Akanbi_edu:

Since whatever he says is either seen as hausa/fulani or Islamic agenda, is it not better to keep quiet? It was easier to speak against Yar'adua.

Besides, I guess his opinion should support. He is not an elected official afterall. Jonathan has the mandate of the Nigerian people, so whatever Jonathan decides is the voice of the people.

AFTER a brief lull, the fuel subsidy controversy resurged yesterday, with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi advising the Federal Government to remove it immediately. His reason: it has not benefited the masses in any positive way.

Sanusi spoke at a stakeholders’ workshop organised by the Emeka Ihedioha-headed House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on investigation into the local and foreign loans obtained by the Federal and state governments. It was in conjunction with the CBN, the Debt Management Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

To Sanusi, there was no moral basis for continued subsidy. He noted that the nation is borrowing billions annually to pay subsidy debts that benefit those he described as "a cabal" in the oil sector.

"Last year, we spent over a trillion naira for which we are borrowing. Why should we be paying a N570 billion subsidy that a small elite are enjoying at the expense of the Nigerian people? The money is going to a cabal. These are the same people that borrow from the banks and do not pay; they are the ones rigging elections and are aiding corruption. We have to cut them off," he said.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned against total withdrawal of Petrol Subsidy in the country just as it advised the Federal Government to subsidise production instead of consumption so as to create employment for the teeming unemployed youths.

CBN governor, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi gave the warning Tuesday in Enugu while delivering the 1st Professor William Okefie Uzoaga Memorial Lecture organised by the Banking and Finance Department of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. Sanusi disclosed that the money used to subsidise importation and consumption is used by foreign countries to create employment opportunities for their people.

The government, he said, spends enormous money daily to subsidize petroleum products, reasoning that such money should be channeled towards building new refineries and at the same time reactivating existing moribund ones in the country.

His words: “The unemployment situation appears worrisome as it deteriorated from 13.1 per cent in 2000 to 19.7 percent in 2009. An intriguing paradox is that there is high and rising unemployment rate despite the exciting recent GDP growth rates.

“The ugly situation has revealed that Nigeria’s growth has neither been sufficiently equitable nor generates adequate employment. Analysis by states in 2009 showed that 22 states had unemployment rates of above 15 percent with Ondo and Bayelsa experiencing the lowest and highest unemployment rates of 15 and 38.4 percent, respectively,” he said.