The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, has said that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government borrowed over $400 billion in order to stabilise the Naira against the Dollar.
The representative of Ogun West Senatorial District revealed this figure at an empowerment programme for his constituents on Saturday.
It was themed: “2nd Edition of Town Hall Meeting/Mega Empowerment and Thank You Tour, held at Ayetoro, Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State.”
Adeola, who praised President Bola Tinubu for stopping the fuel subsidy regime and backing of the Naira against the Dollar, said: “When the President assumed office, he carried out two major policies that hit Nigerians hard.
“We now heave a sigh of relief.
“First, he removed the fuel subsidy.
“He removed the fuel subsidy because the subsidy payment ended up in the hands of people who are less than one percent of Nigerians.
“Yearly, the former president would have to borrow huge amount of money in the tune of trillions of naira in order to pay fuel subsidy.
“But when the current President, my father, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assumed office, the payment of subsidy elapsed the day the immediate past president handed over power to Tinubu.
“So, there was no fund budgeted for the continuous payment of the subsidy.
“The government that left had stopped subsidy payment and when our father got to power, he said he could no longer afford to be borrowing huge amount of money that will end up in the hands of less than one percent of the country’s population, whereas the payment is made for all Nigerians.
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“Today, anyone can bring in fuel and sell it at your own price as far as it pays off.
“One person can own 10 cars and the country is expected to pay subsidy on all the cars.
“But if there is no subsidy, your cars won’t be more than one or two.
“The second policy has to do with the floating of the naira.
“Before, in order to stabilise the Dollar to Naira rate, we have to borrow money.
“We borrowed to suppress it.
“By the time this government assumed office, the amount borrowed is well above $400 billion.
“In order to stabilise Dollar to Naira rate, we were also paying subsidy.
“That President had to stop that.”
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