Peter Obi would have also removed fuel subsidy from day one — Cosmas Maduka
By Jeffrey Agbo
Founder of Coscharis Group, Cosmas Maduka, has said that Peter Obi would have pursued similar economic policies as the current administration had he won the presidential election.
Speaking during an interview on Saturday on the Mic On Podcast with Seun Okinbaloye on YouTube, Maduka emphasised that Nigeria is moving in the right direction despite the nation’s economic challenges. He stated that removing the fuel subsidy was an inevitable decision that any responsible government would have made.
“People have asked me, will Peter Obi have done anything different if he won the election? I said no. He would have removed subsidy from day one also,” Maduka remarked.
Addressing concerns over the naira’s depreciation and the economic hardship faced by citizens, the businessman acknowledged the difficulty of making such statements as a wealthy individual. However, he stressed that the government’s primary focus should be on reinvesting the savings from subsidy removal into infrastructure development.
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“The government should be more disciplined to use the money they have removed in the subsidy to put it in infrastructure so that people that you have taken from, those who have been flying private jets from subsidy money, their businesses fall. But if you collect that money from them and put it in ventures that favour the general public, then there is progress,” he explained.
Maduka warned that failing to use these funds effectively would leave the nation stagnant.
“If you move from one tomb to another, you’re still in the same graveyard. You haven’t gone anywhere,” he remarked.
He also addressed Nigeria’s debt situation, stating that borrowing isn’t inherently problematic—what matters is how the funds are used.
“The borrowing of a country is not a problem. What is the problem; Are you borrowing for capital development? Are you borrowing for infrastructural development? Because it will pay back itself. But if you are borrowing to take a second wife, if you are borrowing to share money for poverty alleviation, you are deepening the hole that, after we get inside, nobody can bring us out,” Maduka warned.
He called for greater fiscal discipline in governance, urging the government to curtail excessive spending and ensure resources are directed toward projects that will benefit all Nigerians.
