Reno Omokri, an aide to the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has thrown all his weight in support of the fuel subsidy removal announced by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, May 29, 2023.
Tinubu had pronounced during his inauguration as the 16th elected President of Nigeria, at Eagle Square on Monday, that the “fuel subsidy is gone.”
However, this pronouncement has caused a lot of panic and shockwaves across the country, with the fuel marketers and feeling stations increasing their prices more than twice the initial prices, while the neighbour union also threatening a strike action across the nation.
Reacting to the development through his Twitter handle on Friday, Omokri who claimed to have just returned from Ghana, stated that as an oil-producing nation like Nigeria, the country does not have cheap petrol like Nigeria.
According to him, the pumping price of petrol in Ghana is GH13.2 per litre, which is N550 in Nigeria money.
Omokri noted that there is enough money in Ghana, to put in place numerous social amenities because the country doesn’t subsidise petrol.
According to him, we can’t be pissing away our national wealth on a sustainable fuel subsidy, which is mainly consumed by city dwellers, who have multiple cars, and be surprised why we have infrastructural deficits.
“I just returned from Ghana. They are an oil-producing nation, like Nigeria. Yet, they don’t have cheap petrol like Nigeria. Petrol (Premium Motor Spirit) in Ghana is GH₵13.2 per litre at the official rate, which is ₦550. Ghana does not subsidise petrol. That is why they have enough money left to put other things in place, like power plants for 24/7 uninterrupted electricity, good schools and hospitals, etc.
“We can’t be pissing away our national wealth on an unsustainable fuel subsidy, which is mainly consumed by city dwellers who have multiple cars, and be surprised why we have infrastructural deficits.
“Lagos, Kaduna and Abuja now have trains and commercial buses. Other states should follow suit. Nigerians who cannot afford the new fuel prices should be encouraged and helped by the government to acquire environmentally friendly alternatives, like bicycles.
“And let us trek some more. It is even good. Our population is exploding. We have one of the fastest-growing populations on Earth. Our population is growing faster than our economy. If we are too busy walking from point A to B, we will also be too busy to make babies we have challenges raising.
“#TableShaker,” he wrote.
