Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said former president Goodluck Jonathan saved Nigerians lives by not removing fuel subsidy in his time, just as he said, he came close to removing it in 2011 due to the Boko Haram insurgency.
He said this at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference in Abuja.
Sanusi added that the country’s economic hardship stems from the country’s failure to remove the fuel subsidy over a decade ago.
“The only reason the government compromised at that time and did 50 per cent to 100 per cent was Boko Haram.
“There were thousands of Nigerians on the streets in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, and other cities.
“There was a fear that one day, one of these suicide bombers would go to these Nigerians and explode bombs, and you would have 200 corpses; it would no longer be about subsidy.
“You have to give President Jonathan the credit. He was determined to do it, but at the end of the day, the compromise was made to save Nigerian lives.
“If Nigerians had allowed the Jonathan government to remove the subsidy in 2011, there would have been pain. But that pain would have been a very tiny fraction of what we are facing today. This is the cause of the delay,” Sanusi added.