Stanley Osifo, a former presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election, has called on Nigerians to view the economic reforms of the current administration as a positive step toward national development. In this interview, Osifo expressed the optimism that the ongoing challenges would pave the way for a brighter future for Nigerians. He believes the liberalisation of the oil sector, among other reforms, will significantly reduce corruption and improve the nation’s economic outlook. INIOBONG IWOK brings excerpts:
People accused President Bola Tinubu of not being humane with the way he responded to questions on his economic reforms during the presidential chat and that he should have come up with alternatives; what’s your view on this?
He that wears the cap knows where it fits and he that wears the shoe knows where it pinches. President Bola Tinubu is in-charge and he knows what he is doing. The way they see it is not the way it is when you are there.
For President Tinubu to say that he has no regret about his actions shows that he must have had a deep thought before the removal of fuel subsidy. We always had issues about fuel every December as people found it difficult to move from one place to another. We usually had long queues of vehicles at filling stations and it was always difficult for people to get fuel products during Christmas and New Year celebrations. There was nothing like that last year and this year. I feel strongly that it is because of the liberalisation of the oil sector and the subsidy which was used to siphon government funds was stopped and that has helped. The only thing we should talk about now is for us to move forward as a nation. If fuel subsidy brought in some economic adjustments and increase in prices of goods and services, we should understand that it’s a matter of time, most of these things would still get better.
But it is believed that the stampedes that led to deaths of about 70 Nigerians in Ibadan, Abuja and Anambra were as a result of hunger in the land?
People complain that there is hunger in the land, but I can remember that when we were growing up, we used to talk about hunger in the land.
I don’t know when it would abate, but rather than talking about hunger, let us do things that would fetch us resources to be able to tackle hunger in the land. As a human being, when you are faced with challenges, you should think of how to get out of it. On the issue of hunger, let us not fold our hands and think that mana would fall from heaven, it’s not going to happen. Even in developed world, they still have issues of hunger. Most of what we talk about here is not worse than what they have there. I believe that the hardship that we talk about can be reduced if we all get something tangible doing.
In 2024, Nigerians experienced high inflation, scarcity and all sorts of things, how would you describe the results of the economic reforms of this government?
The fuel subsidy removal is a systematic process. It was something that was already proposed and they announced the removal. If you subsidise anything it would be cheaper, but when the subsidy is removed, the whole thing would come to the people, which was why prices of goods and services went up. People are clamouring for fuel subsidy to be returned, I don’t think this is possible because of the large scale of corruption that is involved.
It was because of the fuel subsidy removal that prices of goods and services went up. We know that fuel subsidy affects all these things, but the government is working to see how this can be addressed. One of the things the government has done is to get the refineries to work, they introduced Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and this is cheaper. A lot of things have been introduced by the government to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
Still in 2024, we had increase in electricity tariff and people feel that this should have been postponed; don’t you think the new tariff is an error at this time?
Electricity tariff is high, you know when you procrastinate, the problem remains, but when you take a bold step and take action on what to do, you would move forward. To stimulate the power sector, the government decided to support hike in electricity tariff as demanded by the Distribution Companies (DISCOs), Generation Companies (GENCOs) and others for the purposes of generating revenue. It’s not a flat rate, we have Band A, Band B, Band C and others. There are different prices for the different bands, some bands are still cheap. It is for the improvement of the power sector and I think there have been some improvements in that sector. I don’t think there is any mistake or error in that. A lot of people were against it, but it was agreed that it should be implemented and people kicked against it, that was why the government based it on different bands.
If you are on Band A and you are not getting electricity up to 20 hours in a day, you have right to complain to your service provider. Also, the reform included that anyone can go into power production without any hindrance unlike when everybody depended on the government.
I think with the new electricity law and the reform that came actually made the sector better. Some states now have their own electricity companies such as Enugu and Edo, where they generate and distribute electricity. The Federal Government is trying to make electricity available in every part of the country. That is why the new rate was adopted, and they gave states power to generate their own electricity.
The government came up with tax reforms again, when people are against it because of the economy, don’t you think the government should think twice on this?
We have different types of taxes; we have income tax, revenue taxes and different kinds of taxes. The one we are talking about is the tax reform bill, it says if you produce more and you consume more you will pay taxes and you will get more taxes from the government.
It will let the people know that they need to do more. To that extent the tax reform is not as bad as the people think, they should get to understand it and know how it works. It would help the people to generate more and by that time some states would tell some companies to relocate to their states so that they get taxes from them.
What do you think the government should take as their priority to ameliorate the suffering in the land?
I said in one of my interviews about the budget for the year 2025, before it was presented to the National Assembly that it would do many things and that was what the president mentioned in the assembly. I said it would improve national development, security, education, health and these got the last chunk of the budget. We know the threat that security poses on the nation such as in the north and in the south east. It is not a dysfunctional plan; it was designed in such a way that we will see a lot of improvements in the lives of the people.
Are we going to have a new lease of life with the 2025 budget or is it struggle continues?
There is no country in the world where struggle has ended. There was a protest in the United Kingdom, and even in the United States of America (USA), people took to the streets after COVID-19. Life is about struggle, you wake up in the morning, you struggle, you go out, you struggle. For some people to eat, they struggle, they move around, they struggle, if they speak, they struggle, it depends on what you are talking about. But with the plans of the government, it would be better than what we have experienced in the past.
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