By our reporter| The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi on Wednesday said he will get rid of the subsidy on petrol if there is an alternative.
The former Anambra state governor, who stated this during a live interview on Arise TV, explained that petrol subsidy is a scam that is of no benefit to the country’s economy.
“We have spent over $40 billion on subsidy. Our total education expenditure in the past 10 years is about N8 trillion (about $20 billion on $400/$1). This is 50 percent of it,” Obi said.
“If we spent $20 billion in power, we would have been generating and distributing 20,000 megawatts of electricity today.
“It means subsidy alone would have solved a lot of issues in our education, health, and in power. If we have 20,000mw, we will be growing at more than 4 percent and add over $100 billion to our GDP.
“Within the same period, we’ve borrowed $90 billion, which we’re servicing. With this, you could see total mismanagement of resources that could have changed the entire north… that vast land would have been huge farmland.”
“We have to study and look at it critically. Yes and No, because I would remove it, but I have to offer them what would be equivalent to what we are removing.
“Yes, I am going to use the resources to do something that would benefit, but if I am not going to do that I am not going to remove it. You must be able to offer something in replacement for what you are going to do.
“I cannot spend $40 billion on subsidy and expended 50 percent of it on education and health even security. Are you saying (petrol) subsidy is more important than the security of lives and property?
“I have been saying subsidy is a scam, and I will continue to say it. There are so many scams all over the place, including the cost of governance.”
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