According to Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerians are against the elimination of subsidies because they believe unscrupulous government officials will steal the money.
On Wednesday, he made the claim in a post on his verified Twitter account.
Keep in mind that controversy is following the federal government’s intention to end the subsidies by June of this year.
However, Moghalu argued that the government should have a clear plan for how the money saved from the removal of subsidies would be applied to benefiting the populace and the economy.
“Despite the overwhelming economic arguments against it, the vast majority of Nigerians are opposed to subsidy removal,” he declared.
“A clear plan for how these savings will be used to benefit citizens and the economy, as well as a strategy to deal with the inflationary impact of subsidy removal, are necessary for solving this issue. Transparency in demonstrating that savings from removing the subsidy won’t be stolen by dishonest government officials is also important.
Despite the fact that “cheap” gasoline is becoming a myth, the subsidy cabals—some of which are found in unexpected places—are taking advantage of the public’s (justifiably growing) mistrust of their government.
