Business analyst, Ignatius Chukwu, is of the opinion that the next Nigerian President should scrap fuel subsidy.
Mr Chukwu said this while speaking about the current state of the Nigerian economy on Nigeria Info’s Morning Crossfire with Enoh Ogbevire.
He agreed that it is better to face the effects of fuel subsidy removal head-on than allow some people to continue to benefit from it.
“Subsidy is an industry and there are many beneficiaries. People are benefitting in good, bad and ugly ways.
They have enough money to mobilise Nigerians to fight to protect an industry they are milking, and we think they are fighting for us.”
On the issue of borrowing, Mr Chukwu noted that the Nigerian government would not have institutions like the World Bank and IMF telling it how to run its economy if the country is not borrowing.
“The moment you borrow as a nation, once you take a sovereign loan, you have sold a percentage of your sovereignty,” he added.
President Bola Tinubu's comment during his inauguration, stating his administration's intention to discontinue subsidy for petroleum products, has left many Nigerians unsettled.
The Rivers State Chairman, Petroleum Retailers Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, Francis Dimkpa says the hike in fuel price after President Tinubu’s subsidy removal comment is due to panic buying.
Local vigilante group, ONELGA Security Peace and Advisory Committee, OSPAC, has denied any human rights violation in a recent raid in Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area.
Some Rivers residents have shared their expectations from the incoming administration respectively as the swearing-in inauguration for President-Elect and Governors-Elects takes place across the country today, May 29th, 2023.