NEWS
Onoh Urges Nigerians To Support Fuel Subsidy Removal, Gives Reasons
Dr. Josef Onoh, a former spokesperson for President Bola Tinubu in the south east, has emphasized the importance of removing Nigeria’s high expenditure on petroleum subsidy. According to him, redirecting these funds towards other sectors of the economy would directly improve the lives of middle and low-income citizens.
Although President Tinubu has not officially announced the withdrawal of the controversial oil subsidy, Dr. Onoh urges Nigerians to consider the actions of other countries, particularly in Africa, that have taken the bold step of eliminating the substantial costs associated with subsidizing the consumption of foreign petroleum products.
He highlights that such subsidies often disproportionately benefit the wealthy, who own multiple vehicles, rather than the poor citizens who rely on public transportation systems.
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Onoh urged Nigerians and whichever groups that are warming up for agitation against the new government of Bola Tinubu to be critical and understand that President Tinubu did not remove the oil subsidy by himself, but should know that no provision was made in the 2023 appropriation to fund the luxury of subsidizing the importation of petroleum products which as at today stands at $867 million or N400 billion every month, for products that are essentially consumed by the upper class or go out the country through smuggling, because the products are cheaper in Nigeria than its neighboring countries.
Onoh cited other African countries that had done away with oil subsidy such as Ghana that was spending $25.6 million every two weeks on fuel subsidy before the country cut off the strangulating yoke and had become free and stable after the old Gold Coast liberated itself from the subsidy bondage.
He also made a comparison with Republic of Cameroon which removed subsidy on oil and deregulated its markets, adding that even Nigeria experts such as the President of African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina had also prescribed the removal of oil subsidy with its high cost on the Nigerian economy of $10 billion in 2022.
Citing more instances of other African countries that have made testimonies of their break through with the removal of subsidy in oil, Onoh gave the example of Egypt which in 2019 broke off completely with the subsidy oppression and implemented an International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic overhaul template, even when gasoline, diesel and kerosene were sold at 85 to 90 percent international cost within Egypt before it completely broke the yoke and liberated the country from the economic strangulation.
Onoh said that it was not only Tinubu who agreed that subsidy on oil should be removed, recalling that during electioneering campaign period and debates, all the presidential candidates of different political parties supported removal of oil subsidy.
“Ghana removed the subsidy after 30 years, and if you look at the progress and the economic stability in the present day Ghana, Nigerians will know that we cannot continue with oil subsidy at the detriment of our economic stability. Both the rich and the poor will face hardship but we should look at the collected benefit rather than the immediate hardship.
“There is no other way because we are caught in-between the devil and the deep blue sea. There is no way we can continue benefiting the rich while the poor get poorer. The only way we can have a balanced economy is when even the poor can have access to these basic needs. In the short term, the removal will cause panic but the cabals behind the refusal to remove the fuel subsidy are the greatest beneficiaries of that subsidy.
“So, they will play in the minds of the innocent poor, trying to make it look as if the government is against the poor, but the Tinubu administration is eager to balance our economy just like other countries have done. We should sustain that confidence,” Onoh said.
He noted that Canadian government, United Kingdom, the United States of America and other foreign countries will all show more confidence in the Nigeria economy.
“But we also need to show that we want our economy to grow and we cannot continue to rely on half term measures, riding on a Tiger’s back, not thinking it could as well turn around to kill us. So we should back this administration.
“The test of our Progress is not whether we avoid temporarily removing the fuel subsidy out of fear of hardship for Nigerians which in turn will add to the abundance of those who have much and beneficiaries of the subsidy, rather it is whether the current administration provides enough after it’s removal for those who have too little,”Onoh encouraged.
A celebrity landlord, Isaac Fayose, has issued threats to tenants occupying one of his houses in Abuja over his claims of their owing him three years’ rent.
Fayose, a brother to former Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, vented his threats in a video which has gone viral on microblogging site, X.com on Tuesday.
From the video footage, Fayose, expressing himself in pidgin said the tenant(s) refused to pay him rent for three years.
