The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 14the Emir of Kano, Muhammdu Sanusi, Tuesday, said the Federal Government’s populist stance was hurting the nation, noting that paying millions in subsidy without appropriation was enough to impeach a President.
He also said no one can successfully address the high poverty level in northern Nigeria without addressing that region’s high rate of population growth.
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Sanusi spoke, virtually, as a panelist on human capital development at the Nigeria Economic Summit, NES#27, in Abuja.
The former emir challenged the administration to be courageous enough to take the right decisions, saying that the current populist approach was hurting the nation.
“Those in government must understand that there are times that you have to make some decisions not because they are popular but because they are right.
“Every year, the government spends millions upon millions of dollars on fuel subsidies without appropriation.
“Under the constitution, this is enough ground to impeach the President. But nobody is holding them to account. The National Assembly is not holding them to account.
“We have to decide to run a developmental state and not a rental state; not a populists state.
“We are pursuing a populist policy: we want to have cheap fuel, cheap electricity, a strong Naira. That is populism.
“At the end of the day, what price are we paying by taking money out of education in order to subsidise petroleum products?”