Muhammad Sanusi II, Emir of Kano and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the removal of the petrol subsidy saved Nigeria from bankruptcy.
Sanusi spoke on Saturday at the second edition of the Kano
International Poetry Festival (KAPFEST), organised by the Poetic Wednesdays
Initiative.
The monarch said the subsidy regime was unsustainable,
noting that it placed the burden of fluctuating global oil prices, exchange
rates, transportation costs and refining expenses entirely on government
coffers.
“Subsidy was simply the government saying, ‘If the price of
petrol is N100, Nigerians will pay N70 and I will pay N30,’” he said.
“But beyond that, the government also placed a hedge—fixing
petrol at N65 per litre irrespective of whether the international price of oil
was $10 or $100 per barrel. Who paid the difference? The government. And this
was always going to bankrupt Nigeria.”
Sanusi faulted successive administrations for failing to
repair local refineries, saying subsidies only enriched foreign refineries
while exporting Nigerian jobs.
“If you look at the billions and billions spent on subsidy
and imagine that money invested in refineries, Nigeria would not be where it is
today,” he said.
“I have nothing against subsidies if you are subsidising
production. My objection has always been subsidy on consumption.”
The emir recalled that during his tenure as CBN governor in
2012, he had warned against continuing with subsidies, likening Nigeria’s path
to “a man running towards a ditch”.
“Government revenue could no longer carry the subsidy
burden. At some point, we began borrowing to pay the subsidy, then borrowing to
service the debt. It became unsustainable. That is exactly what I said would
happen, and this is where we are,” he added.
He added that the policy should be seen not only as an
economic adjustment but also as an opportunity to rebuild a stronger,
self-reliant nation.
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