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Udeze Ekene
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A former Minister of Finance, Kalu Idika Kalu, has said nothing is wrong with the federal government subsidizing some products for its citizens.
Naija News reported that President Bola Tinubu removed petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, his inauguration day.
The ‘subsidy is gone‘ statement of the President led to an economic hardship still experienced by citizens.
While reports and politicians, such as the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, argued that the federal government still pays fuel subsidy; the government, through the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has consistently dismissed the reports and claims.
Speaking with Channels TV, Kalu noted that all advanced countries including Russia, the United States, France and others pay subsidies on some products for their citizens.
“I wrote about this back in the 80s. You see, subsidies were not liable to abuse, overuse, and being non-cost-effective by the sheer quantum of how it impacts the budget and the efficiency of the resource allocation. But as I also said, nothing is inherently negative about the introduction of subsidies. These are still happening in Russia, America, Argentina, France, and so on,” Kalu stated.
Kalu Idika Kalu explained that the management of subsidies should be done transparently to ensure it gets to the citizens.
“Policies have to be taken very seriously,” he said.
He stated that the question of failure or success of economic policies should be blamed on the economic leadership and not the policy. “So, we should not just say we don’t know where we are going,” he added
The former Minister of Finance also noted that government spending should be channelled where it would be productive to ensure the economy grows.
“If you are spending a lot on farm support and so on, and you are getting commensurate results for the spending, that is what you should put into context,” Kalu added.
The post Nothing Is Wrong With Subsidy – Kalu Idika Kalu, Ex-Finance Minister appeared first on Naija News.