‘Foolishness led Nigeria to bankruptcy,’ Emir says

monjola sotubo

August 4, 2016 11:51 AM

Sanusi also urged the Federal Government to ensure that every one found guilty of looting public funds is punished.

Emir of Kano-Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

The Emir made the comments on Wednesday, August 3, 2016, while delivering a graduation lecture at the National Defence College in Abuja.

“The oil sector is only 15 per cent of GDP, yet oil accounts for 70 per cent of government revenues, oil accounts for 99 per cent of our foreign earnings. We got to a point when even though the numbers were staring us in the face, the entire nation was in denial,” he said.

“In 2009 when I became governor of Central Bank, the Nigerian government spent N291 billion that year subsidizing petroleum products. Two years later in 2011, N2.13 trillion was spent on the same subsidy, so has our population increased tenfold? It was very clear that this wasn’t oil subsidy; it was a scam.

“The whole issue of fuel subsidy was set up to create opportunity for a few people to make money, and it was presented in a manner that convinced everybody it was for the poor.

“For every 30,000 metric tons of kerosene imported in the country, the federation account lost 20 million dollars. We were importing 6, 7, 8 vessels per month for six years until this subsidy, the federation account was losing from 120 million to 160 million dollars every month.

“This is just kerosene, can you imagine a country losing $120 million every month on a non-existent subsidy on Kerosene, not PMS? This is how bad non-deregulation was because it allowed a small group of criminals to garner so much financial resources as to undermine every single institution that we had for checks and balances.

“Nigeria is bankrupt, we are bankrupted by a policy that was foolish, that was unrealistic, and unsustainable and by all means our refusal over the years to listen,” he added.

Sanusi also said that Nigeria is suffering a recession that was created by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

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A similar comment had earlier been made by Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who said that the Jonathan government covered up the economic crisis during its tenure.

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