Fuel subsidy breeds corruption, says Niger gov

Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu

WORRIED by the incessant fuel crises facing the country, Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has said that fuel subsidy is the main form of corruption in the country.

He said that monies believed to be coming from SURE-P were from the Federation Account.

A total removal of subsidy from petroleum products by the Federal Government, he said, remains the only solution needed.

Aliyu made this known in Minna at the inauguration of a three-star hotel constructed jointly by the Niger State Development Company Limited and the state SURE-P.

He said, “I have been vindicated. When some years back I took a principled position as one of the few governors who said ‘remove fuel subsidy; it is a cartel for corruption.’

“Many people did not understand that time. Some publicist did not agree with me. They said, ‘Don’t remove it; it is the common man that will suffer.’ I said which common man, when at the time you are talking about subsidy the common man goes to buy it three times the price that you call subsidy?

He added, “Earlier, we deceived ourselves that there was SURE-P money, but it was the money from our Federation Account that they were giving us as SURE-P fund. But we are happy, at least they have set that aside. You will remember when I said remove fuel subsidy. They burnt my town; people were imported from outside to burn Minna.

“There is no government out there; you are the government. Anything that is done is for your welfare. Own it, take it and don’t allow somebody to come and reduce you and make you a pauper. Own up what is yours. Government is not all about the officials alone.”

On the need to sustain the subsidy, he said it would not be in the interest of anybody.

Aliyu said, “Therefore, I ask everyone – this subsidy is for whom? In the whole of Niger State at that time, even the government’s fuel stations were not selling at the subsidised rate. Yes, they were selling a bit lower than the commercial filling stations, but they were also above the subsidy.

“Why were we having problems? It is because those who have been enjoying the subsidy have seen the sign that it may be removed and they are afraid. Subsidy is a cartel for corruption.”

He said people needed to know how the resources were being managed.

He said, “People must know how their resources are being expended. I kept crying that we could not rely on the oil revenue. Now, the truth has come in our own time. I thought we will leave the scene before the crash, but the crash has come.

“The removal of fuel subsidy will also ensure that the activities of ‘mafias’ in the oil business are stopped while also guaranteeing regular supply of the product in all parts of the country.

Governor Aliyu added that the only solution to the frequent fuel crisis facing the country would be the total removal of subsidy from petroleum products by the Federal Government.”

He said it was believed by many that subsidy removal will affect only the common man, “but those who are enjoying subsidy are now afraid that the fuel subsidy maybe removed.”

He however argued that the subsidy on petroleum product was currently being enjoyed by only a section of the society that has the necessary connection to be importers of the commodity.

Aliyu asked, “Is it not an irony that we sell crude oil and we end up buying refined petroleum from the international market?”

The Director General of the state SURE-P board, Alhaji Hassan Nuhu, in his address, said the 50-bed three-star hotel was constructed at over N620m and had been given to a private firm to manage for five years.