24 October 2011, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, however insisted yesterday there will be no going back on government’s plans to remove fuel subsidy, saying it will be in the best interest of the nation.
The Governors Forum, which initially threw its weight behind the removal of the subsidy, has constituted a six-man panel, headed by its Chairman, Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, to decide on the forum’s position on the matter.
Speaking with journalists at the venue of the 9th Annual Award Ceremony for Winners of NAFDAC’s organized Annual Secondary Schools Competition in Abuja, Suswam maintained that fuel subsidy was not getting to the masses and and that a very few faceless people were the ones enjoying the subsidy.
He said: “I fully support the removal of fuel subsidy for a number of reasons. Look at what is happening in the Senate, a few individuals or few group of persons are the ones enjoying the subsidy.
“If you go to Sokoto, I don’t think you will buy a litre of petrol at N65, for God knows why. So who is enjoying the subsidy? A few people are taking a lot of money. And in spite of the fact that the Federal Government has made a pronouncement that if it takes N250 billion for this month, few people will share that money.
“So the governors, with no exception, are fully in support of removal of subsidy. Yes, temporarily there would be hiccup.”
