system, which might lead to the poor being excluded from its benefits”.
”We at Daniel Ukwu leadership Foundation (DULF) have reviewed the speech; we observed that it followed the traditional speech by the previous government. There is nothing new but theory driven.
“The president has identified Nigeria’s problems but his solution is having adverse effects on the general masses. His policy is likened to fighting the few rich elites at the detriment of the masses.
“Removal fuel subsidy calls for immediate solutions like increasing the minimum wage which also is inflation driven,” Ukwu said.
The executive director said that after 60 days of fuel subsidy removal, “the government is negotiating on the new minimum; as the government did not have the end in mind while implementing the subsidy removal”.
He also said that the Federal and state Governments failed to address the basic challenge of insecurity in the country, which is fundamental.
“The general insecurity is having a huge socio- economic impact on the masses and creating further hardship in the country,” he said.
