Sanusi insists fuel subsidy was scam

The emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II has revealed that the payment of fuel subsidy was an opportunity to enrich some people at the expense of the country.

Sanusi who served as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan revealed that the whole fuel subsidy payment was a scam as it was presented to favour the poor when actually it was enriching some people.

The Punch reports that the emir said this while delivering a lecture on the Deregulation of the Downstream Oil Sector and Nigeria’s Economic Development at the National Defence College in Abuja on Wednesday, August 3.

Sanusi said the country was losing 20 million Dollars for every 30,000 metric tons of kerosene imported into the country.

President Buhari and Emir Sanusi during the president’s visit to the traditional ruler last year
He said:  “The oil sector is only 15 per cent of GDP, yet oil accounts for 70 per cent of government revenues, oil accounts for 99 per cent of our foreign earnings.

“We got to a point when even though the numbers were staring us in the face, the entire nation was in denial. In 2009 when I became governor of Central Bank, the Nigerian government spent N291 billion that year subsidizing petroleum products.

“Two years later in 2011, N2.13 trillion was spent on the same subsidy, so has our population increased ten fold? It was very clear that this wasn’t oil subsidy; it was a scam.”

“The whole issue of fuel subsidy was set up to create opportunity for a few people to make money, and it was presented in a manner that convinced everybody it was for the poor.

“For every 30,000 metric tons of kerosene imported in the country, the federation account lost 20 million dollars.

“We were importing 6, 7, 8 vessels per month for six years until this subsidy, the federation account was losing from 120 million to 160 million dollars every month. “This is just kerosene, can you imagine a country losing $120 million every month on a non-existent subsidy on Kerosene, not PMS?

“This is how bad non-deregulation was because it allowed a small group of criminals to garner so much financial resources as to undermine every single institution that we had for checks and balances.”

He also commented on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and said it was suffering from bad policies taken in the past.

He blamed previous administration for failing to take good decision which later backfired and is now affecting the country.

He said: “Nigeria is bankrupt; we are bankrupted by a policy that was foolish, that was unrealistic, and unsustainable and by all means our refusal over the years to listen.

“We are surprised that we have an economic recession; we are actually surprised that we are in recession? We created the recession.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari removed fuel subsidy although the move was criticised by Nigerians and resulted in strike action in some parts of the country.

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