…N6trillion for subsidy is fraud

 

…exchange rate fuel inflation and must be reviewed

 

 The former Chairman of All Progressive Congress and deputy director of the Bola Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Adams Oshiomole has indicted the government of President Muhammadu Buhari by describing the fuel subsidy regime as currently is cesspit of corruption.

He also said that there must a holistic review of the exchange rate, saying that it is the exchange that is fueling the inflation rate.

According to him, both the monetary and fiscal policies must also be reviewed.

The former APC chairman, who spoke on an Arise Programme on Wednesday morning, said that from what he now knows as an insider, this government is simply dealing with stealing in the name of subsidy.

He said even more worrisome is when you hear the amount that is paid for Equalisation Fund that is meant to guarantee price stability across the country, the money is paid out yet the government doesn’t simply have the mechanism for control prices.

He said: “One of the things you learn in leadership is that, if you lack the capacity to enforce your ideal objectives, and then acknowledge your limitations. If that is leading to bleeding the system so as to cause a huge deficit in terms of the things you could do to deliver those resources to the poor and vulnerable, then jettison it”

According to him, the N6 trillion subsidy is a fraud.

Reminded that he was indicting the government in which he is part, he said:  “First, you must recognize that I am part of APC which he chaired for two years, and now a deputy director general of Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation, I have my views.

He said: “It was on record when I was the president of Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, it is also on record that when  Goodluck Jonathan was the president that nobody has given satisfactory statistics to explain away the numbers that NNPCL throws around. I have never hidden that. I am not going to hide because somebody will misinterpret it. The president does not run NNPC.  This president admits and appreciates that part of the problems of the country is the abuse of public institutions. We are not hiding that, and nobody has suggested that we have been able to cure the entire ailment.”

He, however, said that he is not indicting the government just as they are not ashamed to admit that as hard as they have tried there are a couple of things that are not going as planned by the government.

This is because the intention of the leader, the political intention of the leadership, and the challenge of translating that down the chain by people who are in the system is often very difficult, especially when you have a mixture of both public and private players.

“At best, you have control over public appointees but you don’t have control over the activities of the private players.  As we speak we have private distributors who get products from NNPC at certain prices. And in the clear bridge of the understanding between them and NNPC, they go down to their stations and sell it at ridiculous prices. The government does not have the executive capacity to monitor all those distributors.”

Now if you cannot monitor something why allow the process to continue?

 “I am a realist, and the act of leadership is to recognize your limitations, you need to take measures that are enforceable, measures that are not enforceable however desirable, part of the hallmark of leadership is the ability to have the courage to admit your limitations and recognize the weaknesses of institutions of state and not build a castle in the air, because it would not stand.”

 He said the price of fuel is not the one driving inflation that is been experienced currently in the country.

“The real devil in the chain is the exchange rate and we must take a holistic view of the situation in which we find ourselves.

He insists that there must a holistic review of the monetary and fiscal policies

Olusola  Bello