The Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, has warned that Nigeria is on the verge of bankruptcy as fuel and electricity subsidies, as well as debt servicing, continue to eat into government revenue.
Sanusi, who is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said this while delivering his address at the ongoing third National Treasury Workshop, organised by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation in Kano.
He advised President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to scrap fuel and electricity tariff subsidies in order to stabilise the economy.
He said, “In 2011, when I was CBN governor, Nigeria made $16bn from petroleum sales, and we spent $8bn importing petroleum and spent another $8.2bn subsidising the product…and I asked, ‘Is this sustainable?
“The country is bankrupt and we are heading to bankruptcy. What happens is that the Federal Government do pay petroleum subsidy, pays electricity tariff subsidy, and if there is a rise in interest rates, the Federal Government pays. What is more life-threatening than the subsidy that we have to sacrifice education, health sector and infrastructure for us to have cheap petroleum?”
Sansui said, “If truly President Buhari is fighting poverty, he should remove the risk on the national financial sector and stop the subsidy regime, which is fraudulent.”
He said the President must tell Nigerians the facts about the economic situation and act promptly to address it.
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