Sanusi lamented the bogus amount spent on fuel subsidy payment annually, and demanded that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited be unbundled and disbanded.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido, has said he is sorry for the next president of Nigeria who would have to deal with the removal of fuel subsidy.
Delivering a keynote speech on Saturday at the seventh edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency, Sanusi blamed the lack of revenue in the country on what he called the subsidy free-for-all.
Sanusi lamented the bogus amount spent on fuel subsidy payment annually, and demanded that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited be unbundled and disbanded, noting that the company should not continue as a cash cow for a few Nigerians.
Sanusi said, “Let me ask you: what do you think we are leaving our children behind (with)? A mountain of debt. Every generation wants to leave a legacy so that our children and grandchildren will be praying for us and ask God for mercy on us, not cursing us.
“You leave them with a mountain of debt, you have not educated them, money that will should put into their education, into their healthcare, even assuming this fuel subsidy is genuine, we have taking that money to give ourselves cheap petrol. We are borrowing to enjoy cheap petrol so that our children will oay that debt.
“We see the problem and we are going to continue. I’m sorry for the next president who comes in June and says I’m removing fuel subsidy on day one. I don’t know what kind of political stability you’ll have.”
Sanusi described as unbelievable the claim by the NNPC that Nigeria consumes 66 million litres of fuel daily.
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“Are we drinking the petrol? NNPC tells us officially that we are consuming 66 million litres per day…We are consuming more than Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, more than Kenya.
“In 2019 officially, we were importing 40 million litres per day. In 2022, officially, we are importing 66 million per day. In three years, we have increased our petrol consumption by 50%. Please tell me, is it the population? Is it the number of cars? Just ask yourself if it makes sense that in three years you increase your consumption of petrol by 50%,” Sanusi said.
President Muhammadu Buhari was represented at the event by the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Maryam Katagum.
Also present were Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote; the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu; Governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi), and Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa).
Last Friday, while presenting a N20.51 trillion 2023 budget proposal to the National Assembly, Buhari pushed for the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, saying that the policy is not sustainable considering current economic realities.
