Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has reiterated his support for the removal of petrol subsidy.
Obi spoke on Monday at a conference organised by the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.
“I subscribe and maintain that you need to remove subsidy.
Mismanagement of the proceeds shouldn’t be the reason for not removing it,” the
former governor of Anambra said.
“What we should have done is that when we removed the
subsidy, we would have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy.
“What we have today is that, that removal and the attendant
resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen. For example, we
have received, according to them, N16 trillion.”
Obi said in his leadership blueprint for Nigeria, he had
planned to remove the subsidy “in an organised manner”, such that whatever is
recovered would be invested appropriately in the country for the benefits of
the masses.
‘SUBSIDY REMOVAL SAVING COULD HAVE BENEFITTED NIGERIANS’
While criticising the current administration for not
effectively utilising the gains from subsidy removal, Obi said the funds could
have been used to improve healthcare.
“The number one thing a nation needs to develop is health.
But today, our health is very poor, our primary care is very poor, where we are
now, we have more maternal and child issues than countries like India,” he
said.
The former governor said five percent of the N16 trillion
the government claimed to have saved from subsidy removal could be used to
establish primary healthcare centres across the country.
“Assuming, let me use five percent, you said that they saved
N15.8 trillion. So, according to them, N16 trillion. So, five percent of that
is just about N800 billion,” he said.
“And if today, our biggest problem is the issue of primary
care and you decide to put primary care in each ward, today it will cost you,
from our own studies, an average of N100 million for one.”
The NDC presidential candidate also argued that part of the
N16 trillion subsidy savings could have been used to address kidney-related
health issues in the country.
“If you decide today, we have an issue now with kidney
dialysis. We have over 25 million Nigerians with kidney issues,” Obi claimed.
“To build a kidney centre, you need N200 million. And we
need about a thousand centres when we have less than 200.
“We need about 5,000 machines when we have less than 800. It
costs you N200 million to do a centre, and it costs you exactly N10 million to
buy one machine.”
Obi said the government could also have saved the funds by
adding them to the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
“If they had saved the money and decided to do like any
other country, we would have had $10 billion added to our sovereign wealth
fund, which, if you add it today, we will get about $10 billion every month,
which we can use for a purpose,” he said.
He said Nigerians should not be asked to make sacrifices
while those in government continued to “feast” on public funds.
“So, don’t say because people use the money they are
supposed to utilise very well for party, and you say no, we should bring back,”
Obi said.
“What I’ve said is that people in government have asked
Nigerians to fast. Okay. They cannot be feasting when Nigerians are fasting.”
BACKGROUND
Obi’s remarks came amid growing public debate over the
impact of the petrol subsidy removal since the beginning of the current
administration.
Opposition presidential candidates, including former
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Obi, have in recent weeks criticised the
current administration over the poor utilisation of the subsidy gains.
Atiku, who had reportedly vowed to remove the subsidy if
elected president in the build-up to the 2023 election, however, made a U-turn
last Wednesday.
Speaking during an interview with an ADC media group, Atiku
said he would restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has
failed to account for the funds saved from the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Reacting, Tinubu said Atiku’s proposal showed “serious
ignorance of governance and economy”, noting that before he assumed office,
some states struggled to pay salaries and pensions.
The controversy followed a disclosure by Taiwo Oyedele,
minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, that the removal
of the petrol subsidy mobilised N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation
between June 2023 and December 2025.
Oyedele, who spoke at a media conference in Abuja, however,
said the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while
N10.4 trillion was shared among states and local governments.
He said the savings were reflected in higher revenue
collections, particularly because the naira value of dollar-denominated
transactions increased following the exchange-rate reform.
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