The former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has warmed Nigerians not to vote for any politician who claims that everything will be easy once elected.
Speaking on Saturday at the closing ceremony of the 7th edition of the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said politicians must prepare the minds of citizens for tough decisions.
“Please let me request from our politicians. You must prepare the minds of Nigerians for difficult decisions,” he said.
“Anybody who tells you that it is going to be easy, please don’t vote for him. It is either he is lying to you or he doesn’t know what job he is going to get.
“You cannot with this level of debt service, with this level of collapse in revenue, with this level of poverty, you cannot take corrective decisions. Tariffs on the electricity sector will have to be corrected. Tariffs in the oil sector have to be corrected.
“But before we correct that, we have to deal with the opportunities for rent-seeking. You have to close off the inflated numbers, the false numbers.”
On the issue of petrol subsidy the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and vice chairman, Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency, Lamido Sanusi, said the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company that Nigeria consumes 66 million litres of fuel daily is simply “unbelievable.”
Sanusi queried the supposed volume of Nigeria’s daily consumption of petrol adding that whoever the incoming president would be come 2023 would first need to do a high standard audit of every penny spent on the NNPC.
He said, “In 2019, officially we were importing 40 million litres per day. In 2022 officially, we are importing 66 million per day. In three years, we have increased our petrol consumption by 50%.
“Please tell me, is it the population? Is it the number of cars? Just ask yourself if it makes sense that in three years you increase your consumption of petrol by 50%. Are we drinking petrol?
“The NNPC says we are consuming 66 million litres per day, so we are consuming more than Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and others.
“Whoever becomes president in 2023, the first thing they should do is ask the NNPC to document and bring evidence for every dollar they took as subsidy. They must give the ships that came and we can verify from the insurance companies if those ships were in Nigeria on those dates.
“That is what the law says. There must be proof that the product came in, at the price you said you bought it, before you pay subsidy,” he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari last week,during the presentation of N20.51 trillion 2023 budget proposal to the National Assembly,had said the removal of fuel subsidy was the best decision for the country, considering the current economic challenges.
The President was represented at the event in Kaduna by the Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Maryam Katagum.
Also present were the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; Aliko Dangote among others