Re: Petrol subsidy, a bitter truth shielded by poor governance

All the arguments you made are valid in your column on the above subject in the Daily Trust issue of April 20 but what baffles me is everybody is  forgetting about the defunct PTF and why it was set up by the late Abacha. He set up PTF ostensibly to channel the  increase of petrol […]

All the arguments you made are valid in your column on the above subject in the Daily Trust issue of April 20 but what baffles me is everybody is  forgetting about the defunct PTF and why it was set up by the late Abacha.

He set up PTF ostensibly to channel the  increase of petrol price of only N5/litre. The idea was so good they even created a military PTF. Even Nigerian professionals claimed that they never had it so good. If an increase of only N5/ litre can do such wonders one can only imagine what a whopping N167/litre increase can achieve.

So why is everybody forgetting about reviving the PTF? This is baffling because most of the beneficiaries of the defunct PTF are now key officials in this government: people like Adamu Adamu, Suleiman Adamu,  Nura Rafindadi, just to name a few. These gentlemen should remind Buhari if ever he needs a reminder about PTF. 

My feeling is that the forces behind fuel subsidy are so powerful not even this government can’t defeat them. The saving grace is that the source of the largesse will soon dry up as in the next 10 to 20 years, nobody will be buying petrol so the question of petrol subsidy will fizzle out.

We should aim to convert our petrol cars to use gas so that the issue of petrol subsidy will fizzle out faster. 

Sabo Sodangi can be reached via [email protected]