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Nasarawa gov explains why governors supported subsidy removal
Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, said governors supported the removal of fuel subsidy thinking it will enable them to have sufficient funds to pay salaries.
Sule made this known on Thursday following a meeting between the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, where they publicly supported the removal of subsidy.
During an interview with Channels TV, Sule said the reason governors are backing Tinubu’s decision not to subsidise fuel is that they feel the removal will free up money to fund workers’ wages.
“Now, if you say governors all support it and now you actually cap it up by saying that some states can’t pay salaries. Of course, they must support it thinking that now they would have sufficient funds to do that [pay salaries]. So, that is the reason,” the governor of Nasarawa State said.
Although Sule stated that he has been against subsidy before he entered the public sector, adding that as the managing director of African Petroleum in 2001, he supported the removal of subsidy.
“When I was managing director of African Petroleum in the year 2001, that was when we started the issue of subsidy. I have always supported the removal of subsidies as a professional, as my background because I knew there was too much fraud in it,” he noted.
The governor said there was too much fraud in subsidising fuel in Nigeria as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) can’t determine the volume of consumption within the country.
“As I am talking to you now, NNPC just last week confirmed to us that it is between 65 and 70 million litres. That is what the government is paying. So, I asked the officials of the NNPC, ‘How are you determining this consumption?’ They said, ‘Well, we are determining the consumption by lifting’.
“You are not determining the consumption by actual usage within Nigeria. That is the only way they can do that. If you have a company and have ten petrol stations and you come and they [NNPC] give you ten trucks to take to ten petrol stations. If you take only five and take the remaining five out of the country, they [NNPC] have no way of confirming this,” Sule disclosed.
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