Vice-chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Prof. Femi Mimiko, representing Ondo state, has suggested that ownership and development of Sea Ports in the country be put on concurrent list to enable both the federal government and state governments develop and own seaports, saying that he was in support of subsidy removal.
He also said the subsidy on oil by the federal government was “a huge infrastructure of corruption in the country.”
Mimiko made the suggestions during the debate on the recommendations of the Confab Committee on Public Finance.
He said: “I support removal of fuel subsidy. On this, I find it difficult to understand the argument of those who want subsidy to be sustained. It is evident that fuel subsidy in this country is a huge infrastructure of corruption.
“I then wonder why those who in one breadth decry corruption would at another, defend or argue for the retention of a clear infrastructure of corruption. As things are now, it is evident that the fuel subsidy regime has failed. It does not favour the poor; constraints development of our oil refining capacity; and promotes corruption.”
But in her contribution, the leader of Women Lawyers in Nigeria under the aegis of International Federation of Women Lawyers (IFWL), Mrs. Hauwa Shekarau, said “no to oil subsidy removal.”
She supported the recommendation for budget mix of 60 per cent for capital expenses and 40 per cent for recurrent expenses.
“This will help to address the huge infrastructure gap that we are experiencing in the country,” the FIDA national president said.
She said the Fiscal Responsibility Act should be enshrined in the constitution, adding that there was the need “to put in place and strictly enforce the legal framework that compels action and budget preparation and approval to be made and concluded before a fixed date and before the ending of the year.”
According to Shekarau, the Fiscal Responsibility Act should be enshrined in the constitution. adding that there was need “to put in place and strictly enforce the legal framework that compels action and budget preparation and approval to be made and concluded before a fixed date and before the ending of the year.”