Don’t share subsidy money to State Governors — Shehu Sani urges Tinubu
…Says use subsidy money for what Nigerians can see
By Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna
Former Kaduna Lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has called on President Bola Tinubu not to share subsidy money to state governments for any reason.
Sani, who represented Kaduna Central senatorial district in the 8th Assembly, made the call in Kaduna on Thursday during interaction with newsmen, said though he is of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and in full support of the removal of subsidy because Nigeria cannot continue to borrow money to pay oil marketers.
Senator Sani advised that instead of giving the money to state governors who may not be able to give account of the fund, President Tinubu should use it for infrastructure so that Nigerians can see the dividends attached to the removal of the subsidy.
He said, “I cannot count the number of times I have been on the street protesting against the removal of fuel subsidy in the last 35-years.
“Any time the government tries to remove subsidy, we come out to protest. But a time came where we asked ourselves why should government continue to partner with such project and pay huge amount of money to anonymous individuals that call themselves oil marketers?
“Subsidy begins with millions, to billions, all the way to hundred of billions and now we are talking of trillions and it reached a point where we had to now borrow money in the name of subsidy to subsidise fossil fuel.
“I want a Nigeria where we can explore our oil, refine it and make it available to ourselves not a Nigeria where we will have the blessing of crude oil in our land and it becomes a curse on us that we have to pay some persons in the name of subsidy; people who do nothing else than to import petroleum products into the country.
“This time around, many of us no longer align ourselves with subsidy because I see it as a fraud. I’m a layman but they are pushing my heart. We don’t produce television in Nigeria. LG or Samsung, we import them from China. But why is it that the price of 42 or 50 inches is the same in Kano and Asaba. Who is subsidising the transportation from Asaba to Maiduguri or Adamawa? I want to know. Government is not subsidising.
“So I am of the new thinking that government should not pay any individual or company subsidy and use the resources for things we can see, use the money to link rails from one state to another. Use the money to ensure that there is good road network in the whole federation, use the money to rebuild our schools, furbish primary health care, this should be the dividends of the removal of fuel subsidy.
“But what the new government did, we cannot even call it removal of subsidy because the budget of 2023 does not capture money for subsidy. The Buhari’s administration never made provision for 2023 subsidy budget which starts from May. So there is no money to even pay for the subsidy,” he added.
