The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has reiterated his commitment to completely remove fuel subsidy if elected during next month’s election.
The former governor of Anambra State assured that removing fuel subsidy had been on his priority list, and he would end the menace, which he described as “organised crime”, immediately after he assumes office.
Obi gave the assurance on Sunday at the People’s Town Hall 2023 organised by Channels Television, stressing that he would cut off fuel subsidy beneficiaries and put to rest the issue permanently.
“I can assure you that it (subsidy) will go immediately. Subsidy, I’ve said it before, is an organised crime and I will not allow it to stay a day longer.”
“What they’re telling you is not what it is. Half of what is being mentioned is not subsidy. First is that we consume the quantity that is not supposed to be consumed here. We are the same population with Pakistan. They consume below 50 per cent of what we consume.
“So, the first half, I will remove it and give those people who are drinking it water, because that’s what they’re supposed to drink, so we can save the money.”
Meanwhile, Obi has also assured Nigerians that within the first four years of his administration, he will ensure that 20,000MW of power is distributed to solve the electricity problem in the country.
He attributed the electricity situation in the country to a lack of proper intervention by those in charge of the sector.
Obi said, “I don’t think the power is stubborn. It is the people who are trying to solve it that are not doing the right thing. We are not the only country that has power problem. People have solved it everywhere.”
“This is not rocket science. It has been done in several countries of the world, so why is our own different? Yes, there have been issues where we will say that the privatisation of the process which was started or completed did not go well. We are not going to revisit or cancel existing positions. We are going to make it work.”
“What do we need to do in power? It is to first unbundle the transmission line because today, we are generating up to 10,000MW but the transmission line cannot carry that. So, we are going to support the GenCos who are existing, unbundle the transmission line and support the discos to make sure that at least whatever is produced is wheeled and distributed accordingly and you must do this strictly under a guideline properly supervised.”
Speaking on the amount of power his administration will provide in two years if elected, Obi said, “I have said it, within the first four years, we will be able to distribute nothing less than 20,000.”
