By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
The Federal government has been urged to channel the money being from fuel subsidy to critical areas of the economy that would also benefit the Nigerian masses.
Residents of Lokoja,kogi state capital, gave the advice in separate interview with a correspondent of The Reporters, an online publication in Lokoja on Monday.
According to them, the best way the masses of the country can benefit from the well intended action of the government, on the removal of the fuel subsidy, is to ensure that education, agriculture, transportation and health among other vital sectors have substantial share of the money.
“According to the Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,the nation is expecting to make at least N1 trillion from the removal of fuel subsidy annually.
“This is quite a large money capable of helping to offer much services to all and sundry, particularly in sectors with direct bearing in the life of the people,”Mr Adamu Mohammed, a business man said.
Mrs Agnes Aliu, a retired educationist, called on the government to channel part of the money to the education sector.
“Government can decide to increase budgetary allocation to the education sector to ensure increased funding of the tertiary educational institutions to boost the quality of education of our graduates.
“Efforts should also be made to invest more on research to while same goes to fulfilling many of the demands of lecturers to stem strikes in our universities, polytechnics and so on.
“A special fund should be created for states to take care of their educational sector,in such away that there will be less financial burden on parents and guardians in terms of school fees, especially.
“However, there must be a mechanism, put in place by the Federal government, to ensure that the funds are utilised for the purpose intended and there should be no sacred cow in awarding punishment for corrupt tendency in this regard,” she said.
For Mal. Aminu Sarki, a pultry farmer, the agricultural sector has not been having adequate funding as it were, given the size of the population of Nigeria and the need for the country to attain food sufficiency and security.
“Therefore, the removal of subsidy on fuel presents a good opportunity for the government to improve its budgetary allocation to agriculture.
“Small scale farmers need to be encouraged, through adequate, increased and direct supply of fertilizer and other agro-allied chemicals to boost produce.
“An interest-free or low interest loans should be worked out for them to buy inputs such as farm implements to gear their efforts in food production, for internal consumption and export on the long run,” he said.
According to Sarki, when agriculture is adequately funded and the rural areas improved upon, in terms of ensuring good road and constant electricity, jobless youths will be motivated to stay back in the villages and take to farming and rural-urban migration will be reduced.
On health, the people stressed the need for government to spend more money on the primary and tertiary healthcare to ensure that most Nigerians access health with ease.
“The cost of seeking medication, especially in public hospitals in the country is simply too high for the poor and vulnerable in this country.
“Therefore, it becomes imperative for the government to devote more financial allocation to public hospitals to buy drugs and sold to those seeking health at reduced price.
“The cost of surgery is also on a high side, there should be away whereby more Nigerians, particularly the poor that need surgery, can have such service with ease and at an affordable rate. This will reduce avoid deaths due to lack of money access health facilities,” Mrs Amina Mohammed, a retired nurse said.
Mohammed also advocated expanding the scope of enrollees in the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS), to enable more people access the scheme.
The Reporters recalls that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources told journalists in Abuja, recently, that the decision to fully remove subsidy from petrol would save the country N1trillion annually and create massive jobs among others advantages acrueable from the move.
