The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore, has said that the Federal Government of Nigeria is still paying fuel subsidies in secret without the knowledge of the Nigerian people.
Sowore made this claim on Tuesday when he appeared as a guest in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’.
He stated that subsidies were not only for petrol but also for the naira, which he said was secretly maintained at a certain rate to the dollar.
The human rights activist slammed the Federal Government for benefitting the rich through ‘waivers and customs’ rather than helping the poor.
Sowore highlighted the negative economic effect of removing subsidies, including a decline in the value of the naira and increased poverty.
“In the first place, they are still paying subsidies. They just changed the name of what they call it.
“They are subsidizing not only petrol because they don’t have enough. They’re also subsidizing naira. That’s one thing they will never tell you.
“The reason the naira is at a certain rate to $1 is because it’s been quietly and secretly subsidized. But the big question is: why lie about subsidies? Then we have to stop telling lies about subsidies.
“It’s not that subsidy is bad because there’s no country in the world that doesn’t subsidise their poor.
“In fact, the people that get the most subsidies in Nigeria are not the poor. It’s the rich; all the people who bring in foreign goods and services.
“Go and look at their waivers, their customs, you will know who is getting rich subsidies compared to the people who are getting 10 naira from each gallon of petrol that was taken away from them.
“You saw what happened. Immediately subsidies were removed, look at where our economy is. The naira also went down,” Sowore said.