7th January, 2012
Despite the wave of protests against it across the country, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan insisted on Friday that deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary change Nigeria must make if government will have a significant impact in the lives of citizens.
President Jonathan was speaking to Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the United Nations’ Secretary General, at State House, Friday.
He said the country’s 2010 capital budget was funded with borrowed money, the equivalent of which was used to fund the subsidy last year, adding that “no meaningful infrastructural development is possible in such an environment”.
President Jonathan stated that his administration was committed to making significant and enduring interventions in the areas of power generation and supply, roads, railways, capacity building and health, adding that these sectors have already been opened to private sector participation.
The President expressed appreciation to Prof. Sachs for his concern for the development of Nigeria and Africa.
Earlier, Prof. Sachs had commended President Jonathan for the conditional grants to local governments for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, describing it as “one of the most innovative schemes of using national resources for local government development”.
He described President Jonathan’s decision to withdraw petroleum subsidy as “a bold and correct policy”, adding that funds so released would go a long way to rapid infrastructure development and the health sector.