News : Presidency: Time to remove fuel subsidy fully

 

Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Ahmed Ali Gulak, has said that Nigerians have seen the need for the removal of fuel subsidy.

Gulak said: “It has now dawned on everybody that we cannot continue to sustain this subsidy.”

Gulak stated this in Abuja when he received in audience members of the Initiative for Diaspora Knowledge Transfer (IDKT), led by its Chairman and Global Coordinator, Prince Chidi Ibe, who said the modules developed by IDKT is capable of changing a lot of misconceptions about the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Gulak said Ibe has been part of the journey of Jonathan’s presidency since 2010 when the project of Goodluck Jonathan was started and subsequently, Goodluck/Sambo.

He said: “Mr. President is hungry for development,” adding: “That is the more reason Mr. President has always said that it is better for Nigeria as a country to deploy our resources to productive sector, rather than consumption.”

Gulak further said: “Take for instance, in January, Mr. President said we have to do away with this fuel subsidy of a thing and most people did not take it the way we saw it and there was a protest all over the country.”

He said it has now dawned on everybody that the country cannot continue to sustain the subsidy regime, which forces Nigeria to continue to spend over N1 trillion on consumption.

He added that if the country had been deploying the resources to productive sectors such as agriculture “where youths will be employed, like railway system where they will have the cheapest mode of transportation, like our public works, it will be better for this country than subsidizing petrol consumption that will be available to a section of the community.”

Gulak promised to look into the modules earlier presented by Ibe and his team, especially the trade and agricultural aspect, where Ibe spoke about the cluster.

He said he would refer Ibe to the appropriate Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to see what the government can tap from Ibe’s knowledge.

Speaking with Saturday Sun, Ibe said his purpose of visiting the Office of the Political Adviser to the President was to tell the government that IDKT has quick-fix projects that the government could adopt to show it is working.

Ibe said: “The modules are things that are also job-creating, job-oriented modules that we have. We want the political office to push it to the administration to come up with quick-fix projects that the people will really appreciate.”

While saying that his initiative was hinged on transformation, Ibe further said: “We believe that you can’t leave everything to government to do. So, we bring our own ideas to support the government so that the government can tap knowledge from what has happened in other economies so that the government will be able to further their own development.”