The Arewa Economic Forum (AEF) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to restore subsidy on petrol to effectively address the economic hardship being faced by Nigerians.
The group also called on the Federal Government to focus on the development of the Artisanal and Small Scale Mining Cooperative Society as a means of creating jobs.
Chairman of the forum, Ibrahim Shehu Dandakata, who made this call in Abuja, yesterday, believes that the removal of the subsidy has resulted in unprecedented hardship for the people, urging the government to take the matter as a national emergency.
He also urged the government to investigate why the exchange rate for the dollar rises after every Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.
He argued that while mining is under the exclusive control of the government, there has been no clear plan for the development of artisanal mining, which has the potential to create massive job opportunities.
Dandakata said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made it unambiguously clear during the electioneering campaign that he would remove fuel subsidy if he won the election. What he didn’t however warn Nigerians of is the unprecedented hardship this singular decision will cause for our people. But fuel subsidy removal is not all about bad news.
“It has at least caused massive increase in the monies shared at the FAAC meetings with states going away with humongous figures on a monthly basis. But how has more money for governors to play with affected the lives of the masses?”
“We at the AEF have found out that the huge sums of money available to state governors are not trickling down because the governors are not investing in areas that will reflate the state economy and are not committed to providing palliatives for the people.
“A check we conducted on recent FAAC allocations has shown that some of the states have had their allocations increased by up to 90 per cent with little or no improvement in the lives of the people. The percentage increase in the allocations to states after fuel subsidy removal is humongous.
“We are therefore using this platform to call on President Tinubu to reverse the subsidy removal policy and use the extra money FAAC has been giving to the states to resume paying subsidy on premium motor spirit. The president should do this urgently if he knows he can’t find a way within the limit of his constitutional powers and political influence to make the governors more accountable to the people.”
He called on the government to summon adequate political will to arrest the free fall of the naira against the dollar.
“Dollar is not a legal tender in Nigeria. The government should therefore ban the practice of keeping dollars at home or in offices and clampdown on all hoarders of dollars,” he added.
