A digital communications assistant to President Bola Tinubu, Olusegun Dada, has advised Nigerians to accept that the fuel subsidy regime can no longer continue in the country.
Dada, in an article seen by News.ng noted that the payment process of fuel subsidies is riddled with so much corruption.
He also stated that sustaining the subsidy regime will continue to fill the tanks of Nigeria’s Prado-cruising elites “and serve as an unwitting petrol Santa Claus to neighbouring countries.”
His words:
“Empty vessels have been known to dock at our ports under the pretext of supplying petrol that the country must subsidise by cutting the owners a check worth billions.
“Overnight billionaires have been made by the scam, even as the majority of Nigerians have seen their purchasing power shrink over the years.
“In 2023 alone, the outgone administration allocated ₦3.6 trillion to foot the subsidy bill for the year’s first half. That’s more than the sum allocated to other revenue-generating projects.
“One could suggest, in fact, that the Nigerian government has arrived at a situation where it exists simply to pay fuel subsidies, even as it struggles to pay, let alone increase, salaries of its staff.
“Yet, no one can reasonably argue that keeping the Prados of the elites on the road or providing non-Nigerians with cheap petrol is so important a goal that it is worth sacrificing the country’s future over.”
He argued that every penny that goes to subsidy payment is a penny away from constructing roads, schools, hospitals and other amenities with a direct and more significant impact on the citizens.
He further argued that oil subsidy is a suckhole that devoured trillions of naira with very little to show for it.
According to him, progress will not be achieved in Nigeria if the government continues sacrificing other investments to carry the burden of oil subsidy payments.
“For Nigeria to grow, the oil subsidy must go. It is that simple,” the presidential media aide concluded.
