• Maintains subsidy return will create panic among investors
• Insists he has delivered good governance to Enugu
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has doubled down in his support for the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying it was undebatable and inconceivable for anyone to imagine a return to the old order.
Mbah spoke at the “Meet the Candidates” town hall meeting organised by Afia TV in Enugu yesterday, where he also said that his administration had delivered good governance to the people of the state across all sectors.
He described it as a pathetic misconception of the country’s situation and the direction it was headed for anyone to talk about the reintroduction of fuel subsidy.
“If you reintroduce fuel subsidy today, we will lose ten times whatever we are currently trying to gain in terms of the removal of subsidy. The poverty rate that you are going to experience will be very high because the naira would be automatically devalued.
“We cannot go back to subsidy. And I do not think it is in the interest of the country for us to even debate that.
“Again, we should not even debate it because we do not want to send a signal to prospective investors that we are contemplating it. That would take us back. It is going to create panic in the system. It is going to get investors to pull back.
“Those that are coming in today to invest in that sector will become jittery. So, it is not even a subject to debate. It is something that we have moved on from, and we should be thinking about how to ensure that the natural benefits cascade to the households, create jobs and generate wealth for our people,” he said.
He said the nation should focus on how to further encourage private capital to flow, noting the growth the nation had experienced in the stock exchange space.
He added that Tinubu’s policies had stabilised the macro indicators, thus encouraging foreign direct investment.
“You can see quite a lot of funds coming into our country, not just portfolio investments, but also direct investments. It is also going to strengthen because the macro indicators are right,” he stated.
Mbah maintained that whereas fuel subsidy removal enables the government to target the less privileged, fuel subsidy as earlier practised benefited the rich more.
“By the way, I do not think the subsidy we practised before the President removed it was even the right one for the country because even the people we were looking at benefiting from it were only insignificantly benefiting from it. It was largely beneficial to our wealthy folks.
“But now, you can almost notice that the government is doing that in targeting the poor, using proceeds from subsidy removal. The government is aggressive on cash transfers. There is also the programme where the government is targeting 1,000 persons per ward across the entire country to be able to provide seed capital for them to become productive,” he added.
Meanwhile, on his stewardship so far, Mbah said his administration had kept faith with the people of Enugu State, delivering good governance across all sectors in line with his campaign manifesto.
He said the people of the state only needed to imagine where the state was before his inauguration as governor and where it is currently headed.
“Let us imagine the Enugu we knew four years ago. Let us just imagine an Enugu without Hotel Presidential. Let us imagine an Enugu without the International Conference Centre. Let us imagine an Enugu without Enugu Air. Let us imagine Enugu without the transport terminals, the 268 Smart Green Schools, 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centres.
“You do not want them to imagine an Enugu without the International Hospital. You do not want them to imagine an Enugu without the CNG buses, the Nigergas. I think the list is endless.
“But I even think that we can stretch that imagination further because the work ahead will be more profound. Just imagine an Enugu where our children are receiving education that prepares them for the world because they have been imbued with evolving 21st-century skills. Imagine again an Enugu where you do not have any part of the city with an unpaved road.
“Also, imagine an Enugu in four years’ time that generates 660 megawatts of electricity; where we are able to provide 24-hour power supply; where you cannot come into your house and have the light off; and where people can run their businesses for a whole week without worrying about the cost of diesel.
“Just imagine an Enugu where you generate electricity and the people of Enugu are buying that at 120 naira because they own the coal that feeds the power plant.
“Imagine an Enugu where you now have to ride, not just on our CNG buses, but you have the monorail that can take you from point A to point B. Imagine an Enugu where you can fly from here to the United Kingdom, to the United States and other parts of the world,” he stressed.
Mbah urged the people to keep faith with the journey of greatness, growth and development, defending the gains of his first term and guaranteeing the promises of his second term by working for his re-election.
“If these imaginations capture our fancy, then we have a duty to fight for it. We do have a duty to continue to make sure that the bar does not come down and that the standard we have set in Enugu is sustained,” he noted.