The Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, has advised the Federal Government to reinvest subsidy removal gains in infrastructure.
In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Oyerinde said reinvesting revenue from fuel subsidy removal into infrastructure projects was vital for economic regeneration.
He said, “In as much as we do expect a reversal of fuel subsidy removal, what will help the economy to regenerate is if the government productively reinvests the revenue gains of the subsidy removal into infrastructure projects such as road construction and maintenance, increasing the quantum of electricity production and distribution, improving the transportation (road, rail, water, and air), re-situating ports infrastructure, including the dredging of ports in other parts of the country for commercial vessels to decongest the Lagos ports and ultimate ensuring that at least two of four national refineries are swiftly resuscitated.
“There is no doubt that fuel subsidy removal has increased the cost of doing business through an exponential rise in the cost of fuel, transportation, and other logistics. It has also affected production in the real sector as sales decline due to lowered household consumption.
Speaking on creating a conducive environment to support small businesses in the country, the NECA DG asserted that the provision of basic infrastructures that would support the activities and growth of small businesses in the country, especially power, and road network security, among others, were critical support infrastructure for small business operations.
President Bola Tinubu announced the end of the fuel subsidy regime at his inauguration on May 29.
