A presidential aspirant in last April’s general election, Professor Pat Utomi, has decried Federal Government’s plans to remove subsidy on petroleum products.
According to Prof. Utomi, Nigeria consume a little less than half the amount of fuel imported.
Utomi, in an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, expressed worry over the way governments spent money. He said: “A few years ago, my anxiety was how governments squandered billions on projects with outcomes so disastrous that Nigeria trails most African countries.
“A politics of care will suggest that it is reckless to talk about removing any such thing as subsidy, that will mean taking money from citizens and handing over to government, without dealing decisively with those scheming off billions of this subsidy.”
On power, Utomi urged the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, to do more in ensuring that Nigeria joined its counterparts in having constant and reliable power supply, which is the most need of Nigerians.
He said: “A leading Goldman Sachs Executive, while making a few remark about this country said it is amazing that Nigeria is celebrating 4,000 megawatts of power possibility when South Africa is looking past 44,000 megawatts, with a population a fraction of Nigeria.”
Commenting on the orgy of violence in Nigeria, Utomi noted that the despair of young people who, five years after graduation, should bother the political class and Nigerians in general.
According to Utomi, activities of the Nigeria banking regulators have not been favourable to the Nigerian economy.
In his words: “I believe poor superintending of Nigeria’s banking regulators could have resulted, in two decades, for progress of the Nigerian economy.
“When we sum up job losers, lost development from a more sure footed financial sector going wobbly, we may see prolonged unemployment as a consequent of not being more measured in pursuit of reform objectives.”
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