The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has indicated its resolve to the removal of fuel subsidies in order to stabilise the fiscal policies of the country.
This was disclosed Wednesday by Adams Oshiomhole, the Deputy Director-General (Operations) of the council, during an interview on AriseTV.
Oshiomhole who is also a former national chairman of the party, said stakeholders should be talking about opportunity costs since the continued payment of fuel subsidies is tantamount to enriching some fraudulent persons.
He tagged the payment of N6 trillion in subsidy payments as “stealing” while adding that the average Nigerian is scared of the consequences of removal and not the removal in itself.
“Regarding subsidy removal, we should be talking about the opportunity cost. When I was the NLC president, we fought against its removal for good reasons and it stood.
“Right now, it stands at N6 trillion which is why I asked myself, who is consuming such amount? This is about fraud and dealing with opportunity cost. We are simply dealing with stealing in the name of subsidy.
“As the government, there must be the courage to admit the limitations of state institutions and it is not that people don’t support subsidy removal, but the consequences of its removal.
“The real devil in the chain is the exchange rate and we need to take a holistic look at the situation, regarding monetary and fiscal policies,” Oshiomhole said.
The Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, in August, said the government was planning to spend N3.35 trillion on subsidy in 2023, which will last till June of that year.
(Ripples Nigeria)
