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Subsidy Removal: Tonye Cole Seeks Financial Transparency, Palliatives For Poor Nigerians

For the poor, he explained, “that one naira you have taken away from them means a lot to them, so you need to be empathetic."


Tonye Cole appears on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, May 30, 2023

 

Amid the nationwide scarcity trailing President Bola Tinubu’s declaration that “fuel subsidy is gone,” the Co-Founder of Sahara Group, Tonye Cole, is calling on the day-old administration to cater to the poor and urgently address the “trust deficit”.

Cole, who made a live appearance on Tuesday’s episode of Channels Television’s Politics Today, argued that the subsidy removal policy stood on three legs, the first of which he said was empathy.

For the poor, he explained, “that one naira you have taken away from them means a lot to them, so you need to be empathetic.”

The entrepreneur turned politician added that studies point to “the one percent” benefitting up to six times more than the poor from subsidy. 

“The next one is that you need to be transparent. So, there’s a social responsibility. They must believe that what you’re taking away, you have to be able to bring it back in another way that affects them,” he said.

“So, you take from one hand, you give in another. They must see that happen.”

In Cole’s view, the third “leg” is trust on the part of the masses, adding that “we have a trust deficit” at present.

“The main thing right now is the transparency: ‘What will happen with the money that is left coming out from subsidy? And how does it affect the common denominator of the poor man?’” he said.

“The transparency as to ‘exactly what are we going to get?’ That’s the communication that would happen.”

READ ALSO: Tinubu Orders DSS To Immediately Vacate EFCC’s Office 

Asked to comment on the economic impact of fuel subsidy removal on the poorest Nigerians, Cole — the 2023 Rivers State governorship candidate of Tinubu’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) — asked the new president to consider distributing palliatives.

About 133 million persons (or 63 percent) living in Nigeria are multidimensionally poor, according to a November 17, 2022 statement by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

“We have to make sure, as a nation, that we already have a database of the poor and you have to be able to directly impact their bottom line, their pocket,” he said.

“If you’re increasing pricing, you need to be able to give conditional cash transfers to the very, very poor, so that they don’t enter into a lower level of poverty that they cannot come out of. It’s critical that you prevent the poor from falling into deeper poverty.”

Fuel To The Flames?

A fuel queue in Abuja, Nigeria on Tuesday, May 20, 2023. Photo: Taiwo Adeshina

 

On Monday during his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square in Abuja, Tinubu said the era of subsidy payment on fuel has ended, adding that with the 2023 budget making no provision for fuel subsidy, further payment was no longer justifiable.

“The fuel subsidy is gone,” Tinubu said. His government would instead channel funds into infrastructure and other areas to strengthen the economy, he added.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and House Of Representatives have since backed Tinubu’s decision.

However, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) argued the President could not unilaterally take a decision on subsidy removal, saying there was a reason the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari pushed the “sensitive issue” to the new government.

Fuel queues have since resurfaced across the country since the presidential pronouncement as Nigerians forage for the premium product.