He added that in 2011, when the FG said Nigerians were consuming 30 to 35 million Litres a day, “we said at that time that it was too much, we took steps and made recommendation and the then government under the Ministry of finance, of Okonjo Iweala, took certain steps that resulted in government seeing reduction in subsidy by about $500 million.

“Now today, saying we are going to spend N3 trillion, is definitely not adding up, now I am told we consume 70 million lites a day, it’s not possible.”  jamb results

“It is not possible for us to consume that amount and for us( Nigeria) to be helpless and say it’s being smuggled to West African nations, we can’t do that, we must look at what Nigerians are going through,”

He added that in 2016, when he was Senate President, his administration, had been able to find a solution to this, with the former Minister of state for petroleum, Kachichukwu with the leadership of the National assembly, citing that they sat down and got out of the mess “we were able to get out of subsidy, I do not know what happened later when it was reversed,  even if we have to have fuel subsidy, 50% of this can be saved, there is no way we are consuming 70 million litres a day.”

He warned that Nigeria is spending up to N6 trillion (subsidy spending), because a select few may be benefitting, urging that this requires state capacity to solve, that cannot wait for 2023, and hold people accountable, “we must change the way it’s being managed, we must ensure the right people, the vulnerable people get it, not for us to subsidise our neighboring countries,” he warned.