A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Jonathan Vatsa, has condemned the economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying many Nigerians are starving.
According to him, hardship has overwhelmed the people.
The APC chieftain expressed his full support for former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over his recent comments on fuel subsidy removal.
Vatsa, a former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Niger State, said Nigerians had been “shortchanged and reduced to nothing” following the removal of the subsidy.
In a statement issued in Minna on Sunday, titled, “Let’s Take Atiku Message and Leave the Messenger,” the former APC publicity secretary urged President Bola Tinubu to reverse the subsidy removal policy and apologise to Nigerians for the hardship caused by the decision.
He said rather than attacking Atiku over his position, Tinubu should focus on the message and consider the suffering being experienced by Nigerians.
“Even if you don’t like the messenger, you should at least take the message. The whole world knows that the subsidy removal policy of this government has failed; it has pushed Nigerians to extreme poverty,” Vatsa said.
Fuel Subsidy Only Favours 36 State Governors
According to the APC chieftain, the removal of fuel subsidy has done little to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
He argued that the major beneficiaries of the policy had been state governors, political office holders and government appointees with access to public funds.
“The fuel subsidy removal only favoured the 36 state governors, their families, elected political office holders and government appointees who have access to government funds.
“It has not in any way benefited the common masses on the street. It has further pushed low-income earners in Nigeria below the poverty level. Life is meaningless to average Nigerians right now,” he said.
Vatsa said the government was wrong to continue with the policy if it was aware that its impact was hurting ordinary Nigerians.
“The greatest ignorance is on the part of the government that knows the subsidy removal is not beneficial to the masses and still sticks to it.
“The benefits of the subsidy removal are to the 36 state governors and not the Nigerian masses,” he added.
The former commissioner also alleged that the removal of subsidy and the increased revenue available to state governments had contributed to what he described as excessive spending by some governors.
He claimed that about 90 per cent of governors now owned private jets.
“While governors receive huge allocations every month, many of them continue to borrow and acquire loans which cannot be paid back in the next 30 years when they would have died.
“Yet you see uncompleted projects all over the country. There are no roads, no schools and no hospitals.
“They acquired private jets and luxury cars. Their private businesses continue to thrive while government projects are left abandoned.
“You don’t call this system reform, it is starvation. Nigerians can no longer breathe; hardship has overwhelmed the people,” Vatsa said.
Vatsa also argued that energy subsidies were not peculiar to Nigeria, saying countries across the world intervene to reduce the impact of energy costs on their citizens.
He described energy as the “lifeline of every country’s economy” and said no country could afford to completely abandon measures aimed at protecting citizens from sudden increases in energy prices.
He cited the situation in Europe following the Russia-Ukraine war, saying several European countries had intervened to cushion the effect of rising gas prices.
“Countries in Europe that depended on Russian gas wouldn’t have coped without subsidising the cost of gas for their citizens,” he said.
Vatsa acknowledged that corruption surrounding fuel subsidy payments had been a major problem in Nigeria.
However, he said the appropriate response should have been to address the corruption rather than completely remove the subsidy.
“The problem with the subsidy payment in Nigeria is the corruption attached to it, which one would have expected the President to address,” he said.
Vatsa also dismissed the argument that subsidy removal was necessary to enable governments to pay salaries.
“If only payment of salaries is the reason for the removal of fuel subsidy, then the government is ignorant of how to manage the economy.
“Despite the huge allocations, state governments still owe pensioners,” he submitted.
