A former President of the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, has urged President Bola Tinubu to channel savings from fuel subsidy removal into the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s government-owned refineries and the strengthening of local government autonomy.
Eradiri, in a statement issued on Tuesday, also rejected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s call for the return of fuel subsidy, arguing that the policy had failed to achieve its intended purpose of providing relief to Nigerians.
He said rather than return to subsidy, the Federal Government should invest the resources saved from its removal in projects capable of reducing the cost of living and improving citizens’ welfare.
According to him, the immediate priority should be the full rehabilitation and operation of the country’s refineries, which he said would increase domestic fuel production and eventually drive down petrol prices.
“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,” he said.
Eradiri urged the President to give the rehabilitation of the refineries a clear deadline and direct the Minister of Petroleum Resources to focus on ensuring that the facilities become fully operational.
He also proposed the creation of a separate Ministry of Refineries to provide dedicated attention to the challenges affecting the facilities.
He explained that increased domestic refining capacity would create a surplus of petroleum products, lower pump prices and trigger a reduction in the cost of goods and services.
“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,” he said.
On local government administration, the former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth Development and Environment accused state governors of frustrating the gains of the Federal Government’s economic reforms by allegedly failing to implement local government autonomy.
Eradiri called on the Federal Government to take decisive steps to ensure that local governments function independently and receive their allocations directly.
He also proposed that local government elections should be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission to reduce the influence of state governors over elected council officials.
“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 establish a framework guiding local governments on how their allocations should be used for projects with direct impact on residents.
He said council funds could be used to provide community roads, farm roads and other basic infrastructure capable of improving livelihoods at the grassroots.
The former IYC president alleged that some governors still controlled local government funds and chairmen, thereby limiting the impact of resources allocated to the councils.
He argued that allowing such a situation to continue could undermine the Federal Government’s efforts to cushion the effects of its economic reforms.
“The President cannot be working hard, and his hard work will be sabotaged by the incompetence and greed of the governors,” he said.
Eradiri therefore urged the President to change his strategy and ensure that resources being released to states and local governments translate into tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
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