Professor Anthony Kila, a professor of Strategy and Development, has said that the State government, along with the members of the legislators, should work hand in hand with the Federal government in order to find local solutions to solve the issue of palliatives to be provided for Nigerians due to the removal of fuel subsidy.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, Kila said that while it was good for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to meet with the state governors and the heads of the legislature, the meeting should have been held earlier. He said, “You don’t meet to decide what to do after the problem is there. In terms of strategy, you tend to meet before, you consult before action.”
The strategist then said, “We cannot have a country groaning in poverty and lack of money, and you have those leading them, the legislators for example, asking for new cars and raising that kind of money, you know. It’s a kind of scenario of beggars in tuxedos- the church is poor but the priests are rich. That’s a bad situation. So, we need both tangible economic moves and symbolic, moralistic moves.”
Speaking on what he believed should be on the agenda of the President’s meeting with the executives and the legislature, Kila said, “It is my view that what should be on the agenda should be saying, let us find a local solution to the national problem. So, we need to look at the 36 units of the federation and say to them, how do we solve this problem from the bottom up instead of up-down?”
Giving his opinions on the solutions for Nigerians who need palliatives due to the removal of subsidy and the increase of petrol, which essentially led to an increase in transportation, Kila said, “What we need is to crash the price of transportation by increasing the supply of transportation. By modifying the components of the demands of transportation cost. A good example will be increase in public transportation so that less people are using private cars. That, in my estimation, will require 10,000 buses across Nigeria.” He then said that this should not be done by the federal government alone, but each state should also contribute so as to provide more help for the different local governments in their state.
Giving another example of what could be done, Kila said, “The other thing that needs to be done, that I think some people are doing but we need to intensify it, is to know that the way the cost of petrol is going is unsustainable. So, we need to move towards using gas, and we need to do it very quickly. Doing it quickly is what the state can help do.” He said that the state could erect more gas stations and gas conversion stations around the states, as well as invest in those who can make gas powered cars.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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