September 05, (THEWILL) – The Director-General of the Global Initiatives for Good Governance (GIGG), Dr Emeka Kalu, has observed that it is now obvious that the removal of fuel subsidy has done more harm than good to the nation as the citizens hopelessly struggle to make ends meet.
In an official statement issued on Thursday to journalists, Dr Kalu pointed out that Tuesday’s hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petroleum, is the height of insensitivity and elevation of poverty by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.
Kalu warned that the hike would further lead to the collapse of the economy, which had been down in the last 16 months since the assumption of office of President Bola Tinubu.
The GIGG Director also emphasised that the hike showed the Federal Government’s cluelessness in addressing Nigerians’ plights, regretting that since the emergence of APC in 2015, the nation’s economy had gravely suffered a huge setback and nearing total collapse.
Kalu lamented that the immediate past government of Gen. Muhammed Buhari (Rtd), which handed over power to Tinubu in eight years, failed to attract basic infrastructural development positively.
Rather, he said the government flopped diversification and economic investment to the point that the nation’s financial economy experienced cracks and noticeable retrogression.
He said, “The sudden increase in the fuel pump price by the APC-led Federal government has among other things driven in the rust nails of her shaky, clueless and lopsided leadership that has seriously continued to frustrate Nigerians whose commonwealth is being carelessly looted and misappropriated.
“Highly regrettable that since the emergence of the All Progressive Congress and its coming to power in 2015, the nation’s economy had gravely suffered a huge setback if not total collapse.
“Today, the removal of fuel subsidies has obviously done more harm than good to the nation as the citizens hopelessly struggle to make both ends meet.”
He emphasised that the World Bank reports had named Nigeria as the third country in the world with a high debt profile, with the risks of becoming the most debtor nation in the world if swift actions were not taken to rejuvenate the crumbling economic structures.
Kalu pointed out that Bill Gates, an American financial and investment giant, had invested the sum of $2.8 billion to revolutionise Nigeria’s healthcare while advising the government to focus on actions capable of bettering the lives of its citizens.
He warned that the current hardship being experienced by Nigeria may last for long despite the assurances of the Federal Government that the economy would receive a boost soon.
He added: “The problem with Nigeria according to one of the late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s quotes remains ‘bad leadership’ and this social stigma has mercilessly eaten deep into the nation’s fabrics. Consider the high rate of insecurity across the nation as innocent Nigerians are being attacked, kidnapped and killed on a daily basis while the government is also busy chasing protesters who carried out their civic and constitutional rights under democracy.
“Plateau State communities are currently under siege by insurgents, a police divisional headquarters in Imo State was recently attacked and lives were lost. Serial kidnappers mount our various inter-state roads, capturing helpless citizens like rats and demanding ransoms to be paid while the government remains busy relieving public servants of their offices and giving portfolios to those, she feels are their loyalists at the expense of the established principle of federal character system in Nigeria”, he added in the statement.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
