Sowore noted that to justify the implementation of the removal of the fuel subsidy, the government keeps blaming elites who corruptly benefited from the programme, but failed to produce anyone or even prosecute them for the crime of stealing $10 billion annually.
Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, has said that if the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu’s government was the answer to the economic challenges, Nigerians would not experience the biting hardship and inflation currently playing out.
Sowore noted that to justify the implementation of the removal of the fuel subsidy, the government keeps blaming elites who corruptly benefited from the programme, but failed to produce anyone or even prosecute them for the crime of stealing $10 billion annually.
He stated these in an elaborate interview with Daily Sun which was published on Saturday.
Speaking on the removal of fuel subsidy, the AAC candidate said, “My views have remained the same for over 30 years; that the subsidy as it was being run was the public welfare programme for the elite, and that the Nigerian people were really not being subsidised as claimed. The arguments every regime, military and civilian, have tendered over 30 years now are the same. One is that subsidies encourage corruption, second is that they would save money being used for subsidy and invest it in public infrastructure, education, health and create employment.
“If the removal of subsidies was intended to make life better for Nigerians, the facts playing out before our eyes show that this is not the case. Costs have increased almost three fold, and this has led to price inflation across many sectors.
“What is being done to address the pains that this is imposing on the Nigerian people? Why are we punishing the victims of the corruption in the implementation of the subsidy programme? We keep hearing about elites who corruptly benefited from the programme, yet this government has failed to produce even one person who is part of that elite. They are yet to prosecute anyone for the unconscionable crime perpetrated against the Nigerian people of stealing $10 billion annually.”
Also when asked to comment on the students’ loan bill signed into law by President Tinubu, Sowore added, “You could tell that they didn’t even understand the concept of students’ loan. They rolled out a student loan programme with so many conditionalities. It was clear almost no one would qualify for it. After great uproar, just this week, they are now saying it is loans without conditionalities attached to it. It is important to let Nigerians know that loaning funds to get educated could only lead to literacy without education. It is an additional burden that Nigerian youths don’t need.
“A government must invest in its youth. How much are we spending on education? What is the justification for allocating a National Assembly with just 469 people a budget of N70 billion – just for repairs, that is N149 million per person, while almost 100 million Nigerian youths are allocated an educational budget of N1 trillion – which amounts to just N10,000 per student. As for these loans, how would the students even pay back, when unemployment remains in double digits and it takes about four to five years for graduates to find jobs?
“It is interesting that those who are defunding Nigerian education and advocating student loans have all stolen Nigeria’s money and have used it to educate their own children overseas. Are their own children taking student loans in their universities in the UK and the US? No. Nigeria’s stolen funds are paying for their loan-free schooling.”