A former Senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Ayo Arise, has tackled former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his reported plan to restore petrol subsidy if elected President.
Arise said such a policy reversal would amount to taking Nigeria back to the dark era of economic mismanagement and corruption, arguing that the country could not afford to reverse a policy that had helped free up huge resources for development.
Arise, who spoke while appearing on national television programme, said Atiku’s proposal showed that he had not been properly advised on the economic implications and benefits of the removal of petrol subsidy by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The APC chieftain argued that the resources freed by subsidy removal had strengthened the capacity of the Federal Government and states to meet their obligations and finance developmental programmes.
‘For me, I would, without any doubt, imagine that former Vice president advisors have not done him any favour. They have not done so by explaining that, look, when you have the government now having sufficient funds without any form of interruption to pay salaries, as I told you, without running to the Federal Government to ask for any sort of loans to pay salaries, some of this is being taken for granted.’
Arise maintained that the regular payment of salaries, which he said was now being taken for granted, had significant implications for the economy because workers were able to retain their purchasing power.
‘It’s not because it’s happening without happening in real time. And so nobody’s complaining.But in the past, when salaries are not paid, those who are salary earners will not be able to actually buy little things that they need. They can’t pay school fees.’
Arise said the consequences of unpaid salaries went beyond individual workers, as businesses and the wider economy also suffered when citizens lacked the purchasing power to meet their obligations.
‘So it actually comes down to the fact that if people don’t have the buying power because they’re not paid on time, now it has consequences beyond what one can easily explain,’ he said
The former lawmaker said the additional resources available to the government were largely a result of the removal of subsidy, arguing that Nigerians needed to consider the broader impact of the policy instead of focusing only on its immediate challenges.
‘Because those things are no longer happening, it can be taken for granted. But the money for all this to be happening came from the subsidy removal. Most of the money came from the subsidy removal,’ he said.
The ex-federal lawmaker also cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as an example of how government resources were being channelled into programmes aimed at supporting Nigerians.
‘Here is the government that says whatever money we have recovered from looting, we are going to direct most of it to the NELFUND to be able to pay school fees for those who ordinarily would have dropped out of school due to lack of ability, for their parents to pay,’ he said.
Arise maintained that the subsidy regime created opportunities for fraudulent practices, with some individuals allegedly claiming to have imported petroleum products without actually doing so.
‘These are some of the understandings, I believe, a good advisor would have presented to his principal before such utterance could have come out,’ he said.
He further argued that the increased allocations available to state governments had provided them with greater capacity to undertake infrastructure and social development projects.
‘And now the states, I understand, collected over a hundred billion in allocation. So with a hundred billion, you can begin to tap into development issues within the states,’ he said.
‘Trans-state roads, provide water, provide good health facilities.’
Arise said the improved revenue available to the states meant that governors should no longer depend entirely on the Federal Government to provide basic infrastructure and services.
‘It’s no longer the responsibility of the Federal Government. They are making provisions for the state government to take responsibility and take control in the state and ensure that developmental strides are seen and are known,’ he said.
He also argued that the benefits of the subsidy removal would become more evident as governments invest in infrastructure and other projects.
‘We don’t need people of the state to say, ‘My government is doing excellently well.’ By the time you have such resources to build infrastructure in your state, campaigning will be less cumbersome because you can point to things that are happening that never happened before,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Arise commended the Independent National Electoral Commission for what he described as the transparency of the recent Osun State governorship election.
He said the conduct of the poll was an indication that the 2027 presidential election would be based on the achievements of the various political parties and candidates.
‘On INEC, I’m very happy for their performance, particularly at the Osun election. That election clearly shows that Mr President wants a very transparent election,’ he said.
The APC chieftain said that Tinubu would be comfortable going into the 2027 election on the strength of his administration’s unprecedented achievements, saying ‘I believe he’s very comfortable with himself based on his achievements in the last three years’.
‘I would say that the expectation is that the election coming in 2027 will be based on achievement, on facts and figures.And the Nigerians will decide, compare it with what existed in the past in this country versus what the APC under the watch of Asiwaju Tinubu has been able to achieve for Nigeria’, Arise added.