…Says some people in power making billions of dollars from it
In the last seven months, petrol subsidy payments gulped N714 billion, reduced monthly revenue accrued to the federation account.
Fuel subsidy, also known as under-recovery, is the underpriced sales of premium motor spirit , otherwise known as petrol.
Speaking during a television programme on Friday, Sanusi said successive administrations continue with fuel subsidy payments despite damage to the nations revenue and economy.
The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor argued that the economic reality of the country is a product of some negative decisions taken by successive administrations.
Sanusi said that the first problem of the country in terms of management of its petroleum resources is the assumption that Nigeria is an oil-rich country.
He further said that it does not make sense to think Nigerians need more cheap fuel when there are other basic things like healthcare, infrastructure, electricity and telecommunications.
These people (referring to the locals) need education, they need healthcare, they need infrastructure, they need electricity, they need telecommunications, they need agriculture and you decide that what they need more than anything else is cheap fuel. That does not make sense.
He argued that successive administrations continue payment of fuel subsidies because some people in power are making billions of naira from the scheme.
He also alleged that most of the numbers from the countrys importation of petrol are ‘phantom’, stressing that ‘a lot of the petroleum subsidy that is allegedly being paid is from phantom fuel that never came into this country’.
The only reason it makes sense is that there are a number of people who control the levers of power that are making billions and billions of dollars out of this scam that is called fuel subsidy.
Otherwise, there is no reason why government after government will continue with it when the argument is clear that the damage to the economy is clear”, he stressed.
We have this scheme called the subsidy, which is really a scam, and practically everything that comes in, goes right back out to import petroleum products and pay subsidies on those products. Im not saying subsidies, by itself is bad, but look at the numbers.
