The National Association of Nigerian Students has urged Nigerians, particularly youths, not to support calls by some politicians to return to the fuel subsidy regime.
The students’ body said the focus should be on ensuring accountability in the use of savings from fuel subsidy removal rather than advocating a return to the subsidy regime.
The National President of NANS, Babatunde Akinteye, made the call on Tuesday in Akure, the state capital, while speaking at a youth summit.
The summit, sponsored by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was themed ‘Unlocking Ondo State students’ potentials for economic growth.’
The NANS president said Nigeria had operated the fuel subsidy regime for about four decades, during which successive governments, economists and policy analysts agreed that it was financially unsustainable.
According to him, rather than canvassing a return to subsidy payments, Nigerians should demand transparency and accountability in the utilisation of funds being saved from its removal.
“We should monitor the money being saved from the removal of fuel subsidy and ensure it is channelled into projects and programmes that benefit all Nigerians instead of returning to a system where a few individuals cornered resources meant for the entire country,” he said.
He recalled that during the subsidy era, Nigerians still experienced persistent fuel scarcity despite huge government spending on subsidy payments.
The student leader also noted that petrol prices had begun to decline before the outbreak of the Iran-United States conflict, adding that the conflict had contributed to the recent increase in fuel prices.
He argued that restoring fuel subsidy would place an unbearable financial burden on the country, questioning where the resources would come from to sustain such payments.
” Previous administrations often resorted to borrowing to finance fuel subsidy and, in some instances, to pay workers’ salaries.
“Today, loans are largely tied to specific capital projects rather than recurrent expenditure such as salaries or fuel subsidy. We should not return to that era,” he declared.
The NANS president said anyone aspiring to lead Nigeria should present practical plans on how savings from subsidy removal would be invested to improve the lives of citizens instead of promising to restore the subsidy.
He cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as one of the intervention programmes that had benefited many students since the removal of fuel subsidy.
Akinteye also noted that provisions for fuel subsidy payments had already been discontinued in the 2023 Appropriation Bill prepared by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and both past and present administrations had consistently maintained that fuel subsidy was unsustainable.
” Proposals by some political gladiators to reintroduce fuel subsidy amounted to political rhetoric rather than realistic economic policy.
” Focus should remain on ensuring that savings from subsidy removal are prudently managed for national development rather than returning to a policy that had proved unsustainable” the NANS leader stated .
Our correspondent reports that the All Progressives Congress has recently attacked former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s plan to restore the subsidy, while the African Democratic Congress challenged the Federal Government to account for the N15.8tn in additional revenues it said accrued from the reforms.
The National Chairman of the APC, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, warned that Atiku’s proposal to return Nigeria to the old fuel subsidy regime could reverse the economic gains recorded under the ongoing reforms, with negative consequences for workers’ wages, education, infrastructure and the fiscal stability of states.
The APC national chairman, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, said the former Vice-President’s proposal to reinstate fuel subsidy would return Nigerians to fuel queues, threaten the payment of the current minimum wage and lead to the cancellation of education grants for Nigerian students, among other negative consequences for the masses.
