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Fuel subsidy a rich man’s scam that cannot be allowed to go on —Sanusi

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24 states sold petrol above fixed price in August —NBS

Sanusi Lamido, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again reiterated his calls for the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, describing it as a rich man’s scam.

In an interview with AriseTv on Friday, Sanusi said that there are powerful persons, posing as oil marketers, who are generating billions just by forging for examples Cargo Manifest for imported petroleum products.

“How do you explain a country that is yet to double its population or number of vehicles in five years recording 100 percent increase in petrol consumption.

“It is clear the petrol consumption number quoted monthly are fabricated, this month Nigeria consumes 55 million, another month 60 million and it keeps increasing, when in 2012 when I was a governor, the country was doing average 33 million liters.

“I can assure you if the federal government can have the political will to remove subsidy, it will eliminate billions in corruptions and save the economy,” he added.

Sanusi, who is a former Emir of Kano, also recalled how Nigerians protested in 2012 when the subsidy was removed.

“Sadly the protest was celebrated but we understood what we’re trying to achieve. The man on the street who on a daily basis struggles to survive continues to suffer for some few privileged to enjoy.

“I can assure you, removing subsidy will only increase inflation by 200 basic points, which is about 2%. What we have today leaving fuel subsidy is people with free money, yet a bag of rice increased from N7,500 in five years to about N30,000.

“I can assure you that paying N300 for fuel is preferable to allowing a few individuals to ruin our economy. Because the trillions of dollars spent to keep petrol costs down are no longer sustainable,” the economist and banker stated.

Read also: Appointing incompetent persons into office is worst form of corruption —Emir Sanusi

Ripples Nigeria cursory look at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) data shows payment for petrol subsidy has soared by 307.11 percent within the first six months of 2021.

According to breakdown, NNPC spent N25.37 billion on petrol subsidy in January, which increased by 196 percent to N75.13 billion in February.

In March, the petrol subsidy bill increased by 49 percent to N111.97 billion, thereafter increasing by 12 percent to N126.30 billion in April 2021.

In May, N164.337 billion was spent and another N103.286 billion in June.

As a consequence of the payments, the NNPC has been largely unable to fully remit its ‘calendared projected monthly contribution of N209 billion to the joint account since February, with the worst case being in April when it remitted zero amount to FAAC.

In fact, NNPC recently revealed that there was another deduction of N215 billion petrol subsidy from July FAAC.

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