Former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Engr. Udengs Eradiri, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to change the strategy of implementing his economic reforms by channeling savings from fuel subsidy removal into the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries and strengthening local government autonomy.
Eradiri, who rejected former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for the return of fuel subsidy, argued that the subsidy regime failed to achieve its intended objective of providing relief to Nigerians.
He said rather than return to subsidy, the Federal Government should ensure that the resources saved from its removal were deployed in projects that would directly reduce the cost of living and improve the welfare of citizens.
“I disagree with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to return fuel subsidy. I think that the intended objective of having the fuel subsidy in the first place was not achieved, as it failed to bring succour to the people,” Eradiri said.
According to him, the immediate priority should be to get all government-owned refineries operating at full capacity, arguing that increased domestic fuel production would eventually force down petrol prices and trigger a reduction in the cost of goods and services.
He said: “I welcome the move by the President to ensure that all our refineries are performing at full capacity. He should direct the Petroleum Minister to relocate to the areas where our refineries are located and give them a timeframe to make them work.
“It is also not out of place if the President creates a seperate Ministry of Refineries to ensure absolute focus in tackling obstacles militating against our refineries’ growth and development.
“The essence of getting the refineries to work is to create excess supply of petrol that will force down the prices to create a spiral effect on goods and services. That is where the common man will benefit”.
The former IYC president also blamed state governors for frustrating the gains of the ongoing economic reforms, particularly following their alleged refusal to implement the Supreme Court judgment affirming the autonomy of local governments.
He called on the Federal Government to take decisive steps to ensure that local governments functioned as an independent tier of government, with their allocations going directly to them.
“The gains of the ongoing economic reforms by the President seem to be frustrated by the governors, majority of whom have refused to implement the Supreme Court judgment on local government autonomy,” Eradiri said.
He proposed that local government elections should be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), arguing that this would strengthen the independence of the councils and prevent governors from controlling elected council chairmen.
“It is time for the government to take over the local government administration to ensure it is another independent arm of government and ensure that the elections are conducted by INEC to enable their monies go directly to the councils,” he said.
Eradiri further urged the Presidency to develop a framework that would guide local governments on how their allocations could be deployed to projects with direct impact on the people.
He said funds accruing to councils could be used to provide community roads, farm roads and other basic infrastructure capable of improving livelihoods at the grassroots.
“Local government funds of today can build community roads, farm roads and other things that can make positive impact,” he said.
According to him, continuing to allow governors to control funds meant for local governments would undermine the Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the effect of its economic policies.
“Many of these governors don’t allow these monies to get to the local government because they still control their chairmen. They conduct the elections and tell the local government chairmen their shares of their allocations,” he alleged.
Eradiri said the situation had become increasingly frustrating because the Federal Government was injecting more resources into the states without corresponding improvements in the living conditions of citizens.
He said: “The President cannot be working hard and his hard work will be sabotaged by the incompetence and greed of the governors.
“It is becoming painful that the President is working hard and putting a lot of money in states but this money is not reflecting in the lives of the people. The strategy must change.”
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