Prince Kayode Olowu, a one-time Chairman of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) and former Chairman of Lagos Mainland Local Government, speaks on sundry issues of national interest.WHAT is your take on the proposed removal of fuel subsidy'Everywhere in the world, there is subsidy for this or that. It depends on what their priority is. Now, if they are subsidising, where are the people enjoying the so-called subsidy' Has the government tried to recover the money from them'Instead of doing that, the government is trying to unleash poverty on the common people again. This same people will be the ones that will start selling the fuel again. Is that what government is meant for'Not that Nigeria cannot afford subsidy, but they are saying the subsidy is going into the wrong hands. They are now saying that they are going to use the money they are using for subsidy for something else' What about the money they budgeted for those things before'The government is now talking of infrastructure, the same old story. They now want to divert the money again to something that they budgeted for before but they did not do. The argument now is that they want to use the money meant for subsidy for infrastructure.Are you saying that the government should first of all tackle the problem of corruption'They just have to. This is because, money has always been meant for infrastructure before. Now are they going to say that the money they are going to get from the removal of subsidy is going to be set aside and people should not go there' They are still going to spend it.The governor of Niger State, Aliu Babangida said that those four governors that are in trouble, they are in trouble because of the ruling party not having the right rulership to checkmate their officials, their governors, ministers, people they put in government. If the leadership were right, they would not have been in the mess they are into. They will not even get the guts to commit the atrocity.That is a governor telling the other governors. He agreed that they actually stole the money. That is what he is saying. They are not the ones that started it. All the others must be punished. Now the government is not thinking of doing that, they are wasting their time.There must be a special court to try corrupt government officials. Just like the election tribunals, with time frame. You don't need to travel to America before you know where they put the money and you will get tit back. It is a matter of connecting the banks.The adjournment of these cases for a long time will not help matters.Why do you think the refineries are not working'Is it not a shame for us to be talking about bringing in the crude or refined petroleum from abroad, when we have three refineries, one in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and in Warri' We must first of all repair the refineries before removing the subsidy. We must look for those who will manage it well.We must be ready to address these issues; we don't have to be punishing the people because one day, the people will be tired of tying their belt. We must try to avoid crisis and appeal to those causing the problem in the name of God to leave this country alone.If they can repair the refineries, it will stop bunkering. Right now, there is nowhere they are not doing bunkering in the Niger Delta. It is possible for them to do that because some are bringing in smuggled petroleum, and mixed it with refined ones. We are not having the real refined petroleum; there are so many cartels in the system.Why is it that most roads are in deplorable condition in Nigeria'The government has already spent substantial money on federal roads. How far have they gone' We just need to reorder our priorities to get things right.They have been spending money on the Benin/Ore road. All the former ministers should be asked how they spent the money.Look at the Ibadan/Ife road. How long will it take them to fix it' There is the need for them to find out how much it will cost for competent contractors to repair the road.You cannot budget N50 million for a job of N150 million. It doesn't make sense. So that is why most of the roads are abandoned projects.Unfortunately, many lives have been lost to accidents on the bad roads. It is the same bad roads that Nigerians have to ply everyday. Is that not a mess' The government is subjecting people to untold hardship. We must move fast.Do you think that the power situation has improved'I am always on generator; can I be happy with the government under the circumstance' Unless we get the people who mismanaged the money that was allocated to provide electricity accountable, other people will continue to mismanage such money.Something must be done to bring the culprits to book. Members of the House of Representatives are making noise; this set is not better than the last set. They are the ones probing the power project. They themselves ended up being probed for corruption.We can never get to anywhere unless we do the right things, which we are not doing right now.
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