President Bola Tinubu has been recommended by the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) to increase subsidies in other important economic areas rather than eliminating fuel subsidies.
CACOL also encouraged Tinubu to offer workable answers to Nigeria’s many problems, such as the establishment of food banks and the development of marketing boards for farmers.
This information was released by the anti-corruption organization on Wednesday in a statement from Tola Oresanwo, director of administration and programs.
“We would like to advise Mr. President not to come in to cause agony and increase the level of misery of the people, the majority of whom are already living below the poverty line and who are also looking up to him to propose solutions to the myriad of problems facing the country,” it said in part.
“Moreover, the promise of renewed hope would have been eroded if the President carries out his planned suspension of the fuel subsidy regime removal.
“Instead of removing the subsidy on micro products like fuel, he should rather extend the subsidy to other products like foodstuff, the government should create food banks and produce marketing boards to receive all that farmers especially other food producers harvested from their farms and buy at profitable rates and sell back to the masses at subsidies rates.”
As he stated, “He should also ensure that another way of compensating the poor for the crimes of the rich is to ensure that public education system is completely free from the nursery level to first degree level and other levels of education (from Masters’ to Ph.D level) should be generally available to those who can afford it.” Oresanwo also urged the President to prioritize education by making it free and accessible to Nigerians.
As a result, he voiced his displeasure with the announcement of the removal of fuel subsidies, saying, “We are particularly disappointed that Mr. President carried out his threat to remove fuel subsidies without adequate consultations with the various stakeholders and without considering the implications of the decision on the small scale enterprises and the majority of our people who have been impoverished by the misgovernance imposed upon them by successive governments in the past.”
