The lawmaker representing the Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Yusuf Gagdi has vowed to investigate President Bola Tinubu over trillions of naira saved from the removal of fuel subsidy.
Gagdi who chairs the House Committee on Navy, said that he supported the removal of fuel subsidy but it would not prevent him from holding the government accountable for how the money was spent.
The lawmaker in an interview with BBC Hausa said, “I am one of many Nigerians who support the removal of fuel subsidy because I believe it is a form of theft. I swear that the subsidy is not doing any good for the poor people of Nigeria.
“In the committee that I chair in the House of Representatives, I have learned a great deal about fuel subsidy. I know who is really benefiting from this subsidy, and it is not the Nigerian people. It is a small number of elites who are using the subsidy to amass wealth for themselves.
“Despite my support for subsidy removal, there will come a time when I will ask Asiwaju (Bola Tinubu), on behalf of the Nigerian people, about the savings from the removal of subsidy. We have been signing for these savings since the Buhari administration, and they have totalled 1, 6, and 10 trillion naira. What will the Nigerian people see physically done with these monies?
“I swear that there will come a time when we will hold the Nigerian government accountable for its actions. We will ask them what they did with this money.
“If fuel subsidy is removed, the poor should see the results in the form of renovated roads, new schools, new hospitals, and the establishment of new companies. This will create jobs for Nigerians so that they will not have to rely on the government for handouts.”
