Mismanagement of subsidy proceeds not reason to reverse it — Obi

The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 general election, Peter Obi, on Monday said that the mismanagement of fuel subsidy proceeds should not be the reason to reverse it.

The ex-governor of Anambra State said this during a panel session at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference.

Obi said at the event in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital: “Well, I subscribe, and I maintain that you need to remove subsidy. 

“Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it.

“What we should have done is that when we removed the subsidy, we would have given the people an alternative usage for the subsidy. 

“What we have today is that the removal and attendant resources being recovered are also being mismanaged and stolen.

“For example, we have received, according to them (the Federal Government), N16 trillion. 

“I said it before, go to my manifesto and see where I said I would remove the subsidy.

“We’ll do it in an organised manner, and whatever we recover will be invested appropriately, and I’ll just give you an example because we have no time.

“So it’s what you use the money for that is the problem.

“We will use the money in an organised manner, or you save it. 

“If they had saved the money and decided to do like any other country, we would have had $10 billion added to the Sovereign Wealth Fund, which, if you add it today, will be getting about $10 billion every month, which we can use for a purpose.”