By Ogaga Ariemu
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, on Saturday, has urged incoming government to probe the oil subsidy regime under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
Sanusi made this disclosure in Kaduna State, on the occasion of the 7th edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KSIPA).
He said there must be accountability and transparency in public finance if Nigeria must survive.
He noted that no government has the moral right to impose hardship on Nigerians.
Sanusi told all 2023 presidential candidates to prepare their minds for tough times.
He also decries untamed oil theft, Nigeria’s rising debt profile, unbalanced subsidy payment and soaring foreign exchange, amongst other monetary and economic challenges facing Nigeria at the moment.
According to him, “My advice for incoming government is to probe all documents of oil subsidy. There must be document and evidence for every Dollar spent on oil subsidy. They must give account of the ship(s) that came, and we must verify from insurance companies if those ships were in Nigeria on that date. Before you pay subsidy the laws says there must be proof at the price you claim it was brought in. Until we bring credibility and transparency to public finance, no government has the moral right to impose hardship on Nigerians.
They’ve suffered enough. But if we deal with the rent seeking and close the gaps, then we can ask Nigerians to make sacrifices, we have made sacrifices but we’ve to make sacrifice to reset this Country.
“Those that want to contest election, I wish you all the best, but prepare your minds that it is not going to be rosy. It is not going to be a popular job. Populism destroys a nation. You’ve to take decision that unpopular. If whenever you take decision, because you want to win election, you will never do the right thing. So you will have to take difficult decision, and try to explain to Nigerians as much as possible, but this decision is absolutely necessary if this country must survive”, he said.