Petrol subsidy removal: Economic expert backs FG

An economic expert, Dr. Tunji Ogunyemi of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State has backed the plan on total removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

Ogunyemi, in an interview with Rave FM, Osogbo on Friday, said the removal of fuel subsidy is inevitable.

He said Nigeria will go bankrupt if it continued with the subsidy regime on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

The economic expert, who admitted that removing the PMS subsidy will create more hardship on the citizens said, “no development in any part of the world has ever been anchored, achieved and made possible without pain.

“The grave truth of this matter is that we cannot sustain this subsidy any longer.

“The only thing the government needs is to establish a basis for social trust.

“A trust that the people can see and relate with, to the extent that, that which is saved from the subsidy removal is actually ploughed back into the creation of wealth and not to be spent on wasteful political expenditures.”

He suggested that the Federal Government should remove the subsidy and plan it to a specific area of development.

Ogunyemi said the high debt profile of the country calls for immediate removal of petrol subsidy