Muhammad Sanusi, emir of Kano,
says Nigeria is on the verge of bankruptcy following “unfavourable economic
policies”.
Speaking at a workshop organised
by the office of the accountant-general of the federation at government house,
Kano, the emir opposed subsidizing petroleum products and electricity tariff.
He advised President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration to take a different stance, saying for 30 years,
successive governments “have had this project called petroleum subsidy”.
He said the time had come to stop
subsidy so as to save the nation’s economy.
“What is more life threatening
than subsidy that we have to sacrifice education, health sector and
infrastructure for us to have cheap petroleum.
“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.”
Sanusi asked Buhari to tell
Nigerians the fact about the economic situation and also act quickly on this.
“Since I have decided to come
here, you have to accept what I have said here. And please, if you do not want
to hear the truth, never invite me,” he said.
“So, let us talk about the state
of public finance in Nigeria. We have a number of very difficult decisions that
we must make, and we should face the reality. His Excellency, the president,
said in his inaugural speech that his government would like to lift 100 million
people out of poverty, it was a speech that was well received not only in this
country, but worldwide.
“The number of people living with
poverty in Nigeria is frightening. By 2050, 85 percent of those living in
extreme poverty in the world will be from the African continent. And Nigeria
and the Democratic Republic of Congo will take the lead.
“Two days ago, I read that the
percentage of government revenue going to debt services has risen to 70
percent. These numbers are not lying. They are public numbers. I read them in
the newspapers. When you are spending 70 percent of your revenue on debt
servicing, then you are managing 30 percent.
“And then, you continue
subsidising petroleum products; and spending N1.5 trillion per annum on
petroleum subsidy! And then we are subsidizsng electricity tariff. And maybe,
you have to borrow from the capital market or the Central Bank of Nigeria to
service the shortfall in the electricity tariff, where is the money to pay
salaries, where is the money for education, where other government projects?”
Sanusi is known for speaking his
mind, even when highly-placed government officials are involved.
In 2014, ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan suspended him months after he raised the alarm that $20 billion was
unaccounted for under the government of Jonathan.
Presently, the monarch is having
a running battle with Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano, who broke the
emirate led by Sanusi into five, appointing four new emirs while the state
anti-graft agency also probed the monarch and recommended his suspension.
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