The presidency said on Sunday that Nigeria’s N5.4 trillion savings from subsidy removal would be deployed to develop infrastructure and social intervention programmes to benefit Nigerians.
Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to the president on information and strategy, stated this in response to the criticism of the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Onanuga, who described the policy alternatives suggested by the former vice president as archaic and unrealistic, stated that the suggested solutions also demonstrated a lack of proper understanding of the level of decay to which Nigeria’s economy had fallen over the years.
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He noted that the country had pursued wrong economic policies for several years, adjusting the pump price of petrol about 22 times, between 1978 and 2020, “instead of implementing outright removal of subsidy which only benefited a few people.”
He described Atiku Abubakar’s criticism of Tinubu’s presidency as “mere hare-brained propositions devoid of realistic alternatives, adding that “ he must reckon with the decades of the mismanaged economy inherited by the current administration, including exorbitant subsidy expenditures far exceeding government earnings from crude oil”
He recalled that by mid-2023, the landing cost of fuel was between N500 and N600, while it was sold nationwide at an average of N200.
“The 2023 budget allocated N3.36 trillion for fuel subsidies until June 2023 against a projected N2.23 trillion in oil revenue for the year. The Nigerian state was on life support.”
“Instead of conjuring imaginary scenarios, we expect the former vice president to engage with these urgent realities.
“The estimated N5.4 trillion savings from subsidy removal in 2024 are being actively directed toward infrastructure development and social intervention programmes, initiatives that will benefit all tiers of government and enhance Nigerians’ quality of life.”
“We expect Atiku to commend what the Tinubu administration has done concerning revenue generation for the federation. Without factoring in oil sales, revenue proceeds generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service almost doubled in the first half of 2024, compared with the level Tinubu met in 2023. The states and councils are more prosperous because of it, as many states have increased the minimum wage for their workers to between N70,000 and N85,000”
Onanuga, who also stated that Atiku’s economic analysis demonstrates a significant misunderstanding of Nigeria’s realities, said the proposition, “What We Would Have Done Differently,” indicates an inability to engage with the pressing economic realities being revitalised multidimensionally under President Tinubu’s leadership.”
“It is perplexing that he would elevate his untested, hypothetical proposal, which Nigerians rejected during the 2023 presidential election, and seek to present it as a superior alternative to the multi-faceted reform programmes implemented by the Tinubu administration.
“If his plan lacked popular appeal, he must acknowledge that merely repackaging it will not resolve the social and economic challenges his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) bequeathed after 16 years in power.
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Also reacting to Atiku’s proposal to privatise the four government-owned refineries, Onanuga noted that they “collectively can only meet a fraction of the nation’s daily fuel consumption when activated, lacks originality”
He also recalled how in 2007, investors were only willing to offer $160 million for 51 percent equity in the Port Harcourt Refinery, while the Kaduna Refinery had an offer of $102 million.
“According to industry experts and the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, who cancelled the sale of the refineries by the Obasanjo-Atiku government, the offered bids were considered scrap value.”
Onanuga, while also responding to Atiku’s allegations of corruption within the NNPC, added that “the fuel subsidy has historically been the leading corruption enabler in the state-owned oil company. President Tinubu’s removal of this subsidy eliminated the most significant incentive for corruption within the NNPC.
“During his eight-year tenure as Vice President, Atiku and his boss had an opportunity to address this issue but failed to make any significant reforms in the oil sector.
“In any case, is it not ironic that an Atiku, who was entangled in corruption allegations, including one in which his wife was indicted and his business associate, former US Congressman William Jefferson, was jailed for 13 years, is now talking about corruption matters?
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