Malam Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive Officer of Connected Development, has criticized and deemed unacceptable the Federal Government’s continued payment of fuel subsidies.
According to Lawal, Nigeria spends more than N50 billion per day subsidizing the wealthy as a result of the payment, which was made during an interview program on Channels Television.
We are subsidizing the wealthy, not the poor, he declared. In reality, the poor are suffering the most. And we subsidize the wealthy who can actually afford it with over N50 billion per day.
A public hearing regarding the $800 million loan that President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) planned to obtain from the World Bank was also requested by Mallam Lawal of the National Assembly.
As part of its fuel subsidy palliatives measures, the Federal Government had announced in April that the loan would be disbursed to approximately 50 million vulnerable Nigerians, or 10 million households.
In a recent letter to the Senate, the President requested approval for the loan facility.
The activist added that the public hearing would help ensure that all questions raised by Nigerians’ concerns have been addressed while still claiming that the loan was unnecessary.
“Getting a loan is not a bad thing, but what will we do with it? People lack money. There are poor people here, but it’s not their fault. And we as a nation and as individuals must take care of these poor people.
In order to ensure transparency in its spending, he also urged the government to investigate the Open Government Partnership platform.
