Peter Obi: Fuel Subsidy Was Criminal
By PHC Telegraph
Peter Obi speaking on the Morning Show broadcast by Arise Television on Monday.
Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi has restated that the fuel subsidy regime operated in the country for years was more of an organized crime against the nation.
Obi who appeared on the Morning Show broadcast by Arise on Monday said there were grave distortions in Nigeria’s fuel consumption rate prior to the removal of subsidy
“Fuel subsidy is organized crime”, Obi said for emphasis, stressing that “Since subsidy was removed, our consumption has dropped by more than half.”
He however said that he would have preferred the removal of the criminal practices which had created a pathway for corruption as a first step towards the careful removal of subsidy.
It is still not too clear what the intention of the Morning Show crew was in bringing Obi on set, but many media practitioners in Port Harcourt who monitored the programme Monday, said it was more of a PR stunt.
Obi who apparently appeared to read from a script while looking downwards most the time away from the camera stationed before him, accused the Tinubu administration of suffering from what he referred to as the “announcement effect.”
The presidential candidate already in court appealing against the recent judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court said the rush to make announcements has resulted in haphazard government decisions.
He said a consultation with opinion leaders and other stakeholders would have been absolutely necessary before the removal of subsidy.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu still on the saddle despite attempts by his opponents to kick him out of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Asked if he would wish to participate in the Tinubu administration, the Labour Party candidate did not say yes or no, but he noted that he was challenging the basis of Tinubu’s declaration as President of Nigeria.
Obi criticized the government’s naira float policy saying “Nobody floats his currency without having supply.”
He said he would have favoured the devaluation of the naira while working on a strategy that would stabilize the economy and promote Nigerian exports.
The former Anambra State Governor hoped that the new CBN team would focus strictly on evolving monetary policies that would arrest the economic drift and place Nigeria on a path of growth.
Obi refused to answer a question which was designed to establish if he would have borrowed money to stabilise both the economy and the value of the naira.
He rather spoke extensively on the effect of oil theft on Nigeria’s foreign earnings and the impact that it is having on her foreign reserve.
According to him, Nigeria is losing approximately U$D30 million daily as a result of the activities of oil thieves who are carting about 400,000 barrels of oil per day.
On the Nigerien coup, Obi who likes to talk on what he could have done differently said while he does not support the takeover of government by the military, he would not subscribe to the idea of Nigeria fighting an external war.
He said Nigeria is fighting “a war at home”, arguing that going “to war externally” would not make sense.