Policy Under Fire: Lamido Blames 'Bad Governance' for Failed Fuel Subsidy Removal Benefits
Alhaji Sule Lamido, a PDP founding father, asserts that bad governance and a lack of rule of law, rather than fuel subsidy removal, are responsible for Nigeria's current hardship. He highlights the potential benefits of the policy if properly implemented, advocating for the PDP as the solution for Nigeria's progress and urging citizens to vote for the party in the 2027 election.
Alhaji Sule Lamido, a remaining founding father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former two-term governor of Jigawa State, has strongly attributed the current hardship and the undermining of fuel subsidy removal benefits in Nigeria to prevalent bad governance and a glaring lack of the rule of law. These remarks were made during a session with newsmen at his residence in Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State.
Lamido clarified that the fuel subsidy removal policy itself is not inherently flawed; on the contrary, he believes it holds numerous advantages for fostering economic growth, enhancing public welfare, and ensuring effective service delivery. He maintained that a strategic and effective implementation of this policy could have significantly minimized and cushioned its adverse effects on Nigerian citizens. Furthermore, he emphasized that the judicious utilization of the gains derived from the subsidy removal could have adequately addressed the current unnecessary hardship, paving the way for accelerated economic growth and overall public betterment.
“The hardship is not because of the subsidy removal. Lack of the rule of law is what killed the benefits of fuel subsidy removal and created the current situation in Nigeria,” Sule Lamido stated unequivocally. He further lamented that the substantial gains from the subsidy removal are unfortunately not benefiting the common man; instead, they have ended up concentrated in the hands of a select few individuals, thereby coming at the expense of the collective national interest.
Drawing a historical comparison, Lamido posited that if the fuel subsidy had been removed during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, the narrative could have been vastly different, suggesting that Nigerians could have been enjoying its full benefits. He ardently described the PDP as a political party fundamentally built upon the principle of the rule of law, affirming that it was consistently guided by this principle and remains the singular answer to Nigeria’s multifaceted problems. He passionately argued that there is no alternative to the rule of law for any society that genuinely dreams of achieving peace and progress.
Regarding the political landscape, Alhaji Sule Lamido opted to describe the political rivalry among parties such as the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as an internal “family civil war,” indicating that as a loyal PDP member, he felt no need to comment on it. He concluded his address by issuing a powerful call to action, urging all Nigerians and particularly the people of Jigawa State, to critically evaluate the PDP’s record of performance against that of the APC. He implored them to make a wise and informed decision by voting for PDP candidates at all levels in the upcoming 2027 election, in pursuit of a better Nigeria.