A former member of the House of Representatives and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Hon. Sunday Karimi on Thursday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to invest the gains from the subsidy removal on the premium motor spirit, PMS, and that of the deregulation of the downstream sector on fixing the nation’s infrastructure as well as the welfare of the citizens.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by the two time lawmaker who represented Yagba Federal Constituency of Kogi State twice under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, tackled the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan for paying lipservice to subsidy regime since 1999.
According to him, “removal of subsidy on PMS and a total deregulation of the down stream sector is a smart move by President Buhari, Government since 1999 has been paying lipservice to deregulation of the petroleum industry
“One of the major draining pipes and sources of wastage and corruption in Government finances is the high subsidy being paid by government for the pump prices of petrol for ages, the effect of the subsidy doesn’t reflect positively on common man on the street
“President Buhari with his long term experience in the industry took a right decision, previous administrations since 1999 demonstrated lack of political will to safe the nation from this unnecessary wastage under the guise of subsidy
“Most of our neighboring countries enjoyed greatly from the subsidy as the products were being taken out fraudulently and sold to them at a bit higher rate, few Nigerians will expect a President from the North to remove subsidy from petrol, only a courageous leader like Buhari could have done it
“The decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to totally deregulate the sector to and other well meaning Nigerians is a decision taken in the right direction for the good of the country”.
He urged Nigerians irrespective of their political or religious beliefs to rally support for President Buhari to implement new non-subsidy regime to the letter for the betterment of the country which he had promised to take to the next level at the expiration of his tenure.
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