National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the eventual removal of fuel subsidy has become inevitable in view of emerging and current realities.
He described fuel scarcity across the country as a “national disgrace.”
Oyegun, who made the disclosure when he received a delegation of the APC National Coalition for Peace and Mobilization (NACOPEAM) on a courtesy visit to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, stated that the current administration inherited an infected system of subsidy run by corrupt cartels.
His words: “Let me re-emphasis that this administration inherited an infected system of subsidy run by corrupt cartels. In one way or the other, subsidy must go. A situation where government spends almost N1 trillion yearly on the corruption-tainted subsidy regime is unacceptable and can no longer be sustained.”
Speaking further, the APC boss argued that oil cartels and their cronies resisting change have continued to blackmail and sabotage government on the issue of subsidy, a development that has resulted in the lingering nationwide fuel scarcities despite serious government efforts.
Earlier, NACOPEAM National President, Ahmed Saleh said the fuel scarcity has impacted negatively on the party, stressing that the unbearable fuel queues in filling stations is, indeed, avoidable.
Regardless, former Aviation minister, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari’s N6.07 trillion 2016 budget.
He said it is fueled by “insincerity, shrouded in fantasy, built on tall dreams and spawned by deceit, ignorance and the illusion of change. It is bloated, unrealistic, expensive, cosmetic and it will not result in anything good. In order to fund part of the budget the government intends to borrow money and this will throw our country into even greater debt. What a tragedy this is given the fact that, in 2007, Nigeria was debt-free.
“The Buhari administration is spending money like a drunken sailor and they are borrowing as if there is no tomorrow, mortgaging the future of our nation and our children, We need far more fiscal discipline and seriousness than that if our government really wishes to improve the economy and better the lives of ordinary people.
“Meanwhile, Buhari’s government has said former president Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for today’s long fuel queues even though he left office seven months ago…
“Had it not been for their pettiness, lack of understanding, shortsightedness and double standards, the subsidy would have been removed three years ago and fuel queues would have been a thing of history…” Fani-Kayode said.
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