Fuel Scarcity, A gang up by elements bent to sabotage Buhari, says Rep

Dismisses Critics Of TSA Policy, Buhari’s Foreign trips

A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives, Olajide Olatunbosun has attributed the current biting fuel scarcity in Nigeria to a gang up by some elements in the oil sector, who are intent on sabotaging this administration. Olatunbosun, a member of the Appropriation Committee of the Chamber disclosed that these oils moguls suddenly refused importation of fuel into the country because of the stoppage by the Buhari administration of the monumental subsidy fraud via patronage by the immediate past administration in the country.

Fielding questions on sundry economic issues in Abuja, Olatunbosun who represents Atisbo/Saki East/Saki West federal constituency of Oyo state, said “because there is no more free money to get from subsidy by government there is a gang up to sabotage this government by some elements.”

The lawmaker dismissed the rumours that businesses have begun to fold up in the country as a result of excruciating economic crunch, saying that those who are engaged in doing “genuine businesses are not folding up.” “Those whose businesses have folded up, let them come and tell us the kind of business they are doing, is it genuine business or portfolio business? “If businesses owned by people, who are feeding on our commonwealth, and which the current system is not supporting are the ones folding up, let them fold up. What is happening is that it is those people that set up businesses in the past, based on illegal patronage from government are the ones having problems running their businesses.

“This is simply because those illegal patronages are no longer forthcoming and they are finding it difficult to remain in business because the leakages they thrived on are been blocked gradually by this government. I am sure, genuine businesses are not folding up. That is not saying that we are not having some issues, that is not to say that they are not being addressed.”

Olatunbosun also described as blackmail, the assertion that the Treasury Singles Account (TSA) introduced by the government was responsible for the state of economy. “The TSA has nothing to do with the issue of dollar exchange rate, I will rather say that it has helped us as a nation in a way. This is because when you have an economy being driven by ill gotten; stupendous wealth chasing the dollar, maybe by now we would be talking about N500 to a dollar. “The TSA is one good policy that has happened to our economy because there have been monumental leakages in all agencies of government, most especially those generating revenue. Through TSA, it means all our inflow are warehoused in one account, which makes it possible for the government to control the leakages and have resources to finance development. The TSA has nothing to do with either the naira was falling or not,” he said. On the frequent foreign trips by president Buhari, the lawmaker said the effort is necessary by the president to reposition the country, adding that it has led to the recovery of funds stolen and hidden in other countries by some Nigerians.

“Was it not on one of such trips to the United States that led to the US government promising to help us recover stolen funds hidden in that country? He went to countries in the sub-region for security reasons over insurgency and the Gulf of Guinea. This just to show that those trips are necessary and I am positive that in few months, they will start to yield results because they are not misplaced. If we look at the President, without being partisan, we know that he is a very disciplined person, not given to frivolities and he is not a kind of person that will embark on jamboree in the name of traveling all over the world,” Olatunbosun said.