The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has stated that the fuel subsidy should not be removed.
According to him, the removal of the fuel subsidy will only add to the sufferings of Nigerians.
He stated this during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday.
He said the fuel subsidy should not be eliminated and added that the policy was primarily beneficial to the wealthy when asked if he would maintain it despite the potential deficit budget that would be inherited.
“Every country in the world was giving the best to their citizens. Norway has some of the best welfare for its citizens. Like free education, free healthcare. Nigeria is the only country at this level of oil producing stage that is punishing its citizens with the lie of oil subsidy. What has not happened is to have a leadership in place that can check the fraud,” he said.
He also claimed that many of the businesses engaged in Nigeria’s subsidy removal were “scammers.”
“They’ve been proven to be scammers,” he said, adding that many of them were facing international sanctions especially those in Switzerland and other places. “They have been made to pay huge fines to the United States Government when they are not even doing the kind of businesses they are doing in Nigeria,” Sowore claimed.
Sowore further said, “Even when you remove the subsidy, they will figure out a strategy again to come back and say they need more. They are holding the country by the jugular until their hands are being removed and have the country control the resources.”
To follow up on that, he declared he would nationalize the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
“What they parade as subsidy is how the economic cabals in the system have figured out how to get themselves paid for a job not done. Former president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was forced to find out that those who were collecting subsidy were not delivering fuel to Nigeria.
“Those of us who have that experience on the lies that have been told to cover up subsidy know it’s a lie that is being told from time to time,” he added.
