With intermittent hiccups still being experienced in the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country, the Arewa Economic Forum (AEF), a Northern Nigeria economic think-tank and business entrepreneurs, on Thursday asked the Federal Government to immediate reverse the policy on fuel subsidy removal.
The Chairman of the Forum, Ibrahim Shehu Dandakata, who spoke in Abuja on the state of the nation’s economy, said it was time the Tinubu administration rethinks the policy on fuel subsidy removal, as its impact appears to worsening the people’s economic situation.
He said the lack of accountability under the fuel subsidy removal regime and the misplacement of priorities by State governors for were responsible for growing poverty and hunger pervading the country.
“Today, the people of our great nation can hardly feed, buy drugs and other essentials. Due to hyperinflation caused by fuel subsidy removal and free fall of the Naira, our people have to pay more for everything with money that is not even there. Things are assuming the Hobbesian State of Nature in Nigeria where “Life is Brutish, Nasty and Short,” Dandakata said.
Dandakata, who also criticized other government policies, said although Tinubu clearly made his intention to remove fuel subsidy during his electioneering campaigns, what he failed to warn Nigerians of was the unprecedented hardship the decision would bring to the people.
Although fuel subsidy removal resulted in increased monthly allocations shared by the States at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings, the AEF Chairman said this only made more money available to the State governors to play with without this trickling down to the masses.
The governors, he pointed out, are neither investing the increased allocations in areas that would reflate the states’ economy, nor are they committed to providing palliatives for the people.
He said recent analysis of the FAAC allocations showed that some of the states had their allocations increased by up to 90 percent with little or no improvement in the quality of lives of the people.
“We are therefore using this platform to call on President Tinubu to reverse the subsidy removal policy and use the extra money FAAC has been giving to the states to resume paying subsidy on PMS (premium motor spirit). The President should do this urgently if he knows he can’t find a way within the limit of his constitutional powers and political influence to make the governors more accountable to the people,” he said.
Also, Dandakata called on the federal government to establish a proper social register that could be used to distribute food items to vulnerable Nigerians without the involvement of the state governments.
On State Police, Dandakata who said the policy by the President and governors on state policing system to combat the rising insecurity in the country appears a good concept adopted by other nations.
However, he said the idea appears to be empowering State governors with a tool to use for political witch-hunting.
Rather than State police, the AEF leader proposed the revival and expansion of the Police Constabulary, iin addition to the provision the logistics to support security agencies to combat crimes at local levels.
He said the state governments desirous of such policing system at their level should be allowed to provide the missing logistics for it to function well, in terms of operational costs and allowances.
On the foreign exchange crisis, Dandakata urged the federal government to summon adequate political will to arrest the continued free fall of the Naira against the dollar.
“Dollar is not a legal tender in Nigeria. The government should therefore ban the practice of keeping dollars at home or in offices, and clampdown on all hoarders of dollars. The government should also investigate why dollar exchange rates go up after every FAAC meeting,” he said.
Besides, he called for the relevant government agencies to ban the practice of paying for goods and services online in dollars, adding that every transaction must be conducted in Naira as far as it is done by a Nigerian in Nigeria.
“If we don’t stop our obsession with the dollar, and the dollarization of the country’s economy, our Naira will never rise,” he said.
On agriculture, Dandakata said all agricultural facilities by the state governments, including dams and the land should be put to better use, noting that the state governments were doing nothing in the area of irrigation and provision of lands for beneficial farming.
The federal government, he said, should emphasize semi-mechanized farming in its agricultural development plans to create job opportunities for the unemployed and not fully mechanized farming that often renders people jobless and redundant.
On mining, The AEF Chairman said although this was on the exclusive list as the federal government has absolute powers on everything below the surface, the Tinubu administration was yet to come up with any clear-cut plan on artisanal mining which constitutes an untapped area for real, massive job creation.
On education, Dandakata said despite education being acknowledged as the bedrock of society, the government needs to focus on teaching young Nigerians both the hard and soft skills that can give them real sustenance and make them useful to the economy.
“We need to also revert to the use of local languages in teaching. Skills rather than mere certificates should be the priority,” he said.
