On Thursday, Professor Pat Utomi, a political economy expert, advocated for the reinstatement of subsidies on petroleum products.
His call comes in response to the current shortage of petrol and the recent surge in fuel prices.
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“The first thing to do is to recognise essential things that Nigerians need fuel for. I will subsidise those things,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“There will be a subsidy. The Americans have subsidy for Agriculture, it is a matter of where you direct it to.”
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Nigeria is grappling with rising living costs following government reforms that ended fuel subsidies and led to a devaluation of the naira, which spiked inflation.
Since President Bola Tinubu eliminated these costly subsidies, fuel shortages have become more common, and petrol prices have more than tripled in some states, affecting food and transport costs.
On the show, Utomi criticized the political class for the hardships Nigerians are currently enduring.
“Nigeria’s political class is responsible for the Nigerian misery. The political class has failed the country.
“Look at the choices we have repeatedly made, look at the kind of National Assembly that we have. The political class needs to come out publicly before the country.
“In South-East Asia, people will come out and do a humiliation from what the public has suffered as a result of the irresponsibility of the political class in Nigeria.”
He noted that people feel increasingly disconnected from the political class.
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