Senator Solomon Adeola (APC–Ogun West) has revealed that Nigeria now saves approximately ₦10 trillion annually following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy.
Mr Adeola, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, stated this on Saturday during his new year thanksgiving service at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Ona-Nla, Ilaro.
The senator noted that within two years in office, the president had succeeded in removing a major cankerworm that had undermined the nation’s economy and finances.
According to him, before the removal, few Nigerians were benefiting from the fuel subsidy at the expense of the nation’s overall population.
Mr Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, noted that prior to the removal of the fuel subsidy, Nigeria borrowed an estimated ₦6 trillion to ₦7 trillion each year to finance the subsidy.
“I am a living testimony to what the president has done. Within his two years of assumption of office, he succeeded in removing the cankerworm in our economy that has affected our finances over the years.
“That is, the fuel subsidy, which benefited very few Nigerians at the detriment of the overall population of this nation.
“With that singular action, the president is saving the country over N10 trillion on an annual basis.
“I used to be the chairman of the Senate committee on finance during the last Senate, and I know on a yearly basis what we go to the bank to borrow to fund the subsidy is in the region of N6 trillion to N7 trillion on an annual basis,” he said.
Mr Adeola said the president is working around the clock to ensure a secure and prosperous Nigeria that citizens can be proud of, adding that extensive infrastructural renewal is currently ongoing across the country.
“The president is creating a new Nigeria. The Lagos-Calabar expressway will cut across 10 or 15 states, and that is a new Nigeria being born. Also, the Sokoto-Badagry way, a popular road, which we are also a beneficiary of.
“Along that road alone, we have a total of 66 dams. When that road is fully completed, the president has also succeeded in creating a new Nigeria and a new economy for our country as a result of these 66 dams across the highway,” he said.
The diocesan bishop of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Ilaro, Michael Oluwarohunbi, appreciated the senator for changing the landscape of development in the Ogun West Senatorial District.
(NAN)