Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has once again described fuel subsidy as an organized crime.

Obi on Monday made this statement while featuring on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’. He stated that although he agreed with the decision to remove the fuel subsidy, he would have taken a different approach in implementing the policy.

• “Fuel subsidy is organized crime. I said it repeatedly that it should be removed. For me, the approach would have been to remove the corruption and criminal side of it and remove the excess demand.
• “By doing this, you would have reduced it by 50 per cent. The remaining 50 per cent is what we would have been able to, after consultation with various stakeholders to find a way in an organised manner, remove and show the proceed of the gains of the removal to be invested in critical development areas” he said.

The ex-governor of Anambra State also commented on the palliative initiatives the Federal and State Government has implemented since the removal of subsidy.

Obi said that the gains from removing subsidies should have been invested in critical areas such as education, health and poverty alleviation programmes.

He said,

• “The proceeds of the removal or the gains of the removal need to be invested in critical development areas such as education, health and pulling people out of poverty. People need to see the transparency of transferring from here to there. When you do it in an organized manner, with proper palliatives that are well-structured, you would have been able to see Nigerians go along with you.”