The Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen has said the removal of oil subsidy was not to punish Nigerians but to tackle development projects.
Onolememen told newsmen in Abuja that the subsidy removal would address all the imbalances that had hindered investments in the sector and also support the initiatives of the present administration.
He assured that the funds to be generated from the removal would be judiciously channelled into appropriate places for development. “Subsidy removal is not a punitive measure, it is to remove all the imbalances; it will also give investors the confidence to come into the country and the cumulative effect could be up to N10 trillion.
“If we are able to invest to re-invest our subsidy fund, we will be able to handle our rail project and fix more roads; we can build new refineries as planned for Kogi and Bayelsa States. It is a bitter pill Nigerians have to swallow now to better their lot,” he said.
On the proposed re-establishment of toll gates, the minister said “it would ensure sustainable maintenance of road infrastructure.”
He, however, added that it must be done when the roads were rehabilitated, adding that previous toll gates failed because money generated from them were not put into road maintenance.
Onolememen said: “toll gates will guarantee sustainable maintenance of the roads, previous funds from the toll gates were not ploughed back to the roads. Road infrastructure is like any other infrastructure like electricity, water and power; you use and pay for it.''