Former Kano Emir Sanusi is one of the key architects of fuel subsidy removal which has caused unbearable hardship to poor Nigerians. He religiously promoted and campaigned for the removal of fuel subsidy over several decades using his clout and made sure it was removed. Nigerians are now in an entangled cycle of hardship and poverty as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy orchestrated by former Emir Sanusi and Co.Â
It is disappointing that former Emir Sanusi being an economist, couldn’t really anticipate and understand the impact the removal of fuel subsidy will have on inflation and the purchasing power of poor Nigerians. He couldn’t decipher the untold hardship a one-off removal of fuel subsidy will have on the poor and struggling families. Former Emir Sanisi didn’t really understand that removing fuel subsidy in one-go will lead to a rise in the cost of goods and services which will spike inflation as we have seen since May 29th 2023 when fuel subsidy was removed.
A phased gradual removal of fuel subsidy would have been more humane as it will lessen the economic hardship it will cause.
If the problem of fuel subsidy is corruption, why not deal with corruption and gradually remove fuel subsidy such that it will not destroy families as is the case today? Why is emir Sanusi not criticising government’s humongous recurrent expenditure and other financial leakages but kept criticising fuel subsidy until he got it removed?
Will the economic situation in Nigeria ever improve and return to normal after the removal of fuel subsidy? Will the cost of a mudu of rice ever go back to N600? The answer to both questions is NO.
To date, no marketer has been convicted or even prosecuted for fuel subsidy fraud. This is an outrage!
In 2012, the House of Representatives constituted a committee to probe fuel subsidy. At the end of the day, the chairman of the committee Faruk Lawan ended up in jail because the marketers set him up and turned the rude against him while no marketer was prosecuted or convicted. Nigeria’s government is too weak to prosecute fuel subsidy thieves and the judiciary is busy attending to election petitions while no fuel subsidy thief or bandit who are on a daily spree of killing innocent farmers have ever been prosecuted
Why punish the poor because subsidy is a fraud? Why not arrest and prosecute the corrupt marketers and the equally corrupt government officials working in cahoots with them to steal money through fuel subsidy?
The essence of government is for subsidy and to make life bearable to the poor. Not to make life unbearable to the poor in the name of ‘removing fuel subsidy to check corruption’
The former emir Sanusi has been campaigning for the removal of fuel subsidy since I can remember but even as an economist, he has never for once anticipated this level of hardship the removal will cause to the already struggling families. Sanusi actually lobbied President Tinubu to remove fuel subsidy if he wins the elections (which he did). ‘You must remove the fuel handouts’ he yelled referring to fuel subsidy
Now former emir Sanusi is attributing the current hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy as ‘an act of God’
The rest is history
For how long are the poor going to be taken for a ride? Time shall tell!