He was also experiencing frustration, as the tenant(s) opted to involve the law court, which has resulted in adjournments to elongate their living in the house.
He said, “Three years, you never paid rent. You dey do gra-gra inside the court. Na your house? Na your baba house? God go punish you.”
Another person suspected to be a tenant in Fayose’s apartment was heard in the viral video responding, “You dey craze. God go punish you.”
Fayose also called out the tenants over an alleged plan to claim ownership of the property.
He vowed that he would demolish the property and damn the consequences.
“The tenant said na dem get the house. Ole tenants.
“I will demolish the house. Let the Nigerian government jail me if they want to. How can I get a house and tenants go dey owe me to the tune of three years and dem go dey hide for court?
“No justice. No be by forced to stay in Abuja o. If you cannot pay rent in Abuja, go to your village and stay.
“No dey play wayo-wayo game inside the court and be staying inside person property for free. Let me commit the offence. Let me break the house. Make dem detain me for one week after they will bail me.
“But una go don comot first. The rest go be history,” he stated.
As if to drive his message to the erring tenants home, Fayose had earlier shared a video of himself ordering the removal of the doors and roofs of a recalcitrant tenant who he claimed refused to pay rent for four years.
He claimed in that post that the tenant had the guts to take him to court despite owing rent.
In the video he shared, artisans could be seen removing the doors and windows of the apartment.
In a bid to halt the marriage of 100 orphaned girls orchestrated by Speaker Abdulmalik Sarkindaji of the Niger State Assembly, Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has officially petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for legal intervention.
The controversial move by Speaker Sarkindaji aims to provide marital support for girls orphaned by bandit attacks in the Mariga Local Government Area, scheduled for May 24th.
Mrs. Kennedy-Ohanenye’s opposition was made clear during a press conference in Abuja, where she announced the initiation of a thorough investigation into the matter.
She said, “I want to let the honorable speaker of house in Niger states to know that this is totally unacceptable by Federal Minister Of Women Affairs and by the government totally unacceptable. Because there is something called the Child’s Right Act and I said it from the onset, that is no more business as usual.
“These children must be considered their future must be considered the future of the children to come out of their marriage must be considered. So I have gone to court. I have written him a letter and written a petition to the IG of police.
“And I have filed for injunction to stop him from whatever he is planning to do on the 24th, until a thorough investigation is carried out on those girls, find out whether they gave their consent, their ages, find out the people marrying them.”
A Nigerian journalist, Ibraheem Hamza Mohammed, was on Friday released from prison after the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria) intervened in his case.
This was contained a statement issued by the Legal Adviser/Chairman, Advocacy Committee, IPI Nigeria, Tobi Soniyi.
Recall that the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigeria Police had arrested Mohammed on 1 May after he was accused of falsely publishing that N40 million was stolen from Governor Abdullahi Sule’s bedroom.
The article was published on 22 February 2024 on First News, a Lagos-based online newspaper.
The police then charged him with violation of the Cybercrime Act and secured an order for his remand at the Medium Security Custodian Centre in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, pending commencement of trial.
However, the journalist was released Friday after a Nasarawa High Court sitting in Doma granted him bail.
He spent 10 days in jail.
He was to remain on bail till 13 May when the police are expected to withdraw the charges against him and discontinue the trial.
To secure his release, IPI Nigeria’s delegation led by the President, Musikilu Mojeed, visited Lafia on 6 May, meeting with top officials of the Nasarawa State government, including Governor Sule, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Labaran Magaji and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ibrahim Addra.
The delegation also visited and conferred with the journalist, Mohammed, in prison.
Meanwhile, the management of First News has apologised to Governor Sule over the story, saying it has since found “that the said story lacked any form of truth in it and that the reporter merely concocted the story in his bid to pursue a personal vendetta against the governor.
“While tendering an unreserved apology to the Nasarawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, we wish to assure him that such will not repeat itself ever again,” the newspaper added.
IPI Nigeria is hereby admonishing Nigerian journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession, desist from publishing false news, and continue to observe a high degree of standard in their practice.
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