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Calls for national discussion on subsidies
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
As the fuel crisis lingers across Nigeria, Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai has reiterated the need for the federal government to eliminate fuel subsidies to prevent the country from going bankrupt.
According to the Governor, some states are already stressed due to the enormous amount of money the federal government pays as subsidies a significant of which would have been shared to develop states and local government.
El-Rufai, who stated this while featuring on a national television breakfast show monitored in Kaduna added that there was a need for a national discussion where Nigerians would be told the truth about the fuel subsidy and the need for its removal.
To him, “what you are seeing happening whether it is fuel subsidy or electricity subsidy has been with us from time immemorial.
“The PDP government also had that problem. It is just that we don’t talk about what they have done. So, it is a problem for Nigerians who are not willing to face the truth.
“The truth about fuel is that we have queues where people are paying between N300 and N500 in some parts of the country and they have to queue for hours to get it because of unsustainable and broken down subsidy regime that we are facing to maintain for the past 50 years.
“If today, President Buhari tries to remove subsidy, the NLC (Nigerian Labour Congress) will be out in the street protesting. We have had that three or four times under Obasanjo’s administration anytime the pump price was slightly increased.
“So we need a national conversation where we will tell ourselves the truth. How can you subsidise fuel by N6trn in a year when our national education budget (federal and state combined) is not up to N2trn?
“Which country spends three times what it spends on education or health on fuel subsidy? It is a choice we have to make as a people.
“The fact that this fuel subsidy is not sustainable is the reason all the presidential candidates (Atiku, Tinubu, and Obi) have promised to remove it. I think we are getting there because we are in the campaign season. They have to. The country will be bankrupt if they don’t.
“Already, the states are distressed because a part of this subsidy is the money that is supposed to go to states and local governments which is not. Most states are struggling.
“Those of us that have higher Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) are surviving while many states with low IGR are owing salaries and arrears are building up.
“So, the next government must remove it otherwise, the country will simply collapse,” he opined.
