According to the report from the Sun, the Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh expressed doubts about the adequacy of research regarding the effects of removing fuel subsidies in Nigeria and questioned whether this policy has achieved its intended goals of raising additional revenue for development.
While acknowledging the longstanding pressure to remove subsidies, he emphasized that the anticipated benefits, such as increased funding for development projects, have not been realized at the state and local government levels.
He criticized the common practice of attributing all blame to the president and argued that governors and local government officials should also be held accountable for their roles in managing funds and implementing policies.
He said, “I don’t think there was enough study of what impact it would make. But the push had always been there, remove subsidy, remove subsidy. Remove subsidy and raise extra revenue and use the revenue to develop the country right? Okay, how much development is taking place in states and local governments? Every blame is put on the president here for everything. Who is questioning governors in their states and what some of them do or do not do with local governments’ funds? So, if the extra revenue is supposed to make life happier for us, it has not, therefore, it has been a negative policy.”….Sêe_Morē