Channel subsidy funds to regional debt agencies, Eradiri urges Tinubu

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

Mr Udengs Eradiri, an engineer and former Labour Party (LP) Governorship Candidate in Bayelsa State, on Tuesday, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to bypass the governors and send funds accruing from the removal of fuel subsidies to development agencies across the country.

Eradiri said routing the funds through development agencies would help the benefits of subsidy removal reach the people faster and facilitate the actualisation of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Eradiri, who spoke at the sidelines of the Alternative Conflict Resolution programme organised by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt, stated that the current practice of sending subsidy funds to the governors had not achieved the desired impact.

He argued that the development agencies were set up by the President to carry out some of the functions of the governors in the region and deserved to utilise the subsidy funds.

Eradiri suggested that if all the subsidy funds could not be sent to the development agencies, it should be split into two, with half disbursed to states and local government areas, and the remaining half should be sent to the agencies.

Eradiri said: “I call on President Tinubu as part of actualising the Renewed Hope Agenda to, as a matter of urgency, redirect the excess money from the subsidy removal to the development agencies covering the entire stretch of the country in all the geopolitical zones.

“The Presidency can now supervise them to ensure that the subsidy gains get to the masses and solve their problems. When this excess subsidy is sent to the governors as is being done now, the President does not have control over how it is spent.

“The President cannot monitor whether this money is being used judiciously, and that is why we are having many conflicts all over the country, and the people are complaining that they have not seen the dividends of democracy.

“If the President cannot redirect all the money, he can divide the money into two. He can send 50 per cent to the governors and local government chairmen and the rest to the development agencies.

“These agencies were set up to carry out some parts of the duties of the governors. If the subsidy windfall is redirected to the agencies, they will use it according to the dictates of the President.

“They can be supervised by the President to ensure the money gets to the grassroots. If the Federal government does that, there will be fewer complaints from the people.”