CITIZENS COMPASS— Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Friday, lamented that Nigerians are yet to benefit from the proceeds of fuel subsidy removal for the past three years.
Atiku say d this would be part of the reasons he plans to restore fuel subsidy should he become the president of Nigeria in 2027.
The flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) during the 2027 elections stated this in an interview with BBC Hausa while fielding questions from the television station about his plans for Nigerians facing severe economic hardship.
According to him: I did not oppose the removal of the oil subsidy, but where is the money? Where did it go?” Atiku asked.
“It was intended to reduce poverty and help children attend school. Where is the money now?
It seems they are just stealing it.
They talk about 30 trillion, where is the money, what was done with it?” he asked.
If they had used the money for development, to solve security problems, for education, and to create opportunities for the youth, it would be different.
At that time, when we calculated it, we estimated that allocating $10 billion… the programs we could build for the youth would ultimately reduce hardship for nearly 70 to 80 percent of the beneficiaries through the programs we intended to run.
Steps should have been taken to reduce poverty, curb youth unemployment, and tackle insecurity, among other issues.
The government successfully removed the subsidy, but we do not know where the money went.
If they had used the money for development, to solve security problems, for education, and to create opportunities for the youth, it would be different.
If elected, I will bring back the oil subsidy, and whoever stole the money must refund it.
If elected, I can remove the subsidy and use the money to do all these properly.
