Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and former Governor of Anambra State has insisted that Nigeria must end the “criminality” of fuel subsidy and focus on instruments of job creation and regenerative investments to drastically reduce the high incidence of insecurity and poverty.
Peter Obi disclosed this in a statement on Thursday evening after the Labour Party Summit which took place in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
He added that the staggering corruption has left Nigeria’s education and healthcare in a comatose state.
What Obi is saying
Obi said, “Going forward we must look for ways to move Nigeria beyond oil. We must end this criminality called ‘oil subsidy’. Nigeria today is vastly polarised and wrecked by divisions that run deep along religious, ethnic and regional lines.
“There is a staggering level of corruption. Our universities have remained closed for over five months. While our healthcare system remains comatose, power generation and distribution are also at an all-time low.
“After we win the 2023 elections, we intend to use the instruments of job creation and regenerative investments to drastically reduce the high incidence of insecurity and poverty, while moving the economy from the consumptive to the productive mode.
He said the greatest challenge Nigeria faces beyond bad leadership is lack of elite consensus, citing that History must serve as a tool in his decision-making.
“The implosion of Nigeria has long been forecasted. Year 2023 could be a tipping point in the annals of our history. But that must not happen, even as the options before the electorate seem stark,” he warned.
Going forward, we must look for ways to move Nigeria beyond oil. We must end this criminality called 'oil subsidy'. Nigeria today is vastly polarised and wrecked by divisions that run deep along religious, ethnic and regional lines.
— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) August 11, 2022
What you should know
- Recall Nairametrics reported in June that Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate for the Labour Party stated that he would remove fuel subsidy if elected president of Nigeria in 2023.
- He added that to remove fuel subsidy, Nigerians need to trust their government into passing the cost into areas that affect human development, especially health, education and power.
- In April, following the approval of a revised 2022 budget by the Nigerian Senate, what was amended was an upward review of the budget amount for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy for 2022 by N442.72billion, from N3.557 trillion to N4 trillion.
- The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) reported a record-breaking fiscal deficit of N7.3 trillion in 2021 as actual expenditure of N11.69 trillion vastly exceeded its 2021 generated revenues of N4.39 trillion, for every N4 earned by the Federal government, it spent over N11.
Wow..Mr Obi should be careful oo, Na wetin cabals dey use eat be that oo, you won collect food for their mouth. And you know what that means. I pray God will see you through
IT IS NOT ORIGINAL JUST LIKE Peter Obi HIMSELF WAS NOT.
Every government that has presided over Nigeria has tried to no avail to end the oil subsidy and the reason why they have forever been at loggerheads with the NLC and other trade unions in the country.
Peter Obi SHOULD NOT RUN AWAY WITH THE BELEIVE THAT IT IS INGENUITY AND OR HIS IDEA TO END OIL SUBSIDY IN NIGERIA.
What will the pump prices across varying segments look like suppose there are “no subsidy” and what are the strategies redirecting funds to these other areas and finding new, compelling and insistent revenues across these sectors of the economy putting into consideration the mandatory single identity management objective for service categorization and mapping to citizens and residence at state and federal levels?
What sort of investment alternatives will be available from now to prospective investors and what sort of jobs should seekers be on the look out for and predominantly which sector of the economy will these jobs come from?
Beyond the safety of lives and individual properties expectedly to have been mapped as part of the achievements , how do we intend securing the nation’s Assets?
In the development of a productive economy, what are the strategies to contain the manufacturing challenges faced today by the economy with inflationary impacts and currency stability? Retrospectively, do we look for alternative sources internationally or advocate for local development or should we simply opt in for an hybrid model proportionately for inputs and outputs?