We have missed the best time to remove subsidy – Don

A University Don, Prof. Samuel Odewunmi said Nigeria has missed the best opportunity to remove the fuel subsidy. However, he said whatever way the government wants to carry out the fuel subsidy removal, it must be done. Speaking with our correspondent, the Dean, School of Transportation, Lagos State University, also picked a hole in the […]

A University Don, Prof. Samuel Odewunmi said Nigeria has missed the best opportunity to remove the fuel subsidy.

However, he said whatever way the government wants to carry out the fuel subsidy removal, it must be done.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Dean, School of Transportation, Lagos State University, also picked a hole in the N5000 transportation allowance being proposed by the government, saying, “It is unimaginable.”

“For me, it is a reflection of who we are. On the other side, what they are doing is, they want to remove the fuel subsidy. They are afraid of the backlash, they don’t know what to do. They just think that is a bait to keep the people because it will be very tough.”

He noted that the best time to remove the fuel subsidy should have been when the price crashed to as low as $10 per barrel in the international market.

“What they are doing now with the N5000 palliative being proposed is what we call ‘tokenism’. Me as a person, I have always been an advocate of the removal of fuel subsidies. The only problem with these people is that they don’t know the best time to do it.

“We had about four chances for them to have done it and done it neatly. When the fuel price crashed to about $10 and so on, if they had done it, you know the price they are selling in Nigeria will crash.

 “So when it will rise, it will now be rising gradually and efficiency of the private sector would have keyed in and we won’t feel it.

“But immediately the thing crashed, they now started calling it price modulation. This is a very disingenuous approach. We have missed the best time to do it comfortably. They now must do it. The time we should have removed it, we did not. Now we are caught up. All the time they were adjusting prices, what they should do is to deregulate,” he added.